ZhouZhuang - the No. 1 watertown in China (1)

年初去了陈逸飞笔下纯朴自然的水乡- 周庄。三步一景，五步一画. Zhouzhuang, one of the most famous water townships in China, situated in Kunshan City which is only 50 kilometers (25 miles) south of Shanghai.

It is noted for its profound cultural background, the well preserved ancient residential houses, the elegant watery views and the strong local colored traditions and customs.

A world-known Chinese painter, Chen Yifei, has helped give the small town of Zhouzhuang the name "Oriental Venice" via his oil paintings because of its houses of white walls and black tiles perched on a winding river bank.

Have partied in the bars and night clubs in Shanghai a couple days, I found the town a perfect escape from the hustles-and-bustles of the city life and a return to the nature and truth.

Zhouzhuang is surrounded and divided by lakes and rivers, 14 stone bridges cross the rivers, showing distinctive views of the water-town.

In this little town, every step brings you a fantastic view.

Walking around in the little town makes me feel like living in a painting.

Zhouzhuang has about 1000 households who are living in the old dwelling quarters.

More than 60% of the houses built in the Ming and Qing dynasties and the early Republic of China as well are well preserved.

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ChengDu Street Eats

ChengDu is wehttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=393016757384666992&postID=2526506257421327884ll-known for it’s specialty street food, delicious, unique and yet very affordable. My aunt took me out to have the spicy hot pot. Afterwards, we had this delicious sweet rice puding, called 叶儿粑, on the street.

This is what $10 will get you in a nice restaurant in downtown ChengDu. 72 small dishes in total - Unbelieverable, isn’t it?! The picture on the left is the crazy spicy hot pot, so called 麻辣烫

What colorful steamed rice bums! Two secret ingredients to most of the Chinese desert - red beans and sweat rice!

Whole wheat noodle made right on the spot!

That year is the year of Pig. I noticed those cute little colorful pig-candies on the street.

Spicy Beef & Spicy Rabbit. Everything of course got to be spicy. This is one of the major characters of Sichuan Dishes. Unless the dishes can make your lips numb, the chef would feel totally failed of the tradition of Sichuan cuisine.

Spicy eel and Spicy Fish.

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成都武候伺 ChengDu Wu Hou Memorial Temple

Wu Hou Memorial Temple was was build in the honor of Zhu GeLiang, the famous military and political strategist of the Shu State in the Three Kongdoms period (221 - 589). The name of temple comes from the fact, that Zhu GeLiang,was conferred with the title of WuXiang Hou - the duke of QuXiang). The temple was first build in the sixth century. It was adjacent to the ZhaoYi Temple, the memorial temple of Liu Bei, emperor of the Shu Han state. In early Ming Dynasty both temples were integrated into one.

WuHou Si is a nice quite place with a lot of trees and flowers. In the beautiful garden you find a teahouse and a show of bonsai-trees.

Zhu GeLiang great personality, his dedicated service to others, and his outstanding intelligence place him above all emperors, generals, and ministers in history. A visit to the temple illuminates his status with the Chinese people. Yes, and when you learn Chinese at any university in China you’ll read some of the legends, which have developed around this famous person.The stone statue on the right is the famous black-face-ZhangFei. He is brave, courageous, warm-blooded and not as political as the other two brothers, my most favorite among the three.

留得残荷听雨声。It’s tranquil with beautiful gardens, lakes and buildings from Chinese traditional architecture. I have always liked this line from Hong Lou Meng.

At time of our visit, there was a show for natural stones in the Memorial. The one on the right is quite expensive, in $10,000 range.

Outside of the temple, there are a few small streets with shops on both sides, selling mostly traditional Chinese goodies. Interesting even to us Chinese people.

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GuiYang - My Home Town

Guiyang, my hometown, is a medium-size city in the mountainous southwest of China. She offers one of the most genuinely pretty, unpretentious sceneries I have seen, filled with the most kind-hearted and down-to-earth people I have known, and the most delicious and unique local food I have had.

Guiyang is a rather small city compared to Beijing and New York, but much more approachable and friendly. Some streets would welcome you with the tasty street food on both sides and tempt you with the smell from many yards away. Here is the mean-looking dude who is making the BBQ lamb on the street.

Although the urban part of the city has big grocery stores, such as Walmart, people still go to the farmer’s market on the street in the suburban part of the city. Besides the vegetables freshly cut from the field 3 or 4 hours ago and the meat just butchered in the morning, the street also offers one of the unique street eats in Guiyang - BBQ spicy tofu (on the right). It is numbingly spicy and good!

After snacking on breakfast in the street, my father and I decided to go visit my old high school area. My father is a excellent photographer, and I am a great model. But, we are not good at working with each other. Father wants to teach the daughter how to pose; and the daughter wants to teach the father how to position the subject. Here you go…

Here is end result, when we finally reached consensus.

A couple of more.

We were a little tired after walking so much. Mom, Dad and I retired to a local coffee house. While the Chinese skill at making cocktails in China still needs improvement, they have definitely mastered the technique of making coffee — especially, fancy coffee.

For dinner, my uncles took us to a local “spicy chicken house.” It is not the regular spicy chicken available in those Americanized Chinese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s THE spicy chicken house. First of all, you can pick the chicken to eat first. Second, you can pretend to make your own BBQ chicken if you wish. Third, the spicy chicken is sooooooo good that you won’t be able to stop eating until all your lips, fingers, nose and head are all numb.

The whole family

The spicy, mouth-watering and delicious chicken and spicy tofu. EVERYTHING is spicy. That’s the uniqueness of GuiZhou local food.