We’re visiting Zhouzhuang (周庄) near Suzhou. It’s a 5A attraction so I know I’m warned about the crowds, but on photos, it does look like a very nice Watertown, with original old buildings rather than cheap recreations. The historical village center is a gated off area, with hotels and restaurants build around it. The entrance […]
Lishu Village (蠡墅镇) in Suzhou is several hundred years old, although rumours of its name trace back two millennia. Warlords and rich merchants used to live here, their houses and courtyards built by eunichs, their money and trade earned in Suzhou. I don’t think this place has the refined attraction of Suzhou water towns like […]
杨思镇 (Yangsi Town) is described as a ‘城中村’ (a village within the city) and it’s an apt description. It’s an oddly shaped block of old and low, rickety buildings — on the east side of the Huangpu in Shanghai’s Pudong district, hunched against the small Yangsigang River (杨思港). Once you enter the area, you really […]
I am not sure, which or who changes faster; cities or people. Cities never change all at once, but rather block by block. This is how cities keep their character, although they constantly evolve. And maybe people aren’t so different. People say Shanghai changes so fast, but its DNA hasn’t changed in over 150 years. […]
I have no ambitions to become a travel advisor or anything, but here I’m sharing some of my experiences of hikes and mountains (or mere hills) around Shanghai. Also the ones I heard about but did not go to yet. I’ve also added some 古道’s: Ancient (Merchant) Roads. These seem to become more & more […]
Written: August 2022 — Updated: August 2024 Open any history book or article about Shanghai and you’ll probably read something condescending along the lines of “Shanghai was a backwater fishing village until the foreigners came in the 19th century.” And it evokes a visual image of fishermen on the banks of an empty yet huge […]
Every day I cycle to work from Chuansha (川沙) through Tangzhen (唐镇) to Zhangjiang (张江), a 7-kilometer ride. And in between Tangzhen and Zhangjiang, I cross the Shanghai Outer Ring Road (外环高速公路). It’s currently under construction, with a new additional, elevated road being built on top of it — which makes the border even more […]
Shepan (蛇蟠乡) is so small that even though it’s next to a highway, its exit is named after the service station — not the town itself. There are some boats, plenty of fantastic seafood restaurants, and a muddy shore full of tiny crabs, razor shells, and mudfish. I somehow love this place.
Wushan Grottoes (伍山石窟) on the border of Ninghai (宁海), a recommendation from Ash. It feels like I’m walking in some kind of MacOS wallpaper. Some of these quarries were dug over a millennium ago, and people worked here to mine stone slaps even some 70 years ago. It’s crazy the work that has gone into […]
We’ve been to Zhejiang so many times, but always inland. So whatever Zhejiang means in my head — mountains, tunnels, water reservoirs and more — it feels similar here but different. We’re in Xiangshan (象山县), a peninsula east of the province, bordering the East China Sea. As soon as we cross the bridge onto the […]