Friday we went to Zhouzhuang with our friend Amy. The town is famous for three things:
Its a canal town with boats like those in Venice.
It has an ancient “Twin Bridge” that is oft referenced in Chinese poetry and art.
It has a famous pork dish known to have saved a man's life from the emperor
I saw the canals and they indeed have boats similar to those in Venice. I saw the twin bridge, a marvelous structure, and I ate the pork. All I can say about the above is that the emperor must have been a fan of pig that still had hairy pieces of skin on it and that gave him diarrhea.
We also drank flower tea in a traditional ceremony and saw a bunch of cool households that had been restored from long ago. (I didn't write down the dates, bit I want to say at least 500 years). That night we hung out at the studio of a painter and as Katie tried her hand with brush and ink, I walked the dark streets a bit.
Two children dashed across the cobblestone and as I looked at the plaster alleyway I thought that this night was not too unlike any other night in this place for the last few hundred years. Men gathered outside their closed shops and ate noodles while playing dominoes and red lanterns threw their muted light along the canal. If the people in the nearby building where to turn off their television, I could have traveled back in time and not have noticed too much. Katie finished her painting and we drove back to Shanghai with our friend.
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