Very pleasant weekend in an idyllic 1400-year-old water town (or canal town) between Shanghai and Suzhou called Luzhi 甪直. This whole region was long trafficked almost entirely by boat - you still see canals big and smal as you drive or train through - and it's nice to be reminded what life will have looked like then. Luzhi's not very touristic (yet,
though it's trying to become so) and few people stay overnight. The more charming its canals and forty-one bridges after the tourist stalls were closed and children came out to play in the cobbled streets. I stayed with a friend in rooms on a courtyard (with a functioning well!) behind an old school converted into a museum dedicated to books and education (our courtyard is just out the window above) and it was enchanting, a voyage into the past! Today we bused to Suzhou to meet my visiting North American
friends, and lost ourselves in the Master of the Nets' Garden. I've been to Suzhou only
once before but was struck again by how different its energy is from Shanghai's...
Very pleasant weekend in an idyllic 1400-year-old water town (or canal town) between Shanghai and Suzhou called Luzhi 甪直. This whole region was long trafficked almost entirely by boat - you still see canals big and smal as you drive or train through - and it's nice to be reminded what life will have looked like then. Luzhi's not very touristic (yet, 
though it's trying to become so) and few people stay overnight. The more charming its canals and forty-one bridges after the tourist stalls were closed and children came out to play in the cobbled streets. I stayed with a friend in rooms on a courtyard (with a functioning well!) behind an old school converted into a museum dedicated to books and education (our courtyard is just out the window above) and it was enchanting, a voyage into the past! Today we bused to Suzhou to meet my visiting North American friends, and lost ourselves in the Master of the Nets' Garden. I've been to Suzhou only once before but was struck again by how different its energy is from Shanghai's...
