Today we went to a water town just outside of Shanghai. It boasts of buildings ranging from 100 to 1000 years old, and claims to be the "Venice of the East."
It was a neat historical town, that takes advantage of tourist's interest, and even though we were among at most, 10 westerners there, it was packed with people. When we arrived there was a parking lot that rivaled any large mall, and they charge about $15 American for adults to enter, half for kids over 5 years of age. Once inside, you are barraged by vendors trying to sell you cheap Chinese nick-nacks down EXTREMELY narrow alleys, or tempt you to come in to their restaurant for a bite to eat. Although we were not brave enough to taste a majority of the local fare, our driver, Mr. Tao, who came in with us, bought a few packages of "Barley Sugar, " which remind me of shredded wheat with a peanut filling, and are VERY tasty!
We took a "venice-like" boat ride around the inside section of the town, where the "boat operators" sing you a Chinese song, with the help of a few Chinese dollars. After the boat ride, we wandered around the town trying to find some of the buildings that you can tour. It took us quite a while to find a few, as there are hundreds of doorways, to go along with the thousands of people, and pushy vendors. We eventually toured two temples, one included a nice garden-like area, and then decided we were hot, tired and hungry, and it was time to go. Once we took the 1 1/2 - 2 hour trip home, we ordered "Hell Pizza," because pizza from "Hell" sounded safer than food from an ancient water town. FYI: It IS the best pizza in town!
All in all, a good day. We never did make it to a Dragon Boat race, but we had a very cultural experience anyway.
Beth
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