The Cramped Canals of Xitang

Xitang is sort of the epitome of a tourist town in China.  It is the place that all the people in the larger cities in Zhejiang Province (and surrounding provinces on the east coast) go to visit.  It's sort of like the Renaissance Fair of China, and like Renaissance Fairs, it is a mix of the authentic, the unauthentic,and the trying to recapture the authentic.   But I'll spare you my rant on Renaissance Fairs and skip right to Xitang.

Like Fenghuang, Xitang is a canal town with old-style architecture.  Unlike Fenghuang, Xitang is much smaller, lacks those cool stilts, and has sort of a different attitude.  While the native population of Fenghuang seemed to enjoy working and living in this tourist area, the people of Xitang were quite obviously over it.  Xitang is also quite small; it's streets compacted into a very tiny area, meaning you can see pretty much all there is to see of Xitang in a day.  These narrow streets are actually what Xitang is most famous for; some of them are barely wide enough to fit down; your shoulders occasionally brushing the edges of the most narrow pathways.   However cool these tiny pathways are, when you try to cram the multitude that swarms to Xitang during peak tourist season into these tiny pathways....well, you get over Xitang really quickly.  It's a lot of being crammed uncomfortably close to hordes of strangers trying to push their way through in both directions along a path that is just a little wider than your average side walk.  Add in summer heat, and its a tad uncomfortable.

Check out those narrow streets!

That being said, if you are in Zhejiang province, I would still go and see it.  They have some really beautiful stone bridges along the canal--those beautiful curved ones, and when the water is still (which it typically is, being a canal) you can see the bridge reflected in the water.  They also have these guys rowing down the canal.  I have no idea if they are actually working on cleaning up the canal, as you can occasionally see them fishing stuff out of it, or if they are there solely to enhance that old-time feel of the place.  There are also larger boats if you are feeling like cruising down the canal, you can take a boat ride.  At night the tourists buy and then light hand made paper-boats and float them down the canal and lanterns are strung up across buildings. The pictures of the canal and the architecture, and the bridges are totally worth a trip to Xitang...I just wouldn't stay for more than a day or two....and I wouldn't go back.

Boat and such. 

Night shots!

Another neat thing to do in Xitang is the shopping.  Almost all of the buildings along the streets are stores or restaurants of some kind, and Xitang does provide some neat shopping opportunities that you don't typically find in the big cities.  So if you are looking for some quirky folksy stuff  (though many places here do not barter), shopping here can be fun.

Restaurants here are also an adventure.  Since you are in a smaller city (but still large by American standards) many of the menus have a limited (if any) picture menu.  So if you are not feeling any of the dishes on the picture menu, and you only have a few dishes memorized, you might need to take some risks.  That is what I did; I assumed the cheapest items on the menu were the vegetables, because in my experience that is typically true.  So I pointed at dish entirely in Chinese characters, but only six yuan...it turned out to be snails.  Which we ate and were quite good, but if snails are not your thing, I would stick to the picture menus...or go into a crowded restaurant and just point to dishes other patrons are eating and say "I want that.". Like I said, Xitang is a pretty small historic district located in a fairly large city...so if you can't find something to eat here (and they have hostels and American-style bars that sell familiar food in the historic district as well) you can venture outside of the historic section and go find a KFC.  But be careful, they sometimes will make you pay (50 yuan) to get back into the historic section if you leave, particularly during peak tourist times, and if you cannot find your ticket stub.   You can actually avoid the ticket price all together if you stay at one of the hotels or hostels in the district; many of them have a front door that it outside of the historic zone and a back door that opens into it; if you stay there, you do not need a ticket as long as you exit and enter through you hotel/hostel.

This is Justin on the phone with his girlfriend, who is Chinese....and then our waitress on the phone with Justin's girlfriend.  We are trying to figure out our menu. 

To the left and center are a clothing store and a tea shop, to the right is some street food. 

Xitang has the honor of being the first place that I traveled to after arriving in China.  During National Holiday Week Justin, Liv, Zach, and I made the quick three hour bus ride from Hangzhou to Xitang.  From the bus you take a rickshaw a short distance to the historic center.  We stayed in a room above the bar--and were really glad that it was still warm and dry weather, because that place was not what I would consider insulated.  We spent about 36 hours in the town exploring, shopping, eating, and taking ridiculous pictures.  It was a really nice, short trip--a good first foray into travel. Of course, being my first adventure, everything was new and shiny and awesome.  I took a friend who visited me to Xitang a little over a half year later, and while she enjoyed the novelty of the place (though not the crowds and the heat) I found myself less impressed with Xitang than I was the first time.  So while I recommend visiting the place, I don't recommend going back for a second visit.

Rickshaw Rides!

I come down kinda hard on Xitang here, but it really is a great place to visit...just not necessarily to revisit.

Many of these very pretty pictures are courtesy of Dr B, who I dragged through these crowded streets in the height of sweltering summer weather.