The driver was punctual but non-conversational. It is not important to book transfers on a foreign app as there are tons of domestic chatty drivers who will give you an idea of the country on the drive

Our English speaking guide, Jane, who was Hakka, was interesting and informative, we visited 3 of the Tulou, each one slightly different, and such a unique style of communal living - where some are living to this day, I can see this style of living will cease to exist in generations to come as it is isolated and lacks some basic facilities, at a certain age the ‘young’ are leaving for the towns and cities. The countryside is interesting with its rice terraces, banana and fruit plantations. There were racks of Persimmons and vegetables sun drying outside the fortified walls, and we got to taste some of these at the Hakka style food lunch in a restaurant in one of the villages. Janes part of the private tour we were on was a 5/5, we were picked up by car at our hotel, the driver did not speak English, and the car was a medium size sedan (with bright red interior), so there was not much leg room for my husband who is reasonably tall, and the drive is 2-3 hours each way, Jane met us nearer the villages. You will want to be warned about the driving...the drivers drive these roads daily, so know what they are doing, but it is terrifying to someone not used to the aggressive style, weaving in and out of traffic, the continual use of the horn....Wouldn’t recommend the private driver for nervous passengers.

The experience was terrible from the word "GO" - we were told to queue up in a wrong queue for starters when we already had tickets, there were no seats on the upper deck and the so-called VIP areas with better viewing spots and seats were all chargeable. There were seats on the lower deck but you can't see anything at night. The cruise basically just brought all one along the bridges and Gulangyu but during the night, no one could see anything as the lighting was inadequate. 30 mins into the journey and the staff started playing silly games with the customers to pass time and to win small packets of food. OMG. The staff also shouted into their microphones on constantly hard-selling their VIP seats and souvenirs they were selling onboard. Try harder please. The 1 hour onboard was a total waste of time. Don't go for this tourist trap.

New discoveries:current popular foods: fishball, duck noodles,and peanut soup. Superstores: Walmart and Carrefour few store assistants as very few visitors and shopper. LEDs bulbs lesser and no variety. Zhongshan St.- only electric bikes still using and very clean and quiet few pedestrians too. No more people walking their prized dogs. Gone are the smartphone shops, the classy dress shops and shoes outlets. And disappearing malls and Supermarts. Now smoothies and fruit shakes refreshment stalls aplenty. Those pearls stores and packaged/preserved snacks outlets now plentiful. And very few smokers except beside the ferry to Gulanyu terminal. Xiamen is so clean at the the 8th market, practically no flies where fresh and dried seafood openly displayed. I will definitely go to Xiamen soon.

The 3hour drive from Xiamen was all worth it! Very insightful, the hakka houses are so interesting! Very rich in history and culture.