The other day I went for a wee wander to Tongli, it’s one of the many water towns in Jiangsu Province and only about 40 minutes on the bus from Suzhou. I’ve been to couple of towns but this one is well set out and quite picturesque. Up until a short time ago it had a Sex Museum which I would have gone to but alas it has shifted to the south of China somewhere. It did seem a bit strange to have a sex museum in the heart of a tiny town.

When I got off the bus there was an old Jewish couple having trouble communicating with the locals, they were trying to get directions to the town from the bus station. Luckily I speak enough Chinese to make it a bit easier for me. So I help the old couple and we head off to the wee electric bus that will take us to the town. What I didn’t realise was that you had to pay to get into the town itself, it was 100 rmb, I was quite happy to just stroll around and soak up the atmosphere. Afterall the temples and the buildings that you visit of the course of your journey all seem to take on the same look and design, it’s only if it is a bit more outstanding now, that I will  pay to go and have a look. But I had come this far so I reluctantly paid and wandered in. The Jewish couple, I can not remember their names, wanted to get on one of the boats that would go around the canals. It was 90 rmb for the boat and so I cadged a ride and I did pay my fair. I mean what do you expect, a Scotsman and a couple of Jews on a boat, there was no escaping it really .
It was a pleasant way to see the town from the perspective of the boat. The woman pushing he boat through the water tried to make a few extra yuan from us but we should have told her that she really had no chance with these nationalities on her boat. First possible stop was to see the Cormorants diving for fish, I’ve seen this before but to be honest the poor birds were quite happy sunning themselves, I’m sure the water was frozen.

We punted a long so to speak and went round a few bends and then we were asked if we wanted to stop at one of the may restaurants along the canals edge, but once again she backed a loser. You could see she wasn’t very happy, but hey 90 rmb for about 20 mins was quite expensive and I’m not sure how much she got but we were giving her something.

When we returned to the wee jetty we had a few pleasantries and then went our separate ways. It was interesting to chat to them for 20 mins or so but our worlds are so far apart and I would only end up arguing with the woman’s primitive views of the world, oh I forgot to say she left America to live in Israel. Not a discussion I wanted to get into about the politics of that part of the world.

So off I wander and I just take in the atmosphere and enjoy the town and maybe spend about an hour and a half before I realise it’s time for food. So some dumplings it is before I head back to the bus for home.

If you come here I would certainly recommend going to have a look and if you are over 60 years old you get in for free. One thing the old couple told me was that they had got into many places for free because of their age. So China seems to be old friendly which is good to know.