Visits to Villages

Breakfast today, such a disappointment following the Shangri-La. I swear it spoiled me forever. But even without that comparison the unlabeled mystery foods and unheated chafing dishes made the morning mediocre. There were lots of Chinese tourists who shared our tables, but did not respond to our friendly greetings. Oh well.

We went by bus to the first of our village visits, Hongcun. The opening scenes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were shot here. The village is surrounded by a moat and a wall. We saw Ming dynasty homes, a museum and wandered the unbearably picturesque winding streets. We saw the lake that acts as a reservoir for the town, and made it much less vulnerable to devastating fire. There were many shops selling hand crafts, tea, and foodstuffs, and the village is surrounded by gardens and farm plots. As I don't recall much of the descriptions of each of the sites, I'm just going to show you lots of photos so you can get the feel of the place.

It was bok choy harvest season, and people were drying the vegetable on every available surface for later use in flavoring soups. Also you'll note drying ducks and chickens, and an ocassional sausage hanging in the sun.

After lunch in a more modern little town, we went to another ancient village, Xidi, and saw more delightful shops and streets:

Before dinner we were take to a fancy tea store on the Old street in Huizhou.

A weird decorative tea with an expanding chrysanthemum flower. No one drank it. 

We sat in the space in the back of the store, a tea house with a stage, and  tried a variety of their teas, and were served a very unusual snack of ground black sesame seeds mixed with honey and compressed into little blocks. Sort of like Chinese halvah.

After the tea demo and sales (of course) there was a community theatre version of Anhui Opera, less fancy than the Beijing or Sichuan versions, but just as screechy.

Here are some photos of shops on Old Steet:

 Dinner was on the 4th floor of the restaurant next door to the previous night, with similar food.

We fell into bed exhausted, at nearly midnight.