Before leaving Kunshan for the Yunnan tour we discovered that we could rent a small apartment where Peter lives and arranged this for our last 3 days. This proved to be excellent; we were even on the same floor as him. Having a kitchen was great and our bathroom included a washing machine, even better as we could have all our laundry done before returning to the boat.

We continued to have a busy time meeting some of Peter’s friends and colleagues and getting to know more of Kunshan as well as a day out in Suzhou where we enjoyed visiting  last year.

Picturesque Suzhou, garden city of Jiangsu Province

We had a lovely evening with Peter’s boss Robert who chose all the food for us in a restaurant specialising in fish, a whole variety of shellfish and other sea food. Our main dish, a large fish that we had chosen from a pool of live fish on the way in, was cooked at the table and was succulent; more delicious dishes followed. Robert was a great host and good fun; Peter really enjoys working with him and has had good support. Robert is very enterprising, he has lots of plans for the business and we are so pleased to have met up with him. 

Robert and Peter……                                                               ….. and again with the parents.

Next morning we had a couple of hours of table tennis with Peter, Candy and Neal a friend from Peter’s college. This was such good fun, neither of us has played for years and years but we enjoyed it so much that although we were heartily beaten we intend to take it up again when we settle back in UK.

We headed off to Forest Park for lunch and a leisurely afternoon. The park includes acres of lakes and woodland, camping grounds, gardens and exhibition areas. The leisurely part included a stroll around one of the lakes to visit the gorgeous garden of peonies which were in full bloom.

The proud gardener who was delighted to show foreign visitors around the garden.

Leisure time was over, we hired a four man bicycle car which did not have gears and often felt as though it would tip over as Chris and Peter enjoyed taking the bends a quite a lick with much waving and squealing to clear the way. Getting up hills and over bridges was such a task but we only had to have a push once, I won’t mention the getting lost part.

Candy then took us to the standing exhibition which was of works to trick the eye and great entertainment with a camera.

Peter lends a hand

Candy takes a fancy to Pinocchio

Puss, puss

Ah! ………………….. Who let these ladies in?

When in UK we have never found much to attract us to Chinese restaurants but within China the cuisine is outstanding, it has been such a highlight of our visit.

Dilly, whom we hadn’t seen since before the tour to Yunnan, invited us for a farewell dinner.  Not eating meat has never been a problem for us in any part of China as there is such a diversity of fish and sea food with an amazing range of tofu to choose from as well as the wonderful vegetables, fruit and everything else available here including extraordinary egg products such as hundred year old duck eggs – interesting and surprising. The restaurant Dilly chose had it all; we had a delicious selection of dishes and Chinese friends speaking very good English, it was such a lovely last evening for us.

Thank you to our guides Pam, Daisy and Phyllis in Yunnan. We saw and learnt a great deal, you enabled us to have a very interesting and enjoyable tour.

Thank you to new friends Dilly and Robert for your excellent hospitality and good company, and to Neal for good company and fun with ping pong.

Peter and Candy, you made us so welcome and did your best to ensure that we had another fantastic visit to China. It was wonderful to spend time with you, many thanks and love from us both.