It's Just Like Venice...Well Almost

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Today the kids and I traveled just an hour by car to another world. We often say we live in a bubble in Shanghai, well today we went to China! Tongli (Tong-lee) is one of many water villages just west of Shanghai. The area is said to be the Venice of the East. The area is flat, and apparently very low, and is covered with water - rivers, canals, ponds, and lakes. People here really live with the water, incorporating it into their daily lives and livelihoods. The water is filled with fishing nets and pearl farms.

Tongli is actually an island, with one main entrance. We were dropped off at the outskirts since cars are not allowed in. The area is full of small canals, foot bridges and narrow alleys. We spent the very cold morning experiencing the canals by gondola and exploring the deserted side streets and alleyways on foot. We saw so many interesting things - many chickens being cleaned and washed in the canals (yum!), a woman cleaning a turtle (what’s that called…de-shelling?), a woman with a live osprey show on her boat (see picture of this!), countless women washing laundry in the canals, tiny homes where lunch was being cooked over sidewalk fires, even a very clean (Anika was delighted to see) squatty-potty!

Tongli is said to be less touristy than some of the other water towns in the area, something which we appreciated. We were greeted by many friendly smiles and not too many curious stares. We’ve added this to our list of sites when we get to play tour guide when we have visitors. Maybe we’ll even take Serge there when he’s in town sometime!

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Photos

A beautiful Tongli bridge
The kids are hard to see, but are standing at the top of this interesting bridge near the entrance to the water town.

Enjoying the views from the boat
Our gondolier caught this picture of us enjoying the ride.

A peaceful canal
This was an especially peaceful part of the canal. It's hard to believe it was really COLD from the looks of this picture.

Our ducking gondolier
This is the skillful gondolier who paddled us along the canals. Here she had to duck to clear an especially low bridge.

Chicken anyone?
This woman was washing off her chickens in the oh-so-clean canal. I don't know who was going to eat these, but there were a lot of little restaurants right behind her. If you look carefully, you can spot a chicken foot sticking out behind her on her right.

Laundry time
This was one of the many people doing their laundry along the canals. We saw them scrubbing on tables and washing boards, then using the canal for the rinse cycle. Seeing as the water is quite dirty, I had to wonder if the clothes came out cleaner than they went in!

An alley in Tongli
Note the laundry hanging out to dry above the snow. This snow is the remnant of the recent storms China recieved.

Tongli Ladies
These ladies seemed to be enjoying the morning chatting on the sidewalk. Most of them were quite happy to say hello ("Ni hao") to us!

A narrow alleyway
We explored lots of tiny alleys throughout the village. This one was too narrow for a bike to fit through.

The token gross picture
Ok, I'm sorry to include this, but the kids love this shot. Look carefully in the foreground and you'll see a pile of (human) poo! Ironically it's right behind a public toilet, however, I'm sure there is a fee for the bathroom.

I need longer arms!
Here's our attempt at a self-taken picture. It took about six tries to get all three of us AND the bridge in the picture!

A smokey side street
This street was filled with smoke from a one of the small cooking fires built on the sidewalk.

Taffy Time
We decided to try some of this taffy-like treat this couple was making. Unfortnately it looked a bit better than it tasted, but it was worth a try!

A friendly face
This woman was happy to have us take her picture outside of her house. Her friend didn't want her picture taken and scooted out of the way. We took a moment to warm up next to her little fire.

Comments

[Deb]

Great pix Sal!
It's nice to see smiles on the kids faces...what an interesting adventure! Keep 'em coming! We miss you all... The Hustons

[Nina Leask]

Hi There
Hi Sally and Serge! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Such a differentworld. Dan went to this town as well and stood on the same bridge - small worldeh? Hope all is well. Cheers Nina