The Qingming Festival is a great time for a family trip to Yixing

Leaving Yangzhou the day before Qingming Festival, it took 2 hours and 20 minutes to drive to Yixing's Yangxian Dongpo Pavilion. The night view was quite nice, and the place was relatively secluded with few people around. Not far away is Yangxian Town, where many shops were closed that day, making it rather quiet. The next morning, we went to Yixing National Forest Park. The online ticket price was 39.5 yuan, including a free bamboo shoot digging experience. The same price applies for anyone over 1.5 meters tall. Yixing National Forest Park is located at the junction of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces, with a forest coverage rate of 92%, fresh air, and not many people around at 8:30 in the morning. The kids played real-life CS, 38 yuan per person for half an hour, and the two brothers had the field to themselves, having a blast! Then we went to dig bamboo shoots, and there were so many! We dug up four. Three yuan per jin. Walking further in, we saw cute squirrels, beautiful cherry blossom woods, and a non-powered amusement park. A park worth visiting! We went back to the homestay for a rest and lunch, then visited the China Yixing Purple Clay Museum, which costs 5 yuan for adults, 2.5 yuan for children over 1.4 meters (half price), and free for those under 1.4 meters. There were ancient pottery galleries, modern purple clay galleries, and various exquisite ceramic products from home and abroad, which were lifelike and beautiful. There was also an exhibition hall for Gu Jingzhou, a master of purple clay. Quite interesting, and we spent an hour and a half there. At four o'clock, we went to the Ding Mountain Mini Great Wall (free). There were many cars and people, and we were stuck for twenty minutes. We slowly drove up the mountain, which was a bit difficult due to the winding mountain road, not recommended for novice drivers. We climbed up from the left side of the temple, and it took half an hour to come down from the city wall without any rest in between! It was quite tiring! We stayed in the city that night, and the next morning we had Zhou Zhen wontons, which were really popular and indeed delicious. The soup was made from bone broth, without any fishy taste, savory! Twenty wontons for ten yuan, two bowls were just right for three people, and we also bought ten potstickers for twenty yuan, which were not as tasty as the wontons. The last stop was Dongpo Academy (free). It introduced Su Dongpo's life in Yixing during his later years, and the main hall houses the largest purple clay statue of Su Dongpo in the country. We ended our trip and returned to Yangzhou! This was my third visit to Yixing, and I really like this city. No wonder Su Dongpo said, 'I will grow old in Yangxian, for I have always been fond of its streams and mountains.' With its mountains and waters, tea gardens and bamboo forests, the natural scenery is beautiful, and the exquisite pottery and porcelain are not inferior to those of Jingdezhen. It's not overcrowded, making it a great place to relax! On the day we returned home, we peeled the bamboo shoots and made braised pork, which was so delicious I couldn't stop eating. The shoots were tender and even a bit sweet! If I had known, I would have dug more, haha😄!