Shanghai to Tongli: Water Village Woes

So let me tell you about the day I lived off of cereal bars and almost broke down from frustration over almost getting lost on my way and then coming home from a water village called Tongli.

Based on a strong recommendation from a friend (Thanks, Katy…), I decided to go to a water village that was supposed to be about two hours outside of Shanghai.  My plan was to leave at 10:30am, be there by around 12:30 for lunchtime, walk around the village for about four hours, and then leave to be home by 8:00pm, just in time for dinner in Shanghai and to go out for some good ol’ dancin’!  After doing some research, I figured I could get there in an hour and a half…  WRONG.

ROUND 1: Shanghai to Tongli: I started my day at 10:30am, walked about a half mile to the metro station where I got on at the Shanghai Zoo stop.  After a 15-minute metro ride to the Hongqiao Railway Station, and after about a 30-minute wait in the ticket line, I managed to get a train ticket to Suzhou South Station.  Okay.  Everything is good so far. My train left at 12:15pm and would arrive at Suzhou South Station by 12:46pm.  Another hour bus ride after that and I’ll be there.  Easy peazy.

Now you should know that I didn’t actually have concrete directions to Tongli.  My friend, Selena, wrote down each train station or destination that I was seeking in Mandarin so that I could show the characters to people and they would point me in the right direction.  I did know I needed to get to Suzhou South Station and then there would be a tourist bus to shuttle people to this water village.  Pretty easy, right?  WRONG.  It was horrendous!

When 12:46pm came around, I noticed that the next stop’s characters matched the ones I had written down, BUT the stop was called Suzhou North Station.  So I showed a train assistant the characters and asked if this was the right station to go to Tongli.  He nodded and motioned his hands for me to leave the train at that stop.  Being a little skeptical, I nodded, said, “Xie Xie,” and scurried off to find another train assistant.  She indicated the same thing and motioned for me to leave the train at this stop.  Ok… this must be it, right?  WRONG.

After leaving the train, and then asking at least five different people which bus would take me to Tongli and getting many confused looks… I had obviously gotten off at the wrong train station.  ARGH!  Finally a security guard motioned towards one of the city buses. 

I got on thinking this bus would take me directly to the water village, and even showed the bus driver the characters for where I needed to go.  He nodded and waved me forward.  Obviously, these nods and waves forward mean nothing.  After about 20 minutes on the bus, and passing suburban  shopping marts, and rural farms, I saw a few Chinese girls who looked like they were about 16 years old and figured they may know a bit of English.  Luckily, the one young lady knew enough to understand what I was looking for, and told me what stop to get off at.  She said that I would need to catch another bus from that stop, but she did not know which one.  I figured this was better than nothing… so about 30 minutes later, I get off at a bus stop/train station.  At this point I knew I was pretty far outside the city.  After asking multiple folks, security guards, and walking into a couple dead ends, I finally found the place to buy a bus ticket to Tongli.  This bus left at 2:15pm.  Alright…. Now I’m on track.  This bus should drop me off right at Tongli, since it’s a shuttle bus especially for Tongli.  WRONG. 

I spent about an hour on that daggone bus sitting next to this guy with grossly long fingernails (I am not digging that trend here in China, not in the least!)  This kid’s fingernails were so long they made a tapping noise every time he texted and then he would make this flicking noise with them every couple minutes… UGH!  I couldn’t wait to get away… just imagine, it’s hot, I’d just been traveling for the last three or four hours and I also hadn’t eaten, which if you know anything about the Bhullars, we get grumpy and irritable when we are hungry.  (Yes, even me!)  Luckily, I had some cereal bars and nuts in my purse so I scarfed them down for some temporary satisfaction.

Anyway, we finally arrived at Tongli station.  I was so relieved to finally be there…. But then I get out of the bus and there was no water anywhere to be seen!  No signs either.  Nothing but a shanty old town.  “Where the heck am I?!” I thought. 

Then I saw two people with backpacks, and, you know me, I walked up to them and asked if they knew English.  They kind of chuckled then said, “No.”  They said they were from Beijing.  I tagged along with them anyway, and I’m so glad I did because we had to walk another mile and  a half just to get to the water village.  And… there was no way of knowing where it was unless they asked random townspeople for directions in Mandarin!  Finally, after following those two lovely folks for about 30 minutes, I made it to Tongli, yes the water village part, around 3:45pm.  The water village itself was neat because it looked like how China may have been about 100 years ago with small wooden bridges stretching across the water canals and its small winding streets. 

