Zhaoqing

We decided to stop off in Zhaoqing as we travel West, and it was clearly off the beaten tourist track. We saw no other western faces for the two days we spent there. Everyone seemed intrigued to see us and shouted out hello and giggled alot when we said hello or thankyou in Chinese. From the guide book it sounded like a small town, but this being China that still meant a population of 330,000.

According to the Lonely Planet there were two things to see in Zhaoqing. First a scenic park called Dinghu Shan which we hopped on the bus to and saw the worlds largest Ding - Ooh! ( its a massive ceremonial pot incase you wondered) and a huge temple complex in the woods. The second sight was our favourite- the Seven Star Crags Park. It was a beautiful park of limestone pinnacles, caves and lakes.

We tried out the street food on the market for dinner and played it safe with sweetcorn, sweet potato and sausages with optional spicy- blow your head off sauces. We also went to our first Chinese Supermarket and couldn't believe the amount of live and fresh meat and fish. They were selling live turtles which made us feel a bit uncomfortable, and had huge sides of meat and chickens hanging up by their necks.