Next, we visited Xitang, an ancient village in the Zhejiang Province. The town is crossed by nine rivers and is inhabited by families who have lived there their entire lives.
We all paid to get in, and then later on realized that there’s a back way entry where we wouldn’t have had to pay. The money made from tourists’ entry fees is split among all the families in the village. That alone is nearly enough for them to live year round. Their other money comes from either running a small business in front of their home, or even running a hostel service in their home. This would be great for a person or two who are traveling and want a taste of the culture. It is so impossibly cheap to live in these hostels. Just 15 yuan per night ($2) and that includes bedding, internet, tv, and showers. For an extra 8 yuan, you get a fully home cooked meal (8 dishes, 1 soup). The great thing about staying here is that at night, when the tourists are all gone, is when the town is the most beautiful. People go out in their boats, drink, play cards, chat, and even row up to see a live performance.
Some lotus plants were growing in this corner. This side was blocked off from the rest of the rivers.
Water used to be the main channel for trade, transportation – pretty much everything.
There are little steps everywhere that lead down to the water for washing clothes and other potential uses for the resource.
Here you can see an older lady washing clothes.
Besides clothes, towels, and blankets, salted meat is also hung up to wind-dry. It’s one of the “specialty” foods of the area. You can pretty much get a small plate of it at any eatery here as an appetizer. I personally wouldn’t order it, but it’s not bad.
Delicious lotus leaf wraps a la dim sum
More dried meat… there’s fish, duck, chicken, pork, goose, etc
A fairly young girl running this shop selling little small miscellaneous botique items
I love how weathered these houses look
More fresh wraps still steaming hot
Restaurant on a boat
Making some flour candy things
Rubberband guns
A bar…
Stinky tofu is everywhere here! Personally not a fan…
Me showing off my lotus leaf wrap. It’s not made with rice like the kind you get at dim sum. These were made from corn flour. (mom eating stinky tofu in the background)
The restaurant that we ended up eating at. Looked like one of the nicer places on the outside. Turned out to be my worst meal in China by far. In a poor setting like this, it’s best to eat fresh street food made for passerbys than go to a restaurant with slow business who might have food sitting around longer.
Sea sponge thingamajigs too
View from our dining room
Psycho Tom Cruise ate here too
These flower cake things were delicious. Kind of tastes like soap and smells like faint perfume, but tastes delicious!
White cut chicken and river snails. Snail is one of those things that I refuse to try no matter who tries to convince me otherwise.
A coulple then came in to offer to sing to us and play music while we ate. We obliged for $20.
A lot of motorcycles have built in gloves to fend off the cold. Many of the personal bikes here have small electric motors.
Cooking something with tree to provide a unique taste/smell.
Fish hung up for wind drying
Woodcutter
We then left for Hangzhou. It was quite a drive and it rained the entire way there.
This shitty hotel had glass doors for the bathroom, what a terrible design!
At night, we ate with my mom’s old pal. This meal was amazing. Hard to recall what we had now, but it was indeed amazing.
That’s it for now… too tired to continue!
