Wuzhen - Old Water Village

Wuzhen is an old water village. It's something like the Venice of China, although its only recently been opened to tourism.

We stayed in a great old half-abandoned five-star hotel. It was lavish with marble and European amenities, had a bowling alley, a shooting range, a massage area and pool. Strangely though, it was completely dead, like a grand old ghost establishment. The halls were empty and eerie and I never saw any other guests enter the giant building. The ritzy clubs and bars sat empty, and the bar tender sat motionless in the dark as we entered. It was like the Ritz Carlton for a city that had moved on, or was at the very least out of season. The place was shiny on the inside, but terribly dirty on the outside.

Wuzhen actually had some of the best bazaar shopping I encountered. The prices were reasonable, the selection was large, the quality was high, and the vendors were nice. There were some great silk works, and I spent some time with a calligrapher, who painted a silk scroll for me. Wuzhen was a great place to wander around. It had clearly been there a long time and was full of interesting nooks and crannies. It was obvious that most of the tourists there were Chinese -- a very distinct difference.

I enjoyed seeing the citizens of Wuzhen leading their daily lives, playing cards, and tending to their children. Eventually I came upon a great Taoist temple area where incense was being burned. There I found large metal cauldrons of water full of coins, and each inhabited by a turtle. There I learned that the 1 yi yuan will float on the surface tension of the water if laid down with enough care. The turtle would then swim to the surface breaking the tension and causing the coins to fall. It started to rain, but I was enthralled with my glorious discovery, and the unique characters about in this town.