China recap: Zhujiajiao

Since we spent a fair amount of time in Shanghai because I wanted to visit my friends who live there, we thought we should try to squeeze in time for a day trip to one of the nearby water towns.  After reading about them, we figured Zhujiajiao would be friend.

Fortunately, our friends were able to join us for the day.  We all drove out together (the four of us and their 8 year old son), and then since she had a board meeting that evening, her company sent a car to pick her up after lunch, while the rest of us stayed for the rest of the day.

One of the weirdest things was after our friend Frances had left to work.  We wandered and ended up getting lost.  And our friend, born and raised in China, lived in the US about 7 years for law school and some work, and living back in Shanghai for 7 years, couldn't ask for directions.  There were local people on the street, but he said he couldn't speak to them since they were older and didn't speak Chinese.  He had tried a couple times but they didn't understand him.  As he's a lawyer and works for one of the biggest firms in the world, I'm confident his Chinese is very, very good, but it was as useless as our English.  So interesting! 

Anyway, some pictures from the day trip to Zhujiajiao: 

Men out fishing: 

A very crowded tourist street: 

Inside one of the temples: