David Colman, a 53-year-old photographer from England who moved to Jiaxing in August 2020. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Editor's note: We have asked expats living in Zhejiang to share their stories about the province's cities where they live and work. David Colman is a 53-year-old photographer from England who moved to Jiaxing in August 2020.

When I moved to Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, I spent many an hour online researching places to go, things to see. What is the city known for, what is famous, what should I be looking out for?

Some friends took me for a meal one day and we had a dish that I had not seen before, a group of crunchy heart-shaped vegetables; and without the help of our phones to translate I didn't recognize them as a type of water chestnut. Nanhu Ling (water chestnut in Jiaxing's Nanhu Lake) I was told, is very famous in the summer months and obviously grow in the city lake.

I know water chestnuts. Back in England we would have them in plenty of Chinese dishes at local restaurants and you can buy them in supermarkets in tins. But I had never seen the real thing, I just knew they grew in water and hence the name.

A short time after I saw an image of some ladies standing in a lake picking something on my neighbor's WeChat moments, "What is that?" I asked. "That's the Nanhu Ling," she replied. "Please tell me where that is, I need to go and see for myself." Very kindly she came round and showed me on a map the location of this local delicacy and informed me that next time they are picking she would let me know.

It wasn't long before I got the message. "They are picking tomorrow and you need to be there before 7 am as they do it early." As always my camera bag was ready and my alarm set for an early start as I was roughly 20 minutes away by taxi.