Shanghai ~ day 7: Xitang

Did you know that you can leave Shanghai at 4.30pm and arrive in LA on the same day but at 3pm?! Well, I worked it out so I extended my trip so I could take another day trip out of Shanghai, get on a 12-hour flight and get to work. It's a bit crazy...who need (Heroes) Hiro's teleporting powers?!

Our trip to Xitang started pretty poorly: rain, a coach driver who missed a turning and proceeded to do a u-turn and drive up the wrong way against traffic! Hmmm. Where's my travel insurance policy?! When we started walking everything looked kinda fake. Facades, uncompleted buildings and then we read a sign about how this part is a film location. Ahhh. Wait...holy crap, this could be totally wack.

Luckily as we kept walking we got to the real deal. The Xitang canal town that we were expecting...cute houses, narrow lanes, teahouses, and gondolas. Phew. We wandered around peeking into old houses and listening to stories of rich merchant families that owned them in the past. Some of the houses were also open as bed & breakfasts if you wanted to kick it old skool :)