Trip to Wuzhen

The weekend before last, I set out on another weekend trip. This time the destination was Wuzhen, a water village in Zhejiang province, just south of Xihu (West Lake). Along with me on the trip were David and Daniel (who we call Danthemanstan...to only small protests). The journey there was smooth, although my chronic tardiness almost made us late for the bus, but we rolled through the gate with just enough time. We knew that Wuzhen was to be a bit touristy, and all this was confirmed by the swarm of ricksha drivers offering us a ride to the center of town. We opted to walk, and as we were checking out a statue in a park, (honoring the 'people' working of course) a particularly persistent ricksha driver was harassing David. I guess that is one of the downfalls for David learning faster than the rest of us. But eventually she promised cheap lodging, so into the ricksha we went. The first place was a bust and the second one looked way out of our (desired) price range. The prominently displayed price sign said 560Y for a triple room, but after many doubt filled exchanges, the woman was true to her word and it was only 60Y per person. And the ricksha ride was free. How the hotel made money on less than a third of the posted price, and paid aforementioned ricksha driver her finder's fee, is something I don't know. But then again, three full beds bring in a lot more money than empty ones. It's funny to see full out, bare bones market economics in work in the great "communist" country.

The town was a lot like the many other villages I have visited. It's set on a canal, and the old town along the canal is much of what you may envision on a postcard. But, the rest of the town just looks a lot like developing China; fairly dirty, cramped, uber-commercialized, and hectic. Yet, for me, walking these streets and seeing modern development in progress as well as the occasional shop or home untouched by development is very interesting. Because it is just a short bus ride from Shanghai, it is pretty expensive compared to similar towns a little farther from the coast. It also meant that Sunday featured a deluge of day tourists, complete with the mic and mini-speaker wielding tour guides. We visited the ancient bed museum, now I've never really found beds that interesting, and the museum sure didn't change my mind. But, while there, Danthemanstan pointed out a well marked exit to me (see picture on right). Initially, I could just see the sign, but after seeing the actual exit I realized the source of his amusement. I guess we will also need a saw and bolt cutters in case of an emergency.

The one really sad thing which happened in the trip was that I lost my faith in the honesty of the small businessman. Maybe I had just been lucky, or naive, or both with my belief that the shop and restaurant owners were all fair and helpful to us foreigners. We selected an especially rustic and unmarked restaurant for dinner Saturday, as they usually have great food at the lowest prices. We four mainly vegetable dishes, a good amount of rice, and tiny glasses of yellow wine (which tasted like it belongs in a lawn mower engine). I guessed the dinner was maybe 30-40Y, but possibly cheaper. When the woman told us how much it cost, Dave and I both thought we misunderstood, and asked again. No, we heard correctly, she had said 120Y. We were a bit outraged but really more amused. Not even Dave has learned the Chinese to debate this, so he called the always reliable Steve. Well, he got them down to 80Y, so we paid and left without even murmuring xie xie (thank you). Now granted, it was only a difference of about $11 between what we saw as reasonable and what they asked. So it was much more of a principle thing; and now we all know to get a price before ordering up or stick to the restaurants kind enough to post prices. The trip back even provided some entertainment when our minibus' brakes heated up and the driver's ill advised fix (pouring water on the overheated brakes) actually locked the wheel up. But another bus snatched us in less than 15 minutes and we were on our way.
**Note: all of my pictures can be found in my Picasa gallery, link to the right.