鄉下／ Outside the city

On the way to a leather factory/ leather outlet, we passed by the countryside.. not exactly rural but about 1.5 hours away from Shanghai. It was an old village where people played Chinese chess under the awnings.. straight out of a scene of early 1900s China. Here is a bike that represents that era of China for me.


All the buildings in that village were like this. Despite how old these buildings might look, there were microwaves and even computers inside. I think this temple had a marquee in English. Granted they are expecting tourists, but it was nonetheless an interesting juxtaposition of time.


There was a small creek running through the village! It was so idyllic and peaceful.


Lainey and I watched a puppet show for 10 yuan. I have the ticket stub. It was sad that there was no one watching it when we went. Tourist towns make me kind of sad.. there are visitors but it seems lonely. Of course I am thinking ethnocentrically/ based only on what I went that one day, but people find a living in all sorts of ways and puppet shows is one niche for that household.