Houngzhou: 23-25 March, 2012

After the winter holidays we had a long stretch of school that ended with student lead conferences; by which time the students were sick of me & all my writing assignments. Well, awhile back, one of Eileen’s good friends, Jennifer, who grew up in Houngzhou, suggested we head up there some day & that was this past weekend.

Houngzhou has an ancient heritage & near by is Wen County, the “Venice of China.” So we, Eileen, Jennifer, Titi (Jennifer’s 7 year old son), & I boarded a plane for a two hour trip up north. Jennifer arranged it all. We we’re met by Jennifer’s new friend Maggie, who she met over the Internet. Man, it was wet & cold but we braved the elements & toured the famous West Lake with Jennifer’s father’s good friend, “Uncle Ping.” Uncle Ping is a 73-year-old man, full of vigor. He was kinda like our tour guide. For me, Tom, the things that impressed me most about that section of town were:
For a city of 2 million it was slower & cleaner (air quality & trash).
Not as many smokers but I did get my fair share of 2nd hand smoke.
Better since of history
Lots of money, some very expensive Western brands sold there.

Thank God, it didn’t rain while we toured the area!
Our hotel was rather unique. We arrived at this rather impressive twin tower building but the entire build is not a hotel, only certain floors. So on the 7th floor is a small office where your get your key and then your off to a certain floor in one of the towers.

The next day we went to Wen County, courtesy of Maggie’s driver & their very nice BMW. Yes, lots of money here. This area we went to has been rebuilt with the old city feel with canals running through it but without too much commercialism. You got a good sense of what it must have been like, say 100 years ago. It was a beautiful day & we really enjoyed the slow pace & not being crowded. That is one of the difficulties of going anywhere in China, the crowd.

The last day Uncle Ping took us to another part of Houngzhou where we toured a museum and another neighborhood that had the old buildings but full of modern day shops. With one last tour of West Lake we were off to the airport to head back to the hustle & smoke of Shenzhen.