Day 1 Xiamen / Nanjing
Meet with your tour guide and driver, and then drive to Yunshuiyao Village of Nanjing county. (around 2hrs drive) Arrived at the water town of Yunshuiyao village. This is a village which is known in China for a movie called “Yunshuiyao” which means a song for cloud and water in Chinese, talked about a love story between a couple of lovers happened in last century. And Yunshuiyao Village is exactly where the movie was shot. There are 13 banyan trees with a history of over hunderd years spotted in the length of 5km of the brook banks, especially two of which, being seen in the movie, more than 1000 years.
After dinner, check into hotel and overnight.
Day 2 : HuaiYuanLou / HeGuiLou / Nanjing Tea Plantation Photo Tour
After breakfast, start our journey from HuaiYuanLou. HuaiYuanLou is a tulou in drum shape adopted a mature architectural technique known as inclined wall constructing while making full use of the different qualities of cobblestone and rammed earth as basic material. The couplets on the pillars, the cravings on the roof beams and the paintings on the walls, all comprise an excellent coherence between Southern Fujian construction style and Confucian idea as “People live on loyalty and filial piety while families lie on farming and studying”.
Then you will go to visit another square tulou called HeGuiLou. HeGuiLou stands on a swamp of 3000 square meters by the medium of pine in accordance with suspension principle. It is the highest square tulou in all Fujian tulou which becomes a magic exist for more than 200 years.
Ater Lunch, take a rest and in the late afternoon (Farmers start to go out to work on fields), go to take photos of the tea plantation. There are lots of tea plantations around village. Driving to find a good-shape tea plantation with good light.
Drive to the Taxia Village after taking pictures of tea plantation.
Day 3 Nanjing Tulou Photo Tour (TianloukengTulou / Yuchanglou / Shunyulou / HekengTulou )
After breakfast, you first visit Tianloukeng (literally “Snail Pit” Village) Earthen Building Cluster, a national protected cultural site inhabited by hundreds of Hakka people of Wong family. Tianloukeng consists of five tulous with a square “BuYunLou” at the center, surrounded by three rotundas tulous and an oval tulou, forming a pattern of “four dishes and a soup” . This is one of the most magnificent and well-preserved Hakka castle in the area.
Next, visit Yuchanglou , a five-storey Tulou built in 1308 Yuan dynasty by the Liu family clan and is one of the oldest existing tulou. Yuchanglou has been nicknamed the for its tilted pillars that zigzags left and right. It was built that way due to an error measuring the building materials. In spite of this apparent infirmity, this tall tulou withstood 700 years of natural elements and social turmoil.
After lunch, visit HekengTulou . Located in Hekeng Village, HekengTulou is an extremely extensive and impressive cluster consists of 27 earthen houses. We can also climb to a higher viewpoint near the entrance of the village to have an overall view of HekengTulou cluster during sunset.
Your last stop of the day is to visit Shunyulou , a circular four-storey building with just one ring. Built in 1937 by Zhang family, it has the longest outer diameter (74.1m), among the single donut-type Tulou houses with an inner corridor. It is the largest tulou in all Fujian tulous.
Drive to the Nanjing city in the late afternoon.
Day 4 Nanjing / Xiapu / Xiaohao / Dongbi
In the morning take bullet train to Xiapu . The train journey will take 3hrs 26mins.
Upon arrival at Xiapu, check into hotel. After lunch, you will proceed with your first photo shoot of the day.
This afternoon, you will be taking pictures of sunset at Xiaohao beach. There are two places to take pictures of Xiaohao Beach, one is called Xishan(West Hill) and Dongshan(East Hill). West Hill is the place to take pictures of the fisherman with triangle net coming back home after their fishing trip in the late afternoon which is one of the most beautiful around this area. After that, drive to East Hill to take pictures of the fishermen and the seaweed poles from another side with good lighting. Please remember to bring your telephoto lens. During sunset, go to Dongbi which is a perfect place to take pictures of the Xiaohao Beach’s sunset.
Day 5 Bailu / Dongandao / Xishan / Dongbi
Very early morning, drive to Bailu where we get to witness the beauty of sunrise rising from Mantoushan . Thousand rows of fishing bamboo are planted on the low lying beach as well. The perfect sight for beautiful photo-takings.
After sunrise, venture out on a boat to Dongandao to capture the floating fishing village. This fishing village has a name , literally meaning “Venice on the Sea” – there are hundreds of houses built on the sea, a very impressive sight which will take your breath away and make sure you will snap non-stop.
After lunch, in the late afternoon , proceed to West Hill again if there is a good weather today.
Day 6 Huazhu / Yangjiaxi / Huyuaou
Early morning, travel to Huazhu for the beautiful sunrise where under the sun rays, different colours forms in the surrounding environment, forming an impressive sight.
After Huazhu, transfer to Yangjiaxi Village for some ancient banyan tree photo-taking in the oldbanyan tree forest. Some of the banyan tree has more than 800 years of history. Under the shine of sunrays penetrating through the forest, the whole scenery seems to be like an oil painting.
Break for lunch before continuing in the afternoon.
After lunch, it is time to visit Yantian Huyuao Village where you can interact with the locals, known as (“Lian Family Fleet Culture”). They are the boat people of Yantian, who for generations, have been dependent on fishing and clam picking as their livelihood. They live in small run-down (sometimes broken) boat and have to lead a wandering life on the sea, weathering all kinds of harsh conditions on the sea, just to be able to make ends meet. They have also been labelled as “sea gypsies”. Use your camera and skills, to showcase the life of these boat people. Tell their history, their culture and their stories through your lenses.
You end your third day of Xiapu photography by taking pictures of the sunset on XiaQingshan Bridge.
Day 7 Banyueli / Sansha
Taking a rest from the sunrise, wake up without alarm’s help, then drive to Banyueli Village to take pictures of the ‘She” People’s daily life. This is an ancient ethnic groups which has more than 1000 years history. 90% of them now live in the mountain of Fujian and Zhejiang Province. Until now they still keep their own life style, have their own language. So this place becomes on of the photographers’ best love.
After lunch, drive to Sansha to take pictures of the fisherman ‘s boat on Beach. Every year in the fixed month, they will stop to go out and repair and redecorate their boat which provide a good way to know part of fisherman’s daily life on the beach.
Day8 Beidou / Shajiang / Nanwan
In the early moring, you drive to Beidou to take pictures of the sunrise.
Next, go to Shajiang , the most famous site where we can see hundreds and thousands of bamboo sticking out from the mudflat and also the S-shaped bay as well as fishing boats coming in and out of the bay. The water here is isolated and calm and simply has too many subjects for photography.
After lunch, according to the good time of tide, we will drive to visit Nanwan. Take pictures of fishermen working hardly under the sun. The high tide and low tide in Nanwan is very special as ‘fish’ are form. These lines shift as the tides comes in and out and makes it a very unique place for photo-taking.
Accommodation: Hotel in the Xiapu city, about 3 star level.
Day 8 Beiqi /Fuzhou
In the early morning , reach Beiqi shoal for sunrise photo-taking. Beiqi is a small fishing village by the sea and is the ground for seaweed harvesting. This is considered the number one shooting point and a must-visit for all shutter bugs. In Beiqi you can see large crowd of fisherman working. As the sun slowly make its way up from the sea, the sea seems to be covered with a layer of gold. Against the backdrop of seaweed hanging at bamboo pole, it is a scene not to be missed.
After Beiqi, take bullet train to Fuzhou. You will take flight to you own home, your trip will end up with sweet memories.