Ningbo Pictures

Ok... so after breakfast, we set out to explore the town, blessed with excellent spring weather. We were all in t-shirts by noon. Downtown Ningbo is small enough that you can cross the city by foot in about 30 minutes, which is impressive given it's population of 2 million. With no major tourist attractions to see, we spent most of the day relaxing in two parks. The first, Moon Lake, is a vast area of well-kept paths, ponds, verandas, and old buildings, all screaming feng shui. All our worries melted away as we leisurely strolled, drinking beers and enjoying the sun.

Classic example of old meets new.

Fruit vendor.

Beggar. I gave him 5 kuai for this photo.

Therese with tiny dog.

Matt with beer and a smoke.

Therese with some sculpture.

We spent most of the afternoon in another park where we tossed the frisbee, drank beer and played Beer Fris, a beer-drinking game involving a frisbee. Basically, there was beer and frisbee. We enjoyed ourselves, but possibly not as much as the masses of onlookers who came to watch the foreigners and their strange game. We had people cheering for us, and they hadn't a clue what was going on.

As the sun was setting, we crossed the river to check out a 17th Century Portuguese Church and grab dinner in Lǎo Wàitān (老外滩), or The Old Bund. Shanghai has a famous area called The Bund, a stretch of European architechture from the 19th and 20th centuries, which is now home to some of the trendiest bars and restaurants in China. Lǎo Wàitān is Ningbo's rebuttal, and boasts nice traditional and modern architecture, restaurants and bars.

This last shot was a ten second exposure at dusk, in an alley near our restaurant.

We capped off this excellent trip with foot massages at the airport, before calling an end to a long day. We'll definitely return to Ningbo someday.

~Kev