“Venice of the East”
Not far from the pulsing steel and concrete jungle of Shanghai lies an entirely different China. Away from the hectic nonstop traffic and revving engines of darting metallic Lamborghini and Ferrari sports cars is a land that harkens back across the ages to a simpler time, a time of dynasties, tea culture, and silk. Adventure cycling destination: Zhouzhuang.
Beyond the shadows of the shiny steel and glass ultramodern skyscrapers only a short jaunt across the Yangtze River delta through an intriguing jumbled mishmash of farms and factories and just about everything in between exists an ancient village of arching black tile roofs, aging whitewashed plaster walls, and centuries-old stone bridges spanning a labyrinthine network of narrow canals and waterways that is this ancient water town.
