2012-12 Zhujiajiao Ancient Town

Ray had an extended stay in Shanghai and visited the town of Zhujiajiao on the western outskirts of Shanghai.  He traveled by bus with Andy from the Shanghai plant and John from an equipment supplier.  The bus left from near downtown and it took about an hour to get to Zhujiajiao.  It was raining when we arrived at the bus station in Zhujiajiao, so Andy thought it would be best if we took a tricycle taxi to the riverside.  It was tight fit, but we stayed dry for the 1/2 mile ride.

Zhujiajiao is built along a series of rivers and canals, so our first order of business was a boat ride through the canals.  The boats are guided by a gondolier who steers and propels the boat with a single long oar from the back of the boat.    John and Ray were given a chance to steer the boat, but keeping the oar on the peg and making it move forward were not as easy and the gondolier made it appear.

We toured Kezhi Garden, which was a residence with a large food garden, a pond, rock sculptures, and a large home.  Inside the rooms were various artists practicing their crafts.  One of the more facinating was paper cutting master who made large and small paper cutouts of various things such as the animals of the Chinese calendar, warier scenes, and flowers

We then went back to the tallest and longest bridge across the canal, built over 300 years ago.  This is called the Bridge for Freeing Captive Fish.  Our gondolier did have turtles for sale on his boat that could be bought and released, but no fish.  Andy bought a turtle, but was bringing it home for his son.  While walking over the bridge, I noticed a family down at the base of the bridge and they were throwing the turtles back into the river.  The turtles were in for a rough landing as they were probably flying about 50' in the air, so this was not a gentle release.

We walked along the river and checked out some of the shops and food stalls along the way.  They sell souvenirs like silk blankets, wood carvings, and various foods.  We stopped at a dumpling shop that used sticky rice, chestnuts and pork wrapped in a leaf, tied with a piece of straw (using her hands and teeth) and then steamed.  When done, it was gooey and very tasty.  

After crossing the bridge, we found a place for lunch.  All the seafood was very fresh, as it was kept alive in fish tanks next to the kitchen.  They had small and large fish, shrimp, eels, and snails.  We had fish and shrimp, and eating the shrimp was a challenge  as they were small shrimp and not peeled.  Andy was able to place them in his mouth whole and remove the meat and then discard the head and shell with very little problem.  John and Ray had to end up peeling them by hand before eating them.  Because of this, Andy ordered peeled shrimp for our evening dinner, making it much easier for John and Ray.  During lunch we overhear an American at an adjacent table talking about St. Paul and the Twin Cities.  A small world when a person eating lunch in a small, family run restaurant along the river outside of Shanghai is from the same state as you.

One of the shops along the way had some skinned ducks hanging on a large rack and buckets full of crabs of various sizes.  It is always interesting to see the food hanging out without refrigeration.  Across the street was a shop having cages and cages of live birds, but these were apparently for pets, not food