Day 12 - Taizhou

This morning we were invited for a Chinese breakfast by Sophia who has become a friend of Lawrence’s and is a lecturer at Taizhou University. The restaurant is owned by her sister, who also joined us. It was a really fun occasion; the restaurant was very busy with a great atmosphere where we were filmed for a promotional video - view at your own risk! The food was a far cry from our usual fare - 2 courses of noodles / soup, a fried bread roll, 3 types of dumplings, and fruit to finish. We drank Chinese tea and warm soy bean milk (not Catherine’s favourite). We asked if it was a special occasion type breakfast, only to be assured it was a normal everyday type breakfast - phew!

After some photos and arranging to meet up with the lovely Sophia the next day, we took a taxi to Quin Hu Wetlands Park. There we took a boat to a nature reserve, and enjoyed the walks through the picturesque forests and lakes, listening to the sounds of nature and birdsong as we went. The cicadas were quite a chorus! The deer reserve was a highlight, which had a great viewing point where we spent a while just taking it all in. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to ice cream and watched the black swans in the lake along with some other breeds of water fowl we didn’t recognise. There was also a stall selling quite a variety of eggs - some the largest we’ve seen!

We took the boat back and walked along the jetty for a closer look at the huge Medicine Buddha statue.

As we were still fairly full from breakfast, lunch or afternoon snacks were definitely not needed!

Before heading back to the hotel, we popped into the local shopping mall and couldn’t believe it when we came across a store full of kittens in glass cases for sale - really quite a sorry sight!

Early evening, we took a stroll to Lawrence’s apartment, walking past some street theatre, an outdoor energetic exercise class and football flags (all the cities we have visited have always been lively in the evening). We had a light supper (leftover dumplings from breakfast!) and a game of Monopoly, which, despite Lawrence winning, made for a very enjoyable, relaxing evening, Another great day in Taizhou!Read more