Weekend drive into the past.

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Geo: 32.05, 118.78

Guazhouzhen. ChinaFerry ride across the Yanksee?? Why not.After being in China for so long we really enjoy seeing the REAL China.The place were the average person lives.We live in western styled hours and compounds and sometimes we don't realize just how different the real China is.Guazhouzhen is just that. The Real China.The city is about an hour away from Nanjing, straight up North.We paid the toll of 15RMB to cross the Yanksee with the ferry.It was all very well organized and before we knew it we were on the ferry. We jumped out of the car to get a better look of the huge boats and other ferries. There were about 8 different ferries operating at the same time. There were huge trucks on our ferry. It was surprising that we where still afloat.In about 15 minutes we had arrived and we unloaded just as quickly as we loaded. Then with the aid of our navigation on our phone we where in search of an area on the river that seemed to have a series of river boats all parked on the river bank.We made our way to the Main Street where we jumped out of the car and then stated to walk towards the river.<br style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;">A lovely man who looked very worried and asked in his very good English if we needed help. He didn't seem to understand that we were just walking around having a look at the place. He kept asking if we where lost and needed help. We kept reassuring him that we where ok. We made it to the bank of the river and there was a concrete fence that shielded all of the boats. It was only until we saw them that we realized that these boats where their houses. All of the boats has a Chinese flag flying in the breeze. Today was a nice day about 20 degrees but I'm pretty sure they would be very cold during the winter and very hot during the summer. There where so many of these house boats all of the locals would come out and yell "Hello." They were all very friendly. Some where eating. Others painting the roof of their house boat. Others storing bamboo in the gap in the roof. Others chopping wood. It was just another day.We walked through the side streets that where about 2 meters wide. The cobble stones where uneven and during the day it was old but quite nice. There where very few street lights so I'm pretty sure it would be very dark at night and scary if you didn't know where you were going.Again lots of people come out to see who was talking a strange language. One lady actually offered if we wanted to have tea. Then another offered me her lunch she was holding in her hand. A very small bowl with rice and boiled chicken. It looked ok. It was 12:30 so we had better find somewhere to eat otherwise all of the restaurants will close. After lunch we headed off to the island that we saw from the river bank earlier. The island was tiny. There was a tourist area called The Grand Canal - Guanzhou Section.It was odd. It was really, very odd. There was no one around. There was a guard at the gate and that was about it. The gardens where all over grown and the building all run down. It was very interesting. It looked like no one had been there for years. It was almost like everyone disappeared. It was Erie. Almost like what Chernobyl must feel like. It must have been really pretty when it was first built, but now 20 years later it looked like this. There was even a tree that had grown threw the foundations and then back threw the wall. You could almost film a horror movie on the island. We did see some workers fixing the roads and emptying out the crakes with a cleaver and then the older men filling the cracks with cement.<br style="color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px; line-height: normal;">It was a really odd feeling being there. There was also a pool area with a cute bridge and I'm sure people would have taken wedding photos there. At the far end of the island there was a set of stairs that led up to a small temple. That felt like a scene from the The Temple of Doom from an Indiana Jones movie. I was expecting minkes to run out or tribe people with their dart guns trying to shoot us with poisonous darts.Over all the island was pretty spooky and I'm glad we went during the day light.There was one area where they where restoring the Main Street in the old Chinese style which is great to see.The day was an interesting one and it was fantastic to see another real piece of China where real People live.

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Photos

On the other side of the river bank
Guazhouzhen. China

Man storing bamboo
Guazhouzhen. China

In the narrow Streets
Guazhouzhen. China

Ferry
It was so windy catching the ferry backmin the afternoon.
Guazhouzhen. China

Stairs
Guazhouzhen. China

Tower
Guazhouzhen. China

Welding
Working on a Sunday is all very normal.
Guazhouzhen. China

Door way
Guazhouzhen. China