Day 2

So today we went to Tongli.  It is a water town that is over 1,000 years old.  It is pretty well preserved although when you see the pics you will see that the better preserved parts are where the "for sale" stuff is. This trip we met a friend of Di's whose name is Kim.  Very nice lady who spent the day with us. Diane got her first experience with a Chinese Bathroom here.  Ok, so I have to tell you I wish I had the video camera running.  There would of course be no video (no one wants, needs, desires to see THAT) but the audio would have made you wet your pants!  I could hear Diane and Kim in the bathroom and I was HOWLING!!! We walked around, Diane and I rode in a bike-taxi and we shopped quite a bit.  We had lunch at a little resturant by the canal (incidentally, there are no railiings here so you really want to be carefull when you push your chair back - trust me, you DO NOT want to end up in THIS water!).  We had a traditional pork dish that was quite good once you got under the layer of fat, fried rice, a fish dish, a tofu dish, and a couple of other things.  I have to tell you I am VERY proud of my wife.  She has been trying some stuff that I never thought she would.  Either she has been very hungry or is caught up "in the moment" but she has been a rock-star so far! After lunch we went to what was once the mayor of Tongli's house.  Amazing.  Big.  Beautifull.  Amazing that this was built over a thousand years ago.  One thing that really struck me was that even though this was before Communist rule here in china the similarities Communist rule and Dynasty rule are amazing.  You see how a select few - the mayor, his family and close friends would live in luxary while the rest of the country was in poverty. Anyway, after the Mayor's house we found ourselves in front of China's only Sex Musium.  Yes, you read that right.  The only thing I am going to say about this place is that when we show the video and pics there will be an "over 18" disclaimer on it. After all of this we headed home and had dinner.  Then we went to a Spa!  We had a foot massage!  Now a foot massage here is an hour long and they do your feet, legs and back.  Amazing.  Then the ladies had their hair washed and straightened, Pete had his hair cut and Scotty had a body massage. Here's the beauty of this.  For an hour of foot massage and an hour of body massage it cost me 280 Qui - about $40.  I LOVE CHINA!!!