Tongli

Took a day trip out to Tongli. It's about an 1 1/2 bus ride from Shanghai and a nice change of pace from a bustling city. I was a little worried due the horrific bathroom I had to use at the bus station. Everyone uses the same trough to poop in! They all squat over a long rectangular trough. There is no water in this trough either so you can see the guy in front of you's poop piling up. This is hands down the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my life. Anyway. Back to Tongli. I have seen it referred to as little Venice because it is built around narrow canals, but it reminded me much more of Vietnam. It is a major tourist spot in the sense that bus loads of Chinese flock to it everyday, but it still feels very genuine. The buildings look like they are falling apart and the locals walk around shirtless and disheveled  seemingly  oblivious to all the tourists (except for the ones selling snacks and trinkets on their porches). One of the buildings had a coy pond with the most fish I have ever seen. They would literally climb out of the water over each other to get food. Some of them were well over a foot long. The real reason I went was to check out the China sex culture museum, which had lots of ancient kinky statues and loads of info on the history of sex and marriage in China. I actually learned quite a lot. I am not going to post any pics from the museum because I know many of my students are reading (some of the statues are R rated or worse).  I spent the end of the day eating by the canal and watching some crazy guy mess with his giant trained black birds. Aside from the bus station bathroom it turned out to be a very pleasant day.