Day 43: Xitang

Xitang was the second and last water town we visited during this trip. At this point, we have a confession to make - we sneaked into the town without paying the entrance ticket. Actually we were approached by a woman at the bus terminal asking if we needed a place to stay. The deal was that she would bring us into the town as her "relatives" as long as we stay at her place for one night (at the price of 100RMB equivalent to two entrance tickets). The flip side is that we wouldn't be able to visit the designated places that require the tickets. But since we weren't particularly thrilled about the designated places in Tongli, we agreed to the deal and was inside the town after 10 minutes.











Remember the scenes of Tom Cruise running and shouting Mandarin in "Mission Impossible III"? Those scenes were shot in Xitang, not Shanghai as the movie suggested. The town's people put up big posters of Tom Cruise at the places where the film was shot. Not surprisingly those spots were also where most tourists gathered for photos.

the "Tom Cruise" bridge & me imitating Tom running in "Mission Impossible III"









Xitang is smaller than Tongli, but draws a lot more tourists than Tongli. I guess Tom Cruise still has his charm on the Chinese population. After most tourists left on Sunday afternoon, the atmosphere was less frentic. There was no line-up at any restaurants or tea houses.

a calmer side of Xitang rarely seen by the public









We have not made any recommendation in our blog entries. This time we want to make two recommendations for future travelers. One is a restaurant called Lao Ping Fang, serving delicious local food at local prices. The other is a guesthouse called He Xiang Guesthouse (xitangly.com/hxkz.asp). The location is great – 30 meters from the main street and by the river. Get the room with river view and ensuite toilet/air con on the 2nd floor (80~150RMB depending on the day and your bargaining skill).


nightshots of Xitang