2025-12-21 Yanping

 Last day in Yanping...

A quiet Sunday was had today - a drive out to a spot on the Min River downstream from Yanping to a small village, with lots of murals, and a beach and sheltered spot where we hired a pedal boat for a stint on the harbour next to the river.  Even though it was a short paddle, it was enough to remind me that going back to gym in a few days is going to hurt!

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beach, and as usual there was too much to eat - so many dishes!

A drive back to the hotel, where I went for a walkback into town to stretch my legs and work off some of the lunch.

In the centre of town the shops were open and the riverbank was crowded with families and old people out and about, with the dancing groups and karaoke going full bore.  At one of the plaza arears in front of a shopping mall a stage was set up, and I caught the end of a ladies group doing a kind of butterfly dance, and saw the start of the next set of ladies doing a marching act to the sounds of what could have been a song from the revolution.

It was getting late, so I caught the bus back to the hotel (all fares are 1 yuan here, about 25 cents - pay by the Alipay app on the phone), to clean my shoes for the return to Australia, and to get ready for another feast of a meal at the restaurant run by Toby's cousin and his wife.  This is an upmarket Japanese fusion restaurant - a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Asian.  Toby's cousin picked us up from the hotel in his black Land-Rover Discovery - the one with all the features - and so we arrived in some luxury where we met up with everyone.  It was quite a party - Toby, Pippa and Isaac, Toby's cousin, his wife and son, Toby's Mum, Toby's uncle and his wife.

Everything was lais on, seafood dishes, vegetarian, hotpot, sushi, vegetable platters and so on.  One of the main dishes was a prawn and sushimi platter decorated with gold leaf!  

A fitting end to our last day in Yanping, and to the end of our China trip -bar the travel day tomorrow, where we train to Fuzhou, fly to Chengdu then to Melbourne (at 0100 on Tuesday morning), then to Hobart - so a long and stressful 48 hours to come.

1000 Year Old Tree at the village south of Yanping

Village temple and statues

Beach along the Min River

Dragon boats stored under the temple

Min River on a hazy Sunday morning, and the shortest day of the year.  The river is low, as the winter is the dry season

Isaac at village playground

Pippa in the late autumn foliage

Lots of people out getting photos of autumn leaves

The little harbour at the village

Me and Cap'n Isaac

The local Nanping beer

Lunch for 4 adults and 1 child

Dragon boat mural at the village

Village mural

Butterfly dancing ladies, Yanping

Marching ladies, Yanping

Cards and haircuts, Yanping city underpass

Waltzing in the park, Yanping

A game of Chinese checkers perhaps?

Prawn and sushimi platter with gold leaf decoration

Some of the dishes that came out this evening

 

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