Walking with Pikachu – Writer. Traveler. Tea Drinker.

I’m not sure how it started. Maybe I just thought it was cute the way my Taiwanese boyfriend pronounced Pikachu (pi-ka-que), but for the past five years, every time one of sees a Pikachu doll, toy, game etc we have to talk about it and point it out, and end up saying “pika pika” for the next few minutes.

But neither of us actually likes Pikachu, Pokemon or anything related to it. So why has it become a thing between us? No clue. I’ve literally never even seen an episode of Pokemon or played any of the games.

But it is a thing between us, so when I saw cute little Pikachu band aids at the store, I bought them cause I thought it would be funny. I assumed they were normal strip band aids with pictures of little pikachus on them and I did actually need band aids, so it wasn’t a waste of money. But it turned out they were even cooler. When I opened one to put on an imaginary wound on Azhi’s hand, it turned out the entire band aid was the shape of Pikachu’s head. And instead of just ripping it off, as I expected, he wore it as we walked out the door to begins the day’s adventure.

“Take a picture,” he said holding out his hand so the Pikachu band aid was visible. And so the Pikachu walk was born. It wasn’t meant to be a Pikachu walk, but it was going to be an epic walk. Xiamen, an island, has a 22km walk that goes across the entire city from beach to beach in sidewalks, elevated platforms and special walkways. A few months ago we walked 12 km’s from the ferry port to SM (a large mall approximately in the middle) so today we were gonna do the other half, starting at Guanyin Shan beach and ending back at SM.

Honestly, I didn’t think the Pikachu band aid was gonna make it. Azhi isn’t the most careful person and it was pretty cheap, with a few of the edges coming up before we even made it to the starting point. But not only did Azhi take care of his hand and the band aid, he made me take pictures with it at every scenic spot.

“Why are you taking a picture without Pikachu!” he would cry, running over and thrusting out his Piakchu hand if he saw me setting up a shot with my phone. If I had already snapped the picture I had to do it again with Pikachu, no exceptions.

So, please enjoy the scenic Mountain-to-Sea Trail with our little yellow friend, Pikachu.

The beginning of the walk is pretty uneventful with just small markers on the normal sidewalk to lead the way. The elevated walkways, and special paths would come a few kilometer’s later. But Pikachu, and us, had 22 km’s to go to reach the other side. While we could probably do it in one go, we decided not to. 10 Km’s was our goal.

While the walk started off just on the normal sidewalk, I can”t help but go a little off-roading if I see a dirt, nature trail. So I found a short dirt bike path while Pikachu, and Azhi, walked on the normal sidewalk.

Pikachu couldn’t help but stop and smell the flowers along the way.

While it was a little off the official walk, Pikachu heard some monks chanting and decided to explore one of the old temples in the middle of the city.

The path went around a reservoir, so we decided it was a good place to stop for lunch. I prepared a classic American picnic lunch: potato salad, cucumber salad, BBQ wraps and oranges.

After the reservoir, the path finally went above the ground, on an elevated pathway. They have a 3 story building (with an elevator) to get the walkers from the ground.

It was a good view from above and Pikachu waved to all the drivers below.

While Xiamen is an island, surrounded by the ocean, the city is actually incredibly green with dozens of parks and mountains in the center of the city. This walk takes you through many of them.

Even Pikachu needed a break after about 7 km’s.

The pedestrian only pathway has a lot of nice little details if you know where to look.

The path is always clearly marked with signs and colored lines. At one part the walking path meets up with the biking path (the world’s longest elevated bike path). Green is biking, orange is walking and they are separated for safety.

The day was cold, but we stupidly didn’t bring any drinks with us. While there are a ton of drink machines along the path, I wanted a bottle of milk tea. We looked at every drink machine but the milk tea was sold out in every one! Finally after 7km’s we found one. What can I say? Xiamen people love their milk tea.

In some instances the path goes right between apartment buildings (it goes through the city center after all) and sometimes the path had a sort of privacy shield so you couldn’t see what was going on in the apartment buildings on either side. Pikachu was disappointed because he loves snooping.

When we saw the arch, we signed with relief, knowing the end was in sight. This arch is over a very busy street that we pass by often, so it signaled the end was close. Notice the twirling bridge in the background with red lights. That’s the same path and it goes from street level back into the mountains for the next 10 km’s.

With flagging energy and very sore feet, we finally made it to the 10 km mark before getting off the path and heading back down to the street.

Our path. We did only 10km’s on the official pathway, but the days total was 20km’s and almost 30,000 steps! Phew! What a day…

I think it’s no secret I’m a fangirl of Xiamen, and this walk is one of the reasons why. This city really plans for green spaces that people can use for free. This path is not only well thought out and planned, but has plenty of (clean) toilets, drink machines and even AED paddles at regular intervals in case there is a medical emergency. The whole path has a gentle grade that can accommodate wheelchairs and people with mobility issues, and when it goes into the mountain the walkway is a platform above the forest ground so people can’t bother or disturb the nature below.

This mountain-to-sea path was finished about two years ago, and now they are working on a similar path that crosses the island from north to south. I can’t wait to walk on it when its done. I wonder, will Pikachu come with us then?

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