I was so excited that I had finally reached the village that I forgot my hunger and just strolled around the town.  My favorite part was walking alongside the canal in the back of the village where the locals lived, washed their clothes in the river, and hung out along the dirt path.  I walked as far as I could in that area and then ventured onto the main streets to look for some food.  Many of the restaurants served essentially the same thing, but there wasn’t anyone eating at these restaurants, so I was a little skeptical about the food.  Then, the restaurants that I decided to take a chance on were not serving food because it was in the weird twilight hour between lunch and dinner.  Eventually, I found a place that served at least fruit salad (AKA giant grapes).  At first, I wasn’t going to eat there, but after using their bathroom and being impeccably impressed by its cleanliness and design, I decided to hang around.  Although, I do think the window in the bathroom was a bit lower than expected so I had to remain semi-crouched down to ensure passing townspeople didn’t get an unwelcomed peep.  Awkward! 

I order my fruit salad and a mango passion fruit tea.  Now this little café was brilliantly decorated, and pretty out of place.  It had comfy black and white couches, played calming Norah Jones-esque music, and had images of cats all over the walls (reminded me of my bedroom in my house in Somerset).  I was the only person in the café, and even found the waitress sleeping on one of the couches.  She shot awake when she saw me come in!

I took a seat at a bar stool overlooking the canal through a wooden gated window that opened to the canal.  It was so serene and really provided the peaceful atmosphere that I needed.  My tea came and it was fantastic!  Then the fruit salad came…  my yummy giant grapes were SLATHERED in mayonnaise!  YUCK!  Can you believe that?!  Even after the day I had, I didn’t care how hungry I was, that was not appetizing in the least.  So I finished my bag of nuts off, sipped my tea, and left for my journey home.  Eager for a good dinner that night back in Shanghai.

It was about 5:15pm when I left the village (That’s right!  After a five-hour trek to get there, I could only spend about an hour and fifteen minutes exploring it… argh…).  BUT I was glad that I Ieft when I did because it took me just as long to get home despite taking all of the right vehicles.

ROUND 2: Tongli to Shanghai: I walked back to the bus station and hopped on the first bus that was leaving (it happened to be around 5:45pm).  I reached the Suzhou South Station (ah, yes, it does exist.) 

First, it took me forever to find the ticket office for the train, and when I finally did, remember those crazy long lines from Shanghai’s station, well they were even worse here!  There were probably 15 long lines leading up to ticket windows.  I got in one that seemed to be going rather quickly.  After waiting for about 20 to 30 minutes, I was the next person to purchase my ticket.  I stepped up to the window and would you believe it…. That &%$%##% woman pulled the curtain down on me?!  It felt like she was playing a joke on me and was going to pop her head up any second to say, “Just kidding!”  I just stood there staring at the curtain for moment in utter shock.  Then I went to the back of another line to start my wait all over again.  I repeated this at least twice more.   One time the computer broke in the line I was in and I had to restart my wait again (Yeah, I was really ready to hit my limit.)  Over the next hour, I managed to get my ticket.  *Sigh… Finally!  I would be leaving at 8:14pm and would be back to my apartment by 9:15pm….

Around 8:05pm we started boarding the train, I slipped my ticket through the machine and it denied my entry. Hmmm.. perhaps I just put it in upside down… I flipped it over and slipped it again.  Denied.

I went over to the Train Assistant and showed her my ticket and she just waved her hand from side to side with no explanation as to why I could not go in.  I kept asking her why I couldn’t and tried to rephrase it as best I could to understand her when luckily a Chinese man came up behind me to help.  He explained that I had been issued a ticket for May 26^th rather May 24^th at 8:14pm and that I would have to go up to the ticket office again to correct it (yeah, that stupid crazy long line AGAIN!).  This was it.  I had hit my limit.  The Train Assistant wouldn’t let me through no matter how much I begged her.  I ran upstairs hoping that I could get a ticket before that train left, but the line I went directed me to a different number… eventually I got another ticket back to Shanghai for 8:44pm, which in all honesty was much better than I expected. 

So that was the last of my series of holdups and the most frustrating day of travel in my entire life.  I eventually got home at 10:00pm and still hadn’t eaten dinner or really any meal for that matter.  In good American style, I made a peanut butter and mango sandwich and a glass of red wine.  (Well deserved red wine if you ask me!) 

The night ended up being amazing though.  I went with the International MBA students, and my colleagues Kim and Selena to a crazy dance club called Club 88 and we danced the night away!

It felt so good to just let loose on the dance floor.  That was the best stress-relief I could’ve ever found!  In fact, this place in particular played awesome music and had performers up on stage that looked like characters out of X-Men!  It was crazy!  I can definitely tell that the nightlife in Shanghai trumps Boston, Philly, and Pittsburgh 100 to 1!  A crazy and fun time to end a crazy and horrendous commute to the outskirts of Shanghai.