After Mummy and Daddy enjoyed some chinese candies, various melon seeds and candied as well as spiced peanuts along with a beer or two the night before,
the family went on a long exploratory walk, appropriately attired, the next day 
and had lunch at Javaromas (Australian part-owned) as it coincided with Australia Day.We took the 86 bus further down past the beach and then tried to make our way to the beach through a road that turned out to be where the military training was - the guards dressed in camouflage complete with semi-automatic weapons kind of gave it away (no photos of them, but this was the sign at the start of the road that we hadn't understood).
We had ventured all the way past the recruits playing basketball games and almost up to the dorms. Oops! We managed to turn back without benefit of a confrontation. We then found a way down to the beach a little further on, past a hotel, and walked back along the boardwalk. 
As we approached the military area, it was more obvious that this was a place the general public wasn't meant to be in - there were even cameras, but the sandbags and lookout were obvious enough.
We also saw that some of the military recruits had gone down to the beach and were gathered on the rocks where much full-throated yelling (presumably across the strait?) ensued. They were very much aware of us and as we passed by there were many shouts of "hello" and "how cute" - Alex being oblivious. You can just make out a few on top of the rocks past the boardwalk in this photo. 
The walk back was lovely and neither Alex nor Sebastien complained terribly. 
We have taken to putting Sebastien in the carrier on Brett's back as he is getting so big, but it won't be long before he is too big for the carrier. We had found the site for that evening's fireworks but decided not to attend - it was further than we had thought. In fact, the ban on fireworks meant New Year was somewhat subdued in Xiamen - not that there were no fireworks. We were able to look at several fishing "boats" closely and decided we didn't wish to be in the water on any of them. 
It isn't wedding season so there were no wedding parties being photographed on the beach (as there are during the season - it's pretty crowded).
Sebastien was appropriately attired for the New Year - surprisingly Alex was not interested in acquiring her own dress in similar style - perhaps next year.
We finished up with dinner at the Xiada cafe - decorated for the New Year with balloons which fascinated Sebastien.
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