China's Ancient Water Towns

I guess these things are all over China, and some are more modern and ‘developed’ than others. Shanghai is just full of them, and it’s a weird sense coming to one.

These tiny towns are beautiful, and interesting, and fun to explore. But you also get the sense that the town is a zombie. Like it used to be a living, thriving, proper town, but then it was killed, modernized and trampled to make way for shopping malls and roadways, then finally a small corner was brought back to life as a tourist trap.

Some towns are more touristy than others. There was one water town that I loved so much, and which felt so organic and real, that I’m not going to tell you the name. It’s my secret little place. It felt like a REAL town, with people actually living there, and I don’t want it to get zombified like the rest. Sorry friends.

The towns all have a similar pattern, with canals crisscrossing through the town, and bridges going over them. Boats, either tourist boats or garbage collectors, pass slowly along the waterway.

If you go to China, I encourage you to visit the ancient water towns, just not my special little one : )

People here use the water for everything. 

Here, a woman does her washing in the water, 

even though other people use the water for their garbage.

 These are the boats that frequent the waterways, 

all hand powered so they're silent. 

This gives the town a lovely feeling of peace- no noisy engines

The encroaching modernization. 

 My special little town. 

Another photographer looking at my little town. 

He had a unique type of camera and used a strange technique called, 'film.'

I wonder if it'll catch on.




Thank you for checking out my blog. Please consider purchasing a book. Book sales help me keep traveling, and help me to continue making cool blogs.

Among the Fallen is a sci-fi fusion novel. It involves mythology, as well as heaven and hell, and so much more.

It's the story of unlikely allies, and finding friendship after the apocalypse. But more importantly, it's a promise that, whether Angel or Earthling, one can pick up the pieces after everything worthwhile has been shattered.