My Summer in Shanghai: Trip to Xitang

Yesterday, six of us went on an exciting (perhaps too exciting?) trip to Xitang. We got up bright and early at 4:30 so that we could leave at 5:00 and catch the first metro train at 5:30. We arrived at the Hongquiao Railway Station just in time to catch our 7:00 high speed train to Jiashan. The train ride only took 20 minutes and it was interesting to watch the speed reach 350 km/hr (see picture). When we got off at Jiashan, we realized that two members of our group were still on the train and headed to Hangzhou. Thus began the difficulties of the day. Next, we were supposed to catch a bus that would take us to Xitang. However, that would be too easy I guess... We found a bus that went to a bus station where we could catch a bus to Xitang. So, we went through that process, but when we got off of the final bus we did not know where to walk to get to the touristy part of the town. There were many bicycle rickshaws around and we had no choice but to take them. The rickshaw ride was amusing to begin with, but then we were led towards a tourist scam. Some people wanted us to go through their house and some creepy alleys in order to access the town by paying a lower admission fee. A lot of Chinese people were following them and one of our group members thought maybe we should follow them. Anyway, they said "no foreigners" (in Chinese of course), so we were still confused and unsure of where to proceed from there. We got in another rickshaw, which took us to a more official looking entrance. We bought admission tickets and walked into the town without trouble and started exploring. Xitang consists of many small alleys along canals with a series of stone bridges crossing the canal and leading to other alleys. There are shops, restaurants, and some small museums and temples to look at. We wandered around for a while, bought some slushy beverages, and waited for our other group members to get to the town. When the other two arrived, we all took a boat ride together on the canal. The perspective from the water was definitely unique, and we even saw some Chinese opera on a stage right by the water. The town was incredibly touristy, which resulted in the loss of some of the Ming dynasty ambiance that the town is noted for.
Several local "delicacies" are also available for purchase including stinky tofu, dragon's beard candy, and sticky rice wrapped in leaves. For lunch, I ordered Xiaolongbao. They were incredibly disappointing though; they tasted much more like baozi and had barely any meat in them. The shopping was also not quite what we expected. The main item available was western style sundresses. I did manage to get a beautiful embroidered Xitang scene that was made by the family of the seller in a small shop. The owner even asked my nationality and then said I was beautiful, which was interesting. I have noticed that people here are always very curious about our nationality. I think that I have definitely noticed more Europeans in Shanghai, so they are usually pretty excited to meet Americans. Some people see us and excitedly say "hello!" and then we respond with "ni hao!" It is definitely amusing. We also felt like somewhat of a tourist attraction ourselves, as the only Caucasian people in sight. We soon realized that there was not much to do in the town besides shop and eat, and we were more than ready to leave at 3:00 in order to catch the return train to Shanghai. After returning to Shanghai, we were very hungry and decided to give Papa Johns in Wujiaochang a try. Our waitress's name tag said "Alien," which we found highly amusing. I order chicken and corn pizza, which was quite good and some breadsticks. We then proceeded to fall asleep very early out of exhaustion! Overall, a pretty successful day!