The waterside houses are another ancient city in Suzhou, China. This amazing and picturesque area now consists of Lili waterside houses, and Zhejiang Jiashan waterside houses. They date back to 770-476 bc and you can almost feel the ghosts of history gone by while you’re there. What makes these waterside houses are the canals that run through these ancient towns. These canals were used to transport goods as well as the nobles that visited or lived in the cities.
This is the hometown of Liu Yatzi who was a poet and a social activist of his time. He was said to be the last and most outstanding poet of the traditional school in China. Legend as it that he mentored the great Chairman Mao before he became the leader of the Communist party. Today Liu Yatzi has his own special place in the waterside houses.
There are many bars, shops and restaurants that you can find whole walking the streets of these cities. Because of the proximity of water, the speciality is fish and rice but be careful, as the food can be spicy and one of the delicacies is spicy chicken feet. Now I know that to the western palate, eating chicken feet seems to be pretty gross and unappetizing. But, I can tell you from experience that when in Rome you should do as the Romans and try this unusual yet satisfying morsel. You’ll be happy you did.
When traveling to China there are many options you can choose. You can choose group travel where you can see all the tourist attractions, or you can go by the road less traveled. We at timeshare alley would like to suggest the road less traveled. If you truly want to experience Chinese culture and live Chinese history, the ancient cities might not be as comfortable as a five-star Marriott, but will be more satisfying and educational. China is changing very fast in the day and age of technology. Get there now and experience this incredible country before it becomes more westernized than it already is.
