Xi Tang 西塘,东方威尼斯
Before the trip, I was very excited preparing and planning! I even spent time looking for a tripod to allow me to take photos of myself since I planned to go ALONE! One day before, I was so excited and was looking at photos taken by Zhi. I slept at 3am to finish up my cover letter for internship application an set alarm to wake up at 5am as I planned to capture some morning photos.
Zzz..I woke up at 8am as my clock showed! I was considering whether I should continue with my plan because I would reach there at noon. I heard Zhi's voice, "Not accepted as excuse!" So, I decided to wake up! And, by the time I got ready, I only realized it was just 7.30am, meaning I saw wrong time. Luckily, I did not give up my trip! Happy ..
Then, here, my journey started at bus station, to train station, the opposite way! Then, thanks to the people, I got my right way, from train station then to bus station, and finally reached Xi Tang after 2.30 hours. It was stupid to make such mistakes because Zhi had warned me, I had done research but wrong info I got, and Zhi had even made marks on the map! STUPID 1
But, I finally got my way and reached Xi Tang SAFELY! Yay! So, I took a photo in front of the entrance using my new tripod to show my success! haha XD
yay! finally!
Xi Tang is a nice place to take photos because with my lame photography skills, the photos taken by me could be so nice! There are many motels, restaurants, pubs, and small shops selling souvenirs. There are 2 streets which one with many dogs, and another with many cats! The residents own them as pets! Oh, by the way, Xi Tang is actually a village, a water village with villagers staying there so I could actually get free entrance if I dared to explore ALONE by walking through sideways! The food is normal! The food specialties are steamed fish, "chou toufu", beans, dumplings and some "kuih".
most famous dumpling shop
Honestly speaking, Xi Tang is out of my imagination, below of my expectation. It was not as big as I imagined. I kept on repeating the spots. I had walked for about 3 times not because I wanted to repeat the places so that I could notice better scene but it was due to TianXin's poor sense of direction! I couldn't recognize which way I was heading to because there are many corridors, and places that look similar. But, now worry, Tian Xin was still able to find way back by tracking back the route I used although it might have other shortcuts.At first, I planned to stay till 5pm so that I could take some photos during sunset but I was bored of keep on repeating the spots. So, I decided to leave at 4pm.
And here, sad case happened! The time I arrived at bus station, the last bus just started to depart, which meant I could actually stop it easily!!! But, I didn't because I remembered from the websites, it is shown that the last bus should be 6.30pm! STUPID 2 for not buying ticket when first arrived! Besides this, I could actually catch up the bus if I didn't purposely ignore the guy asking where I planned to go! Because I was ALONE, so I dared not to speak to anyone. As you know, there will be many people trying to con you , especially at tourist spots and also especially here in China.
When I reached counter, the girl told me I just missed the last bus 1minute ago and there was no way to go back! The guy followed me to the counter and offered to send me back at RMB 180! At first, I was considering to stay one night but I was afraid it would be dangerous as Xi tang has a lot of bars as well and I have no sense of direction! Also, I did not do sufficient homework on accommodation so I didn't know which one is CLEAN! I felt like crying!!! The main reason was not due to no transport to go back but was due to my STUPIDITY!
Finally, after negotiating with the guy, he promised to send me directly back to my apartment at RMB 150. It was 4.30pm, and the journey took us 1 hour. I felt quite sorry to him as China people had their dinner early around 5pm. His wife even called him during the journey to ask why he was not back yet for dinner. It was really a long, long journey..We reached at 5.30pm and then, he needed to spend another 1 hr to get back!
STUPID MISTAKES and MISSING the CHANCE GIVEN at the ONE MINUTE, I caused so many troubles!
Really felt like banging wall! But after having chat with QQ & Yong Lee, I can now accept it as part of my life and it doesn't matter to tell my family about it anymore even they will surely nag me! because it was seriously dangerous to take private taxi by a guy for 1 hr journey! You can't imagine what will happen!
LUCKY me, I arrived SAFELY but SADLY!
To describe my "unfortunate" incident, Yong lee's quote suits best,"自找的，活该！"
To conclude, this Xi Tang trip could be described with these words
“Before going, feeling excited..during the journey, so so only...but after, quite fun to see the photos..”
Enjoy！
streets confusing me
bridges where you can actually capture nice photos even with your lame photography skills
more photos, visit my facebook!
