the water village

yesterday, lis and I went to a water village called zhujiajiao just outside the city. lis asked the hotel concierge about going on a tour, and he arranged for it to pick us up at the hotel. we had an english speaking guide (vicky), a driver, and only two other tourists, an italian couple on holiday.

I could tell from the beginning that it was a bit of a tourist trap, as the first thing we saw when we pulled up was this:
this was also the site where we witnessed a scuffle in which an old woman slapped another one. additionally, we were bothered by beggars pushing their bowls onto us, and I was actually concerned about the amount of harassment our guide endured there by not hiring a bicycle-rickshaw for us. we found much calmer streets, alleys and quaint museums beyond the ticketing office which was both welcome and disappointing at the same time. the place was lined with tourist bait, but they mostly left us alone.
the "complaining reception" at the ticket office.
heh.

the first museum was a fishing museum, in which we saw some miniature models of boats pulling tiny nets in different ways, displaying how they used to fish. it showed some clothes, a few carvings and there was an old boat outside. not incredibly impressive, but cute. the best part was the pixelated poster on the wall that showed the original character for “fish” and how it has transformed into today’s symbol (魚), which looks little like a fish if you ask me.

the next museum housed the 6,000-year old pottery I spoke about:

I can't believe I used my flash. idiot!

there wasn’t much else in there besides a fake well, some wooden carvings and a narrative with a disturbingly obtuse mention of animal and human sacrifice. lis asked vicky, “so the wall mentioned sacrifice. what’s that all about?” and vicky told us that when a noble who owned slaves died, his slaves were buried with him, so that he could have them in the afterlife. I’m not sure that really answered the question entirely, but gave us enough to think about to stop asking questions. talk about a raw deal...

we eventually went to the old post office, visited the temple (?) of the city god, walked a few bridges, took a boat ride along the river, and saw a lovely chinese garden. it took hours, mostly because was a GAZILLION degrees out and we were too hot to walk at normal speed.

here are the photos:


many of the houses here date back to the ming dynasty (1368-1644). but they've all been rebuilt. I'm not sure if it was fire, or quest for new-ness that did it, but that seems to be the way it goes here.

welcome to the home of the city god.

a wishing tree. maybe i'd like my rhododendrons more if they were covered in ribbons.

roar.


pictured, left to right: god of longevity, god of wealth, and god of luck.

I miss my cat.

an old boat used for mail delivery. I'm pretty sure that even as part of the exhibit, it gets no mercy from the banging of other boats that pass by.


this is a sign amongst postcards in the old post office that reads "it's surprising to remember the old dreams again." I have no idea why it says that.

what's the chinese equivalent of a gondolier?



our gondolier's buddy who rowed up alongside.






this is a private home and collection of wooden plaques. I'm not sure why we got to walk through it, but it was attached to a famous tea house.


entry to the garden. it was once a privately owned estate, but since the death of the owner, control has been assumed by the government. only important guests were allowed in the back of the house.


and the actual garden:



back outside:


hot dog (no pun intended). he is afraid of tall italian men.

lis is actually walking up stairs, only about an inch high each. I kind of wondered what the point was. maybe carts?

chefs in training? or waiters?

this was the end of the water village portion of our tour when we all piled back into the van and obsessed with the cold air vents until we arrived at our next destination, a silk factory. there vicky passed us off to one of the factory guides who was actually part saleswoman. after the short educational tour where we saw the single silk pods being boiled and de-threaded (the single strand is so thin, they actually use 8-10 pods for one thread), we headed into the room which showed how they handled the double pods (de-insecting them and stretching them by hand). I was one of the first through that door and the ladies all were lounging and chatting and had to get up to look busy for our lesson. (at this point I was lagging in the photo department, but I really wish I would have gotten a picture of that.) we all emerged having resisted the temptation to have an all silk comforter air mailed back to the states, and headed back to the hotel exhausted and sticky.

solid tourist-y day.