Monday, January 2, 2006

Spooky Alley

Its one thing to pay a few dollars to take a spooky ride in Side-Show Alley at the Royal Show, its quite another to find yourself down some dark alley in the backstreets of a Chinese city, not being sure which way is home.

Which is what Peter did one night. He decided to trust his sense of direction, and turned off to find a short-cut home along the bank of one of the many canals. But it got narrower and darker, and took a great many twists and turns, and when he finally emerged on a main road he was totally confused about where he was. Not realising he was only a few metres from our gate, he walked all the way back along the alley and came home another way!

So today as we were walking into the city, we decided to put that ghost to rest, and headed off down the Spooky Alley. And what an interesting little place it is by daylight.

This little home along the edge of a small canal reminded us of Happy the Hamster's nest, full of things she has brought home in her pouch.

Living on the waterfront, be it ocean, river, or canal, is as popular in China as it is overseas, even though it's usually best not to look too closely at the quality of the water itself. And what could be better than a home that actually floats on the water.

It's all very picturesque, but it makes you wonder what it's really like actually sleeping somewhere like that on a cold winter's night. Our apartment doesn't float on water but it's warm and cosy.

Further along we came to a section with shops. They all look very open and friendly in daylight, especially this little bakery.

Decisions, decisions! The cakes we can buy here (though we rarely have!) are often beautifully elaborate, and coated in thick layers of imitation cream.

Along the canal there are regular traffic bridges as well as a number of the classical little humpy footbridges. They always have steep steps up and down again, with a narrow ramp section for people pushing bikes or motorbikes.

We really enjoy living in Wuxi, there are so many interesting sights, even just wandering around the back streets.

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