Looky Lady Looky.

Serenade me on the waters of Zhouzhang. Please?

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About an hour from Shanghai lies the wonderful  (though remarkably touristy) city of Zhouzhuang. One of a handful of 'water cities' in the area, Zhouzhuang is built on and above the local waterway. Though I wouldn't know, it is apparently like Venice in it's design and structure.  A perfect example of the ability of the Chinese to turn everything into a profitable enterprise, the streets are lined with hawkers selling the same 'unique' crap I have seen everywhere else in China. The bus dropped us off at what appeared to be a silent, ghost town of empty, nearly completed souvenir shops. Further down in the old city the former residences of local artists and writers are on show, along with an astonishing number of souvenir stalls. Wandering down the intricate alleyways and backstreets offers a relaxing alternative to the throngs that crowd the mainstreets and bridges. Constant cries to investigate the stalls kind of put a dampener on the whole thing. There are only so many times you can here 'Looky lady looky' without cracking. There are both Taoist and Buddhist monasteries filled with intricately lavish designs and objects, including a gigantic Buddha. We slept in the garden of the main Buddhist complex beneath the shade of trees to the soothing gush of water, which was a wonderfully calming escape from the push and shove of the crowd that I've gradually come to associate with China.