Being veggie

Nanjing is another big city of around 5 million people. You may have heard of it as when the Japanese troops arrived in 1937, the 'Rape of Nanjing' was added to the catalogue of the war's atrocities. It was a dreadful time for the people here as the city was basically made an example of; around 100,000 people were killed in the first 4 days alone.

We had yesterday as a free day so Matt and I headed for the Fuzimiao shopping area. Today, we had the option of a bike ride to the mausoleum of Dr Sun Yat-sen. This, we were told would be a 2 hour bike ride there, 2 hours back with a steep ascent included, riding through the very busy streets of Nanjing. Having not been on a bike since I spectacularly fell off into a road at the age of 16 I wasn't about to try again now, especially as helmets aren't provided. So, Matt, Brian, Jean and me took a taxi instead and met the group there.The revered Dr Sun Yat-sen was the founder of the Chinese Republic; the mausoleum area was quite spectacular and pleasant to stroll around.

We headed back after this and met the group for dinner in the evening. When we eat with the group I'm finding the food fine as Susan orders at least 3 vegetable dishes. When Matt and I are on our own it proves a little more tricky. We go into every restaurant until we find one with a picture menu or English menu. Even then we're not guaranteed to get meat-free. After lots of pointing to the phrasebook my aubergine still came with pork mince, some green beans and chillies we ordered came soaked in a chicken fat dressing. A lot of the food is quite oily and we're finding we're craving western stuff; a nice cheddar cheese salad sandwich and a cup of PG Tips would go down a treat! Anyway, after dinner Susan asked if anyone would like to try bullfrog. 10 minutes later a chopped up and spiced bullfrog appeared; I asked Susan if it had been alive until she decided the group should try some and she said yes. Not sure the rest of the group were too thrilled at me for this revelation, but if you're going to eat the thing I think it's only right you know the score. Poor frog probably thought its luck was in, 'yippee, it's nearly closing time, I've made it another day…ahhh life is good…' Matt didn't eat it. Susan asked if we wanted to do karaoke but I think the frog was getting its revenge as no-one was up to it.