Blogs from Fenghuang, Hunan, China, Asia - page 2

Getting from Yangshuo to Fenghuang was always going to be interesting. I did a little internet research on the matter, and found a range of blogs warning of impossible connections, language nightmares and near-death experiences on the bus. Undeterred, Chris and I thought we'd have a go anyway. Getting to Guilin -an hour's bus journey to the north - proved easy enough. Next stop Huaihua. We opted for train rather than bus - it leaves and arrives at about the same time, costs about the same, has a more sensible seating arrangement and is less likely to kill you. We strolled into the train station, chose the queue which inexplicably had nobody waiting (the other queues were at least 30 strong), and bought tickets for the only train of the day which left twenty minutes later ... read more

I finally said goodbye to Fenghuang on Monday. I’d spent my last day taking it easy. The rain had descended on the town and there wasn’t a lot to do. I did get up early on Sunday morning and managed to beat the rain in time to climb to the top of a small hill to see the Heavenly King Temple (Tianwang Miao) There is a rather steep and at times slippery path which leads to the top but it does provide great views looking down on the town. Thankfully it seemed that nobody else had decided to do this and I was left once again in relative peace at the top. The climb up had been easy enough and deciding I didn’t want to go down the same way I came up I took another ... read more

My next destination was to Fenghuang in Hunan province. I knew that it was going to be a long journey there so I'd mentally prepared myself for one or two problems along the way. It started relatively easy by jumping on a bus from Yangshuo back to Guilin. I then had a short wait in Guilin as the rained drizzled down. It was then a ten hour train ride to Huaihua a small nondescript town in Hunan province which serves as a hub for connecting trains. I was lucky enough to meet a lovely elderly Chinese couple on the train who took it upon themselves to look after me throughout the journey. Like most Chinese people I've met they were extremely friendly but also very inquisitive. I had told them that my Chinese language ability was ... read more

It's been exactly one week since we left the cozy confines of Hong Kong and crossed into mainland China at Shendzhen. Under the stern gaze of the Chinese Police we nervously handed our passports and tourist visas to the immigration officer. At this point, we had no idea what to expect... As we made our way through the Shendzhen train station we knew we needed to catch another train...most probably to Guangzhou, a major centre a couple hours inland where we could probably catch a train to anywhere in China....this is when we encountered our first problem...All English language and signage stopped. Most importantly, this included the train schedule and all people working the ticket booths.... There may be no more helpless feeling than standing in the middle of a train station, staring up at a ... read more

Dag allemaal, De treinverbinding Kaili-Huaihua tartte ons geduld en zoals we gevreesd hadden arriveerden we inderdaad te laat om nog een aansluitende bus naar Fenghuang, ons volgende doel, te nemen. 's Anderendaags 's morgens zijn we dan meteen vertrokken naar het busstation, maar dat bleek geen garantie om vroeg in Fenghuang te geraken, want de bus vertrok uiteindelijk pas tegen de middag. Het gaf ons wel de gelegenheid om uitgebreid kennis te maken met David, een sympathieke Israelier die ook richting Fenghuang trok. In Fