tongli

The five of us went to the ancient 1,000 year-old water town of Tongli, located about an hour’s drive outside of Shanghai. It was nice to get away from the crowded city, and hang out in a slower-paced atmosphere. It’s not as touristy as some of the other water towns in the area, and was fun to just wander and explore. Hubby and the kids got lots of stares and we managed to get by with my very bad combination of shanghainese and mandarin, but really good charades.

There were many little shops with all kinds of street food, candy, crackers, and smoked pork shanks. We stopped to have a comforting home-cooked lunch of wontons, soupy noodles and fried rice before setting off on our water tour.

After lunch we headed for our boat ride around the town. It’s nice to see how in a very small “backyard”, one can still raise chickens and grow vegetables.

Look at this herring bone patterned stone floor, amazing that it’s been here for over 1,000 years.

Meet Angelo, the Buddhist monk – sorry, just kidding, couldn’t help that one – at the temple on one of our island stops.