Before heading back to Shanghai we made a detour to see this "Venice of The East".
We were proudly told it dates back as far as 1086 and, as promised by our Lonely Planet guide book, it was completely overrun by Chinese tour groups. There were a few other Westerners (or "Long Noses" as we discovered is what we are called by some) but few and far between. The crowds would not have been quite so bad were it not for the fact that every guide, no matter how small their Chinese group, felt it was necessary to talk through a loud hailer or portable PA system. The result - a cacophony of high pitched voices that blended together into a constant meaningless "wha wa wha".
But what did the place look like I hear you wandering? It was actually quite spectacular. There were rows of houses lining the canals with narrow streets running alongside the canals and bridges crossing over them. Along the canals were gondolas taking people for rides and, in some cases, the lady gondoliers singing in the most beautiful voices.
We were taken to see many of the original houses, gardens, courtyards, canals, bridges and lakes. Each was more grand then the last and, as with everything in China, had many different spiritual, superstitious, traditional or some other meaning. Another "feature" of some of these houses was a very narrow passage running alongside the main rooms dimly lit by candles. These were so that the servants were neither seen nor heard while scurrying around to serve their masters.
Quite a clever feature was at the entrance to a few of the houses; there was a screen with the middle decorated by a picture on a thin slate of marble. The uses of this were to give you a chance to walk in and admire the picture before walking around it and seeing the magnificence of the garden or lake view behind it; it also provided a Feng Shui purpose as there should not be a clear view from the front to back door as that way the luck will just pass straight through; and it also acted as a weather forecaster, if the marble was damp it meant rain was forecast.
A not so great one was where two bridges were built next to each other but at a right angle to each other. The practical reason was to cross to canals that were perpendicular to each other but the Chinese folklore has many good stories about how important this creation is as it has bridges going North-South and East-West so does a lot of good to everyone. This has become an important photo spot and our guide said we should do the same. We watched in amusement for a while as tourist after tourist sat on the corner of the wall having a photo with just ONE bridge! How will they ever remember the importance and significance of their photos? If only they had taken their photos from the opposite bank of the canal they would have both bridges in the picture. We walked along to the next bridge which was far more picturesque and quiet and where I took a photo of Annie. I told our guide that one day that bridge would be most famous as it was where we took a photo :-)
One other amusing story (with apologies to any tour guides reading this) was when we were walking through one of the alleyways that were lined with houses converted into shop fronts selling anything from tourist trinkets to pearls and rice and shrimps for lunch. We had been walking along for a while when our guide turned to us and said "there are shops on both sides of this street". I had to ask Annie if she had just said what I thought she had :-)
At that point we asked to go somewhere that had no megaphones and ended up in a beautiful tranquil garden with a lake and on the edge of a giant river. From there we walked through the equally tranquil Monastry gardens and lakes before running the gauntlet of tour groups to get to the exit.
We headed back to Shanghai. The Chinese traffic really is as bad as the news reports say. A 90 minute drive turned into a two and a half hour traffic jam on a Monday at lunch time. Where are all these people driving to and from?!
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