Shichahai Again...

Thurday, March 19, 2009

This is the 3rd time I've been to Shichahai and I highly recommend it. Dave and I went there with Lanny in 2007, and Patty and I went there with Lanny last October. This time Dave and I went by ourselves. It was a beautiful spring day and we had the place almost to ourselves. Shichahai is the northern end of the Grand Canal. The southern terminus is West Lake in Hangzhou, about 1800 kilometers to the south. We don't hear much about the Grand Canal in the USA, but to me it is equally impressive as the Great Wall. Constructed and maintained since the 5th century BC, it linked the cities along its route and was the major thoroughfare for commerce and travel for most of that time.

I have uploaded some videos from the day at Facebook. Check out Shichahai and the Grand Canal on the internet. Here are a couple websites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_of_China
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/shichahai.htm


The end of March isn't really tourist season yet, so business was pretty slow for the hundreds of rickshaw drivers. Dave and I decided to take the tour. I bargained down to 100 RMB for the two of us, but our driver was obviously a special guy, and we gave him a big tip at the end. I wonder if they get to keep the tips.