16 June 2008
Tongli, Little Venice of China
Posted by zachnyc under: 7.Tongli; 0. Home China Page .
The transfer by taxi from Suzhou to >Tongli< took about 45 minutes. While I knew the Lakeview Hotel was a five star hotel, I was not expecting a sprawling resort, set among numerous three story buildings and acres of beautiful grounds, all surrounding a large lake, a small tributary, and fields for farming.
We had some difficulties checking in as this was the only hotel during our trip that tried to overcharge us on our reservation, and attempted to downgrade us to a smaller room. After much insistence and interaction with the manager, I actually got us upgraded to a lake view room. The room was gorgeous, as traditionally elegant as the Hotel One was dramatically modern. The public areas inside the hotel were decorated with dozens of ancient relics from different dynasties, including Buddhas, dragons, vases and other sculpture and ceramics.
Tongli is a traditional Chinese water village. The 1000-year-old Tongli is one of the most beautiful water towns in the Yangtze River Delta. As the locals put it, leaving South China without visiting at least one of them is tantamount to going to Beijing without climbing the Great Wall. Whether Called the Little Venice of China for its water canals (as the main traffic arteries), overhead stone bridges, and the gray/black buildings which exude simple elegance, Tongli is an amazing unique destination. Interestingly this traditional Chinese village also houses the highly informative Sexual Cultural Museum where more than 6.000 years of sexual history is documented. It features some 3,500 pieces of erotic artworks and objects pertaining to sex.
As we had not had our laundry done in almost a week, and were literally running out of underwear and shirts, we inquired about facilities to have it done for us in town. After many people were asked, it was ascertained that there was a laundry in town, on the way to the Old Town. I left Andrew and Reggie at the gorgeous pool, and set upon my mission for clean clothes!
Well, long story short: the woman at the laundry spoke no English nor did our cab driver. She kept pointing to the calendar for two days later, presumably when it would be ready. I tried to explain repeatedly that I wanted laundry, not dry cleaning. She kept laughing and refused to do it. I called the hotel, borrowing the cab drivers cell phone, and had the manager negotiate a special rate for her to do laundry for us and for it to be ready in about four hours at 7pm. She, the cab driver and I, all counted out our dirty underwear, socks, etc. since she was charging by the piece. It came to 36 pieces (a pair of socks counted as one item) at 5 RMB each for a total of 180 RMB, or about $25, expensive, but we were out of options.
We enjoyed the pool and grounds for the afternoon, desperately in need of some down time before heading out in the evening to enjoy the water town of Tongli. We were again told that the laundry was on the way, and that there was only one street in town. Nevertheless, we could not find the laundry, and I had somehow managed to lose the slip (no tickie, no laundry) during the afternoons travails. We decided we would retry it the next morning, on our way to Shanghai, and enjoyed the evening in town. Reggie tried his hand at bargaining again, and scored a very good deal on convincing copies of Armani and Gucci belts. We bought lots of souvenirs, including a beautiful landscape of a Chinese pagoda carved out of bamboo, an ankle bracelet for Zach with his Chinese zodiac, the rat, among many other things. Dinner was enjoyed on the canals, with the famous three bridges shinning on the still water, and despite the rather unappealing looking kitchen, it was delicious.
The following morning the laundry scavenger hunt resumed, and was even more confusing. The manager at the hotel admitted he had no idea where it was, and that he had sent us where only the taxi driver from the afternoon before knew the location. We drove and drove, found another laundress who refused to tell us where the other place was, drove in circles, and finally, to great relief, were reunited with our underwear. It probably would have been cheaper, and certainly less stressful to have it done at the hotel as Reggie did!
We went to the famous Sex Museum, which was quite interesting and was set among beautiful ancient gardens. It is also the only place in all of China where homosexuality is openly discussed and acknowledged. We also toured the Tunxi garden, and some ancient homes that had been transformed into local bed and breakfasts.
With laundry in tow, we returned to the Tongli Lakeview Hotel and had lunch at the Japanese buffet. An amazing, delicious and bounteous lunch of sushi, hand rolls, tempura, unusual Japanese delicacies and dessert for a total of $13 each, including tip.
Our bus to Shanghai awaited, and we were on to our final stop of our trip, the modern and cosmopolitan Shanghai!
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