August 2, 2012
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Suzhou + Xujing wedding 2 Jan 2012 (Day 4)
I spent the morning with Xujing and Wenquan in Shanghai. We caught up a lot and it was interesting to know how their live is in the US. They were busy organizing their wedding, so I hang out with my friends in Shanghai in the afternoon to visit another water village.
I met Shen in a wine fair in Shanghai few years ago and found out that we both love to travel around China. This time, he came together with his primary schoolmate and drove me to an unpolluted water village near Shanghai- Jinze (金澤水鄉）.
Shen, Me and his primary schoolmateCompletely different from Xitang （西塘水鄉）, Jinze is an untouched quiet little village. I got to see the real life of people. Kids are running around and playing with the trees and water. Adults are cooking next to the water. It does not have any shops, any touristic attractions, but it is very beautiful in its way.
Find some info about Jinze on the internet. It is famous with its 21 bridges. It got one of the oldest bridge of its kind in Shanghai which was built in Song dynasty.
金澤古鎮是一個非常純淨的一個水鄉，周圍沒有林立的小飾品店面，也沒有任何擺渡船夫，同樣以橋多聞多，在網路上的介紹是這樣的：
金澤古鎮保留了格局完全不同的兩條長街：下塘街、上塘街，是明清風格 的商業街，全鎮現存古橋21座，是上海保留古橋最多的鎮，建於南宋年間(1267年)的普濟橋是上海地區現存最古老的拱形石橋，還有一些廟宇(楊震廟門票 5元、頤浩寺門票2元、關帝廟)和民宅建築(許宅、陳宅、陳家倉庫、朱宅、陸家廳、王宅)值得參觀，另外，值得一提的是頤浩寺銀杏樹、港東銀杏樹為有 700年曆史的古樹
This is the oldest bridge. Its age can be shown with its condition. It is pretty amazing to see a bridge like this nowadays.
On the way out, people are preparing their dinner next to the water.
I really like Jinze. Unfortunately, I heard that it gonna be developed as another touristic water village. I hope it can be as a hidden treasure forever, but it seems to be impossible.
After visiting Jinze, Shen was driving us to Liantang (練塘). It was getting dark when we arrived, so we could not see much.
This traditional soy sauce factory looked scary at night.
Shen drove us back to Shanghai and he picked a restaurant that he knew I gonna like it a lot- Shanghai old station (上海老站）.
Shen was right, I love to eat in a heritage. The most surprising things of all is that he booked a table at the train cable that Songqingling(宋慶玲）used to use.
The interior design of the restaurant was really impressive. Everything looked very historical.
Some info of the restaurant from the internet:
『上海老站』在徐家匯天主堂正對面，他不但是上海知名的本幫菜餐廳之一，更重要的是他在『內裝』上也非常有特色喔！ 不說不知道，餐廳內的花園裡有兩列老火車！而且大有來頭！這兩列火車是慈禧與宋慶齡的專列，一列1988年由德國漢諾威車廠製造，送到中國給慈禧使 用，另一列1919年由俄國葉卡捷琳車廠製造，新中國成立後由宋慶齡使用。這兩列極具歷史意義的車輛，目前由上海老站收藏，您還可以在其中用餐喔～
Shen’s girlfriend joined us for dinner and drove me to the Milonga afterward. However, the address that I got was outdated. I was lucky to have Wifi in the lobby of a hotel and so I checked for other address.
Finally, I took a taxi to the right address for the Milonga and had my first Shanghai tango experience. And it was the day I heard of the news of Andrea Misse passed away in the car accident when Vivian made the announcement.
It was a long day with a lot of activities. I took a taxi to the hotel Xujing stayed and prepared for the wedding in the next day.
