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西塘古镇 March 31, 2011

Posted by hslu in China, Travel.
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西塘古镇 is an ancient city about 25 miles from Shanghai in 浙江省嘉善縣”zhe4 jiang1 sheng3 jia1 shan4 xian4,” or the County of JiaShan in Zhejiang Province.

Bao saw an article on the Internet promoting this city and asked me to take her over there on a day trip.

I found out that we could take a high-speed train at Shanghai train station and assumed that it was the main train station in the center of the city.

Well, it wasn’t. We needed to go to 虹橋火車站 on the west side of the city instead. We got there via subway and bought the 1 pm ticket to 嘉善縣. Tickets to almost every city on the railroad network could be purchased at one of probably 20 or more automated ticketing machines. If we needed assistance, we had to walk to a different section of the train station and someone over there could help us.

While waiting we went to one of the four restaurants on the second floor of the train station to have a cup of coffee. The small restaurant was packed with customers and judging by the prices on the menu, I guessed that most of the customers were either rich businessmen, rich businesswomen or party officials on expense account. Common people on 2,000 renminbi a month could not afford this kind of spending at all.

The name of the cafe was called 左岸咖啡 "zuo3 an4 ka1 fei1" Left Bank Cafe. 68 Renminbi for a latte and a regular coffee. Not cheap even by Northern Virginia standard.

We used to do this around Chinese New Year at our home in Taizhong. Mom and Dad made sausages from scratch, air-dried ducks, 腊肉 "la4 rou4" BBQ pork Chinese style and air-dried chickens. Seeing this dried in the cold air certainly bought back some fond memories from the old days. Wow, that was 50 years ago.

西塘古镇

A restaurant on the river

Zoom in to see the 對聯 "dui4 lian2."

Well prepared for the winter.

A stage for local opera and music performance

Trash bin

Entrance to a couple of local hotels. Hmm.., I am not sure I wanted to stay here.

Take a closer look of the 對聯 "dui4 lian2" and see if you can see something unique about it. Hint: same five words>

Docked for the winter season.

好一個 "醉里乾坤大" "壺中日月長." 横批嗎來一個 "半醉半醒"

百轉千回在塵外 "bai3 zhuan3 qian1 hui2 zai4 chen2 wai4." 不論你如何鑽營﹐到頭來還是在紅塵之外. 也就是說人生苦短,不要為名利而鑽營, 拼命去拍馬屁. 到頭來還是落的一场空。

豆腐花"dou4fu3 hua1" also called 豆花 "dou4 hua1" Silken Tofu or soybean custard. Literally it means soy bean flower.

豆花 "dou4 hua1" with ginger laced brown sugar syrup. I also like the syrup with cooked peanuts.

A mini series on Chinese TV called "我的青春誰做主" "wo3 de4 qing1 chun1 shui2 zuo4 zhu3" was filmed at this restaurant. The name of the mini series means: Who will decide my youth?

Mission Impossible III by Tom Cruise was filmed here.

桂花湯圓 "gui4 hua1 tang1 yuan2" Sweet rice balls with dried "Sweet Tea Olive." Comfort food in the winter time.

The best wonton soup I have ever had: paper thin skins practically melted in your mouth. Very little meat hence: small wonton 小餛飩 "xiao3 hun2 tun1." Lots of onions just the way I like it. Clear chicken broth was so flavorful that I could never inmitate. Make sure you try it when you visit here. Only 5 renminbi; about 90 cents. 1000 times better than what you can get from the A&J's in Northern Virginia.

Wonton by 陆 "lu4"

You need to zoom in to see the details.

Happy Pig

10 renminbi a pair. About $1.50

Small craft shop with a 对联 "dui4 lian2" that makes you think about your love life.

酒 "jiu3" Chinese rice wine.

On the way back to Shanghai on 高鐵 "gao1 tie3" (High speed railroad) at 339 KM/hour. Pretty fast.