West Lake & Guangji Bridge

Breakfast

I’m nearly on local time after three nights and we didn’t head out for breakfast till after 0830.  With some items not ready yet, I happily chose a pork and century egg congee.

Teochew congee is meant to be like rice in hot water and that’s the origin of the Thai rice soup.  Today’s specimen wasn’t too grainy, fortunately, as I prefer my congee boiled to a mush (the Canto way).

We then found a second place which had freshly made taro hashbrowns.  They were delicious!  Can’t go wrong with taro, deep-frying fat and MSG!

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Back to Teochew

We ordered a car back to Teochew around 1000.  Apparently, we had chosen the option to travel on the non-highway route.  A change to the route would invalidate the discount that had been applied.

We decided to accept the slower route, enjoying a different scenery from yesterday’s journey.  It took probably 15 mins longer and got us to the Vienna hotel around 1115.

Swee and Chen were able to get their room straight away.  We headed home to the apartment for a rest and plan the rest of the day.

West Lake

As we had settled on exploring places near the old city, Swee and Chen decided not to join us as they would be basing themselves there later on in the stay.

Kim and I ordered a car to the north end of West Lake where there was a sesame paste shop which Dennis had recommended.  After a little snack there, we strolled by the lake and explored the adjacent park briefly.

From there, we walked along the tree-lined Zhongshan Road to the city wall and river side.

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Guangji Bridge

We got to Guangji Bridge after 1400.  Even though we had been told not to bother paying to enter the bridge, we gave it a go because there wasn’t a queue.

Kim managed to get in FOC as he was over 60 years old and I paid a reasonable CNY20.

Despite no queue, the place was very busy.  At the far end, I surprisingly managed to get some shots with very few people in it.

Guangji Bridge is unusual as it started off in the 12^th century as a pontoon bridge of 86 wooden boats across the Han River.  The current 2007 version consists of permanent bridge structures at both ends with a gap in the middle.  Each morning 18 boats are positioned to complete the bridge and then removed each evening.

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We finished our exploration of Swatow in the old town with some snack before heading back to the apartment.  I was adamant not to leave the apartment for dinner to avoid the 5 storey climb, so we stocked up with fruit and snacks to keep us going till bed time.

Dennis returned late at night from his errands in Guangzhou.