A Beautiful “Canal Town” in China – Zhujiajiao

Lindsay and I are big fans of the t.v. show The Amazing Race. A couple of seasons ago (while cheering on our favorite team ever “the cowboys”) we were awe struck by a beautiful village in China that was featured on the show. We happened to spend my 28th birthday in the beautiful city of Shanghai and decided to work our way out to this “canal town” which was about an hour away from the city. We took a taxi to the gigantic national stadium to catch one of the daily tour buses out to Zhujiajiao as we had read this is the best place to do this. Unfortunately when we made it to the bus station we were informed that all the buses to Zhujiajiao had left for the day. I asked the tour bus operator if we could take a taxi out there and she said “no too far.” Stubborn as I am I refused to take this as fact and we walked a few feet to a taxi stand where numerous drivers were standing around. We pulled out our lonely planet guidebook and pointed to the name of the town (in Chinese) and within minutes were traveling on the superhighways of Shanghai away from the city and into the countryside (lesson of the day: don’t always trust what a tourist desk might tell you). The ride was smooth and relaxing and before we knew it we were being dropped off and the incredibly nice driver was pointing towards the center of the little village. We walked in the direction he told us and all of the sudden we found our selves wondering through “one of the most charming canal towns of China"– Lonely Planet” . This beautiful and ancient town was built on the banks of a canal. The streets are made of cobblestones and are old and narrow with room for walking only. Everywhere you look there are cute old bridges, small canals that break off in every direction, small shops and beautiful Chinese archtitecture. One of the things we were struck with the most was all of the food vendors selling crazy looking food and fish. On every corner we would see these little shops selling crazy looking fish, pigs knuckles, etc, etc. Although we never ate we did hit up one local shop for our favorite Chinese drinks (I will write about this in another entry). The rest of the day was as follows…we would walk down one canal and then cross to the other side while pausing on the bridge to take in the scene. The beautiful old white buildings, trees, canals and bridges that made up the scene are almost indescribable. We eventually found a little corner tucked away (next to one of the main canals) and watched the boats float by for what seemed like hours. We wandered this beautiful town for hours until our feet were killing us and then we decided to catch a cab back to Shanghai. All I remember about the cab ride was trying to stay awake (we were both “riding the bull” trying to stay awake) and then being awestruck at the tall buildings as we entered Shanghai. Exploring the beautiful Chinese canal town of Zhujiajiao on my birthday was a memory we will never forget.