Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Zhou Zhuang 周庄

Zhou Zhuang 周庄 lies between Shanghai 上海 and Suzhou 苏州, is an ancient town of Kunshan City 昆山市, Jiangsu Province 江苏省, where abounds with rivers and lakes. So it is thought by many to be the best waterside town in China. This ancient town has a history of more than 900 years old with many houses built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are about 100 houses with courtyards, and 60 of them have arch gateways made by carved bricks. With lakes on four sides, the beauty of Zhou Zhuang is specially to be found along the waterside lanes and around a number of the stone bridges.
The Map of Zhou Zhuang

You can either take a van ‘面包车’,a taxi ‘出租车’or a bus ‘公交’from KunShan Town to Zhou Zhuang. The journey is about one hour. After buying the ticket at the Ticket Office of Tourism 古镇旅游售票处,which cost us RMB100 each, we need to walk pass a bridge (which is behind me in the above picture) and walk for another 10 minutes before reaching the below entrance.
Walking beyond the archway, is a small town with lots of shop houses selling clothes, souveniers and the most famous product of Zhou Zhuang, 'Pig Leg' 沈万三蹄

When you walk futher in, then you will come to another archway, the Ancient Memorial Archway 古牌楼。 You can see The Quanfu Pagoda 全福塔 on your right side when walking towards the archway.

Beyond this 古镇照壁 which stated 'China No.1 Waterside Village - Zhou Zhuang' 中国第一水乡 -周庄, you will come across,

Old Fashion Streets...........

Stone Bridges..........

River Sides..........

with lots of boats..........

lots of people..........

and lots of fish..........

Other attactions in Zhou Zhuang include,

The Hall of Shen Residence 沈庭..........

Shen Residence's Kitchen..........

Quanfu Temple 全福寺..........Chinese Opera..........

and many many more..........

Before leaving, managed to grab a 'pig leg' 沈万三蹄 for RMB28 and went home with a pair of extreme tired human legs and a very satisfied heart.

5 comments:

ahkooi said...

very expensive, RMB100 = RM50 for the entrance fee!! hahaha~

ahkooi said...

and and.. you have to pay another RMB28 which is equal to approx. RM14 to taste their signature pig legs.. hahaa

Chen Kiat said...

Woon, cheap... cheap... compared to ~USD$50 enterance fees *wink*

Woon_SH said...

tat is not the end yet, i need to pay another RMB80 to rent the 'sampan' ah...

wah....if the entrance is USD50, then i think zhou zhuang will bankrupt la, coz no one can afford to go liao.... :)

asiangard said...

Haha WOW I feel like this is the place that so many Chinese TV dramas are filmed! it's really beautiful