Nanxun: China's Disneyland Water Town

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Editor's note: The Chinese firewall and skiing in Japan has led to an immense blog backlog. To my dedicated readers, I am sorry. But I pledge to work my way back. Lots of content on the horizon. In case you are curious, I am currently in Japan with Derek, a friend from high school. Now back to The People's Republic of China.

Julia and I arrived in Nanxun, a small water town outside of Shanghai not knowing what to expect. ChatGPT had described Nanxun as a cute town that was calmer and less touristic than some of its neighbors.

Our taxi dropped us off next to this strobing LED-lit temple. I can only begin to imagine what happens in the less calm surrounding towns.

While no Fairmont, our hotel was a very cute vintage style homestay.

We set out to wander. The streets were deserted but the bridges and temples were alight with more LEDs and lanterns than I've ever seen. While performative, there was a certain beauty to the contrast of the modern lighting and old architecture.






We eventually found the one (1) open vendor at around 8pm and had some fresh fried noodles.

The next morning we saw Nanxun in the daytime, and it was even more striking. Whatever team was tasked with curating this town did a great job. We walked the maze of tight streets, bridges, and canals dotted with overhanging willows and flowers in full bloom. The crisp air and falling leaves reminded us both of the New England fall.


The occasional touristy but no less charming wooden boat floated by.



Having our fill of the Disneyland-esque lanterns and restored buildings we decided to escape the matrix. It took about seven minutes of walking to see the rawer side of Nanxun.



This man stopped us for a photo. I offered to take a selfie of the three of us and was promptly rejected. He had a different vision.

We decided to return to the matrix.




On our last day we enjoyed some muffins and then set off for Shanghai, the final stop on our joint China tour.


From the vault:
No lying like Rose from Titanic.

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