The kids are a couple of days behind with their entries. I'll have them do a single combined Huzhou entry tomorrow night if we have good internet access in Moganshan. It turns out the snow storm went on for a couple of more days. According to several people this is the most snow they have seen in at least 10 years. We left the ultramodern Sheraton Huzhou(see my last post) and took a cab to Nanxun water village. This is a small village in the center of Nanxun city. Its all interconnected with tiny alleys and canals. The canals connect to the Chinese Grand Canal which actually ran all the way from Beijing to Hangzhou. Nanxun is kind of like a Chinese version of Venice as you will see in the huge list of pictures I'm about to post.  Its considered one of the most scenic areas in China and is often over run with tourists. In our case the snow storm meant it was almost deserted.  We are staying at Shangyuge Hotel.  Our cab drivers had a lot of trouble finding it. They were driving all around and finally gave up and called the hotel. Turns out you can't just drive to the front door. Its in the no vehicles section of the old village. So the hotel staff walked through the snow to the gates of the village and then walked back with us.
  The village itself is interconnected by many stone bridges over the canals. The canals are lined with shops and people's houses. There are many stores catering to tourist with souvenirs and such but also many catering to locals selling produce, baked goods, fish, meat, etc... Its clearly a village people live in as evidenced by the drying fish hanging on their back porches. Many of the building are 400 to 600 years old. Not sure how old our hotel is but its timber framed with a pole and tile roof. No insulation and very drafty. Fortunately every room came with electric heaters. The house is a classic Chinese style with multiple connected courtyards as you go deeper into the house. Rooms are in the walls of the courtyards. There is an actual stone well in the center of the 2nd or 3rd courtyard which is still in use. The furthest back courtyard has a hot springs. It has a stone tub which is clearly modern but I think the spring itself is natural. At least I didn't find any pumps, filters, or heaters anywhere.
 Each room is furnished with what look like real Chinese antiques. The bed is a Chinese style canopy bed.
 We spent two days walking around the village. We would stop and eat and have hot tea or hot fruit juice wherever we wanted. Most of the restaurants had just a few tables and were essentially the front room of people's houses. They would stop whatever they were doing and essentially turn their family room into a restaurant if someone stopped by. I'm betting the place is mobbed with tourists in the spring and summer but it was almost deserted for us. There are several large mansion associated with the village that you can normally tour. These date from its time as a rich village in the middle of the silk trade. Unfortunately with the snow everything was closed so we couldn't tour them.
 What follows is a dump of my favorite pictures from Nanxun. Sorry there are so many

Shangyuge Hotel

Attic room

Well in the courtyard

view from our room

Hot springs in back of Shangyuge Hotel

Boats on the canals

Fish drying on someone's porch

One of many high arched stone bridges

Look at the view from the kitchen of the restaurant where we had breakfast. Its called Two Bridges Noodles and has supposedly been in business for over 100 years

400 year old Chinese Row houses also known as BaiJianLou or 100 room building

Looks like there are Metal Heads even in ancient Chinese villages

We had "pizza" here. Sort of like steak, vegetables, and cheese on pita bread in microwave