Day 16: Fenghuang: Hong Bridge, East Gate Tower, Yang Family Ancestral Hall, Tianhou Temple, Fenghuang Walls, North Gate Tower, Stone Road, Wooden Bridge, Wanming Pagoda
Today we wake up at 6 in the morning with spectacular views of Fenghuang from our room at the Fenghuang Melody Inn that are well worth the transfer we made yesterday from the Chinese Avatar Mountains and that start today with many places what to see in Fenghuang.
Fenghuang views from our hotel room
Today we do not have breakfast included in the price of the room so you will have to look for a little life, as it has happened since we started this trip to China for free, once we are in the streets of Fenghuang. As soon as we left we found something we did not expect even though we had already read it in several places. Groups and more organized groups are entering the central area of Fenghuang, dazzling at first sight, we are not going to lie to you, a place as idyllic as this.
Fenghuang
As we have said several times in China you can forget about coffee and pasta for breakfast, unless you go to a McDonald's, so today that there is none at hand, we have to eat a couple of pastas, which are like fried batons, great by the way, for 3RMB each.
With the stomach a little more toned and fleeing in a certain way from the place where all the organized groups are concentrated, we cross the river along the bank of our hotel until we reach the end, where it crosses a huge bridge that connects with the new city and We took the opportunity to approach a bank to change money, since with the expenses of these last days we have remained dry.
Fenghuang stone road views
With the money already changed we go back into the inner streets of the old city, already full of shops and restaurants open at this time, in which we begin to get an idea of what our lunch and dinner will be today.
Restaurants of the city. What to see in Fenghuang
Lost in the streets of Fenghuang, we advise you to leave the map aside and dedicate yourself to travel in this way, we come across a coffee and take the opportunity to have an American and a beer for 65RMB.
With the somewhat more toned body we return again to our wandering the streets of Fenghuang, losing ourselves each time through more scenic streets, full of color that seems to attract us like a magnet.
Color in the streets of Fenghuang
What to see in Fenghuang in one day
We assure you, as we said before, that this is the best way to get to know it, without a map and away from the most tourist areas.
It's 12 in the morning when right next to the water mill, from where there are good perspectives of the old city and the houses on wooden piles, we see a cafe / bar where they make pizzas with a super cool terrace that looks like It is made for us. We don't doubt it for a second, we sat down and ordered a couple of pizzas plus coke and lemonade for 169RMB.
Eating in Fenghuang
In a place like this it is welcome to make a good desktop, so after eating and with a coffee in hand we enjoy a unique time in which we only dedicate ourselves to see life go by and see how little by little, they disappear the groups that until now crowded the streets of Fenghuang.
Fenghuang
Shortly after 2 pm and seeing that the city is much more clear of people, we take the opportunity to tour the entire riverbank, a place that offers the best views of the city.
Fenghuang corners
Fenghuang, a city that seems taken from a story
Now that the heat begins to tighten a little, we take advantage of eating mango ice cream for 30RMB and when we get back to our hotel, we take the opportunity to confirm the bus schedules from Febghuang to Huaihua, which is where we have to go early tomorrow in the morning to catch the train that will take us to Changsa and from there take another to Guilin, our next destination of this Trip to china.
On the internet we had seen that the first one left at 8 in the morning and it took 2 hours to arrive, but the guy at the reception tells us that it was already a couple of years ago and that now it takes an hour since he is on the highway.
Although he puts all the intention and we see him calling the station several times he does not get anyone to confirm anything and if in doubt of being late and missing the train if this schedule is not met we prefer to go safely and ask for a taxi , which as we have pointed out costs about 350RMB.
More practical information to prepare your trip to China
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China
It is much more expensive than the bus, although if we count the bus plus taxis, both from the hotel to the bus station, and from the bus station of HuaiHua to the train station, the difference is not so exaggerated and in this way we We assure to be on time, since if the bus takes more than 2 hours, we would lose the first train.
We meet the guy at the reception who will find us a taxi and that tonight he will confirm the time and with this fixed we return to leave the hotel and get lost again in the streets of Fenghuang at this time and preparing for dinner and it is that many restaurants put on the sidewalk cages and fish tanks with different animals, which you can point out and they cook you at the moment. Something that really catches our attention and we are not going to lie to you, we find it a bit unpleasant.
Although the weather indicated that today it was going to rain in the afternoon, the sky begins to open leaving us a much clearer picture of the famous houses on wooden piles, one of Fenghuang's icons and one of his most famous images.
Fenghuag stilt houses
Fenghuang
This afternoon we are taking it quite relaxed and it is that to visit Fenghuang with one day you have enough if you want to know the most important points of the city and stroll through its intricate streets.
Among the most important points we have the Hong Bridge, one of the symbols of Fenghuang.
Hong Bridge
Another of the places that can be visited in Fenghuang is the Yang Family Ancestral Hall, located near the East Gate, Tianhou Temple or Shen Congwen's residence, where the novelist was born in 1902.
Another of the places you can not miss are the fenghuang walls from which you have a totally perspective of the city.
Fenghuang Wall
Before arriving in Fenghuang we had the idea of taking a tour in Barcelona by the Tuo River, but we have seen that it is very full of local tourists and really, seeing the route they do, we do not believe that it gives us a very different perspective than we have From the viewpoints around the river. So that's why and why it costs 100RMB per person if you don't have the Fenghuang Card, we let this experience go by.
Fenghuang rooftops from one of the City Gates
Color in the streets of Fenghuang
And so, between alley and alley, before the afternoon falls, we begin to travel again along the banks of the Tuo River, in search of new perspectives and new colors on the city.
Start at sunset over Fenghuang
And after 7 pm as if by magic, Fenghuang goes from being that city anchored in the past to a city-disco, in which the daytime coffee shops are now pubs with colored lights and karaoke.
Fenghuang's transformation at nightfall
Night falls in Fenghuang
Before we go again to cross the riverbank, the most scenic place in the city, we stop at a restaurant where we order a couple of pasta dishes, more water and a cake for 130RMB.
With a full stomach and bursting from so much walking, we return to the Fenghuang Melody Inn to rest and the owner tells us that he has got an 8-seater car, in which tomorrow people will go from another hotel to HuaiHua and that he leaves us for 60RMB for person leaving at 8 in the morning, time that if we go by private car, we are perfect to arrive on time to catch the train.
So with this also closed, we go to our room to rest, but not before, take a look at the incredible views we have from our terrace.
As a curiosity we will tell you that, as in the other places we are visiting, here in Fenghuang we have not met many Western tourists, it is more, here with none! In Zhangjiajie National Park for example, we meet a couple of couples, but here with no one. The only Westerners in the entire city.
** As an addition we will tell you that in Fenghuang, both in the hotel and in the guide put and they told us that you could get a ticket for 148RMB per person that gave you access to several tourist attractions of the old city area and a boat ride. But at no time we were told that this was mandatory to walk according to what areas of the city.
However, in several areas of the river, we have met men and some machines that passed and scanned some tickets. We have been asked several times and saying that we were staying inside let us pass with the face of not knowing what we were saying.
We thought we understood that this ticket is obligatory, contrary to what they had told us, but the staff, seeing us pass so direct and without giving much more importance to what they were telling us, have had no choice but to let us pass.
Of course, that has lasted until the end of the day in which when we have gone to pass through the area of the wooden walkway we have been told that without a ticket we did not pass, and our explanations have been of no use.
Day 17: Transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin: Fenghuang - Huaihua - Changsa - Guilin
