Water World

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33294646.post-2861935391286209282007-12-04T14:53:00.000-05:002007-12-17T07:37:42.978-05:00Water World<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mH-H7V7EI/AAAAAAAAA2A/1kl_wCX8ibg/s1600-h/waterworld_blog01.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mH-H7V7EI/AAAAAAAAA2A/1kl_wCX8ibg/s400/waterworld_blog01.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141289950969719874" /></a> Can I tell you...about the water village of <a href="http://www.shanghaiholiday.net/jiangsu/zhouzhuang.htm">Zhouzhuang</a>. Dating back 900 years old, this Venice of the East is surprisingly still in tact, albeit a tourist trap nowadays. It's about an hour away or 25 miles outside central Shanghai. People still live in the village and make their living either as gondoliers or shop keepers selling typical tourist paraphernalia. This is China's first water town and some of the homes date back to Ming and Qing dynasties. I've always been fascinated with the movies about ancient China so I had to see the real thing up close and personal. <a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mFu37V68I/AAAAAAAAA1A/D5IOXrBWh-c/s1600-h/waterworld_blog07.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mFu37V68I/AAAAAAAAA1A/D5IOXrBWh-c/s400/waterworld_blog07.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141287489953459138" /></a> The village is very picturesque, resembling a scene from a <a href="http://www.lewisandwood.co.uk/chinese.htm">Chinoiserie toile de Jouy</a>, complete with canals, arched stone bridges, narrow lanes, and tile-roofed wooden houses. It's quaint and unfortunately takes a few hours of strolling along the canal banks, exploring the tiny shops, touring several of the courtyard mansions, stopping for lunch, and lastly taking a gondola ride. But we didn't do any of that. Douglas and I did the fast forward version and avoided the crowded streets and alleys as much as we could, much to the surprise of our tour guide. <a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mG5X7V7AI/AAAAAAAAA1g/yaT6gNjB0yI/s1600-h/waterworld_blog03.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mG5X7V7AI/AAAAAAAAA1g/yaT6gNjB0yI/s400/waterworld_blog03.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141288769853713410" /></a> <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGpH7V6_I/AAAAAAAAA1Y/4AgWUdMCqVk/s1600-h/waterworld_blog05.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGpH7V6_I/AAAAAAAAA1Y/4AgWUdMCqVk/s400/waterworld_blog05.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141288490680839154" /></a><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGan7V6-I/AAAAAAAAA1Q/zX0lwcuCD00/s1600-h/waterworld_blog04.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGan7V6-I/AAAAAAAAA1Q/zX0lwcuCD00/s400/waterworld_blog04.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141288241572735970" /></a> <a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGAX7V69I/AAAAAAAAA1I/W2zheOAgESQ/s1600-h/waterworld_blog06.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mGAX7V69I/AAAAAAAAA1I/W2zheOAgESQ/s400/waterworld_blog06.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141287790601169874" /></a> The village is constantly mobbed by tour groups from Korea, Japan and other mainland Chinese. You can barely walk through the narrow streets. We snaked through the crowds and wandered into empty side alleys looking for some relief from the madness. It was claustrophobic and not at all pleasant with several tour guides screaming at the top of their lungs and shop keepers hawking their wares simultaneously. I managed to get some fabulous photos without the tourists and looking at them again well after the trip, you can almost imagine what it looked like in the old days. I know, I know, it's romanticizing the past. But doesn't everybody? <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mFRH7V67I/AAAAAAAAA04/6nS5wLsKxek/s1600-h/waterworld_blog09.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mFRH7V67I/AAAAAAAAA04/6nS5wLsKxek/s400/waterworld_blog09.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141286978852350898" /></a> <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mE5H7V66I/AAAAAAAAA0w/Oe2_6gWqGuc/s1600-h/waterworld_blog08.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mE5H7V66I/AAAAAAAAA0w/Oe2_6gWqGuc/s400/waterworld_blog08.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141286566535490466" /></a> Even today the town depends on canal traffic, although there's as much traffic in throngs of tourists as in sacks of rice. In ancient times, these waterways (fed by the Baixian River and linked to the Grand Canal) were the only means of moving rice, silk, handicrafts, and pottery to the port of Shanghai. Zhouzhuang is one of thousands of water villages that once dotted the delta and it's one of the very few that still preserves its original landscape and canal system. <a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHsH7V7DI/AAAAAAAAA14/my4PQDdweJI/s1600-h/waterworld_blog10.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHsH7V7DI/AAAAAAAAA14/my4PQDdweJI/s400/waterworld_blog10.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141289641732074546" /></a> <a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHd37V7CI/AAAAAAAAA1w/FIdcJl6T6BY/s1600-h/waterworld_blog11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHd37V7CI/AAAAAAAAA1w/FIdcJl6T6BY/s400/waterworld_blog11.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141289396918938658" /></a> <a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mEWn7V65I/AAAAAAAAA0o/e2VEz8PVY6Y/s1600-h/waterworld_blog02.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mEWn7V65I/AAAAAAAAA0o/e2VEz8PVY6Y/s400/waterworld_blog02.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141285973830003602" /></a><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHOX7V7BI/AAAAAAAAA1o/VJr6xQkI4JU/s1600-h/waterworld_blog12.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_gngMH44UWMI/R1mHOX7V7BI/AAAAAAAAA1o/VJr6xQkI4JU/s400/waterworld_blog12.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141289130630966290" /></a> While the whole village is like a living-history museum of country life in rural China, and overflowing now with tour groups, it retains its rustic charms, making for a fascinating break from the modern urban jungle of frenetic Shanghai.Rafe Totengcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614075637640707768noreply@blogger.com