EdEdwards

Does anyone have experience with a guide and driver to take us from Shanghai out to the water towns one day? Any ideas about going rates? Have already spent time in Suzhou and Hangzhou, and we know what we'd like to see. Thanks.

ekscrunchy

I paid about 100USD for a day trip to Xitang, which is further from Shanghai than some of the more popular water towns. I used a driver who spoke only minimal English, so he did not function as a guide. You really do not need an actual guide for these towns, in my opinion. I was very happy with him and that price was less than half of that charged by the local agencies.

If you would like his contact information, let me know.

ekscrunchy

I just found the number for Mr. Zhong in my Trip Report:

Mr. Zhong Wei Ren

139-019-10833

He has a good sense of humor and is a safe driver. We walked around Xitang together and after our tour and visit to the various sights, he treated me to a wonderful lunch at his favorite local place in the new part of Xitang.
He can understand basic English and speaks a small amount of the language...enough to understand the basics.

Here are some photos (not mine) from the old section of Xitang:





http://tinyurl.com/6crxc9

EdEdwards

Great photos. We hadn't thought about Xitang, were thinking about something closer, but the driver's rate sounds so reasonable -- perhaps we could pay him extra for a day and go to a variety of towns.

BTW -- I noticed the picture of the chou tou fu saleslady. I'd thought that was a specialty in Shaoxing, only? At least, that's where we encountered it 4 years ago. I loved it but couldn't eat it anywhere near the family due to the smell!

ekscrunchy

ED: I debated a lot before choosing Xitang. The other, closer towns sounded far more touristed (see comments in the second link below).

My other strong choice was Nanxun but this was a greater distance (74 miles west) from Shanghai and the driver told me that it might be too far to include both of these in one day. But I am sure Mr. Zhang would be amenable to combining one or more towns.. I would look into both Nanxun and Xitang...

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1525/


http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2...23/tr17-1.html


I did a fair amount of research before deciding to book with Mr. Zhang. The big local agencies, and the hotel, wanted to charge more than double the price that he was asking. If for some reason you cannot contact him, try asking the staff at the front desk of your hotel. Tell them that you do not want the official hotel driver, but want to use a local driver who will charge less for the trip. If the first person you ask does not help, ask someone else. That is how I found Mr. Zhang, who was a friend of one of the concierges at my hotel. As I said, he was a lovely person with more than 20 years experience as a driver; he is the driver for some foreign executives when they come to Shanghai.