This 1,000 year old water town is China's Venice. For 100RMB, one has the entire village to explore. And it is a lived-in village! The entrance to this Water Town is punctuated by stores selling silk products, ti pan or stewed pig knuckles, various dried and preserved fruits, sugar floss candies. As one enters , the water lanes and stone bridges greet the visitors right away. Gondola-like river boats glide through the river .... laden with camera-strung tourists happily snapping away. The lady "gondolier" sings Chinese songs with a good melody , notwithstanding that we don't understand the lyrics. It was a lovely sight. Think Venice with an Oriental accent. There are red Chinese lanterns adorning many windows with oriental carvings. Viewed from any of these windows, the picturesque rivertown is framed even better than many of the postcards available on sale in zhouzhuang's stalls.

We finally reached one of the old houses. The ticket allows you to enter some of these houses belonging to the Yuan, Qing or Ming Dynasties. One of the most interesting of these public houses is the Hall of Shen. Built in 1742, Shen's Residence has more than a hundred rooms and was built by the son (Shen Wansan) of one of the first silk tycoons in the province. The arcades and courtyards within the Shen compound speak of the decadence of those times. There were signages along the aisles which caught our attention, and provided some amusement. The intricate carvings on the windows maybe very Oriental, though I detected a likeness to the Greek "eternity" patterns. Out of the Shen Residence, and once more along the street canal, we passed a number of eateries with live seafood in aquariums. I even found some turtles and I dare not guess what wonderful Chinese dish it would make. Since the tourist season has already set in , the street canals and alleys are now crowded with snap-happy travelers. ZhouZhuang must be a favorite out of town destination for those visiting Shanghai as it is only an hour and a half drive from the city. Not too far away is the Hall of Zhang's Residence, right before the Fu'An Bridge. Built by the Xu Family in the 15th century, and later bought by the Zhang Family, this residence has fewer rooms than the Shen Residence. Like the other ancient houses, the river flows underneath the Main Hall of the Zhang's Residence. 

We had lunch in the same restaurant we dined in a month before. Almost the same menu too. After all, this is ZhouZhuang, and it would be a sin not to try the "ti pan" and soy-marinated, slightly sweetened pork cubes. By the same table, near the same window from where you can view the many chinese gondolas plying the river, we took our table and took our time deciding what else to eat. While others in our group tried the gondola ride , we ordered some "novel" appetizers. Forgive me for not being able to write what these dishes are, as we were simply going by the pictures when we ordered these items. There was this dish that reminded me of those German aspic dishes. Pork cubes encased in this gelatinous stuff, which by the way, is very very good. Another appetizer was this serving of dried and sweetened fruits, which looked so delectable, and actually tasted very good. And there was this fish dish which looked simply fried with breadcrumbs, but tasted more than any other breaded fish. Gosh, I am doing a bad job here. But at least, I made sure I took good photos of the dishes we ordered. So , please do check them out.

While we were in Beijing, I found "four season paintings" of this stone bridge and a passing chinese gondola. I reminded my friends that such scene in four seasons is found right here in Zhou Zhuang. Now, they know why I bought those 4 paintings in Beijing. I just know my young travelers back home (who knew how to count the chinese way) would love it. We did some pretty good shopping here too (ahem.....) , where I ended up with two dozens of silk scarves. What to do with them? Please don't ask. The men bought some silk shirts too, and they looked quite happy with their purchases. Hmmmm, they are fast learners.

On our way out, we found a number of ladies selling various food stuff. We were curious to check them out. Mostly, they were dried seafood. Like dried shrimps, or dried fish, or dried squid. The pungent smell told us they were heavily salted. Walking out, we passed the same stalls selling the "ti pan" or stewed pig knucles. We had to literally look away. Good thing , there was an ongoing spectacle of the dragonboat dance right by the entrance gate.

"Friendship is a collection of hearts ready to give, share and understand. It never fades and never ends, it only reminds us that life is not perfect without a friend. "

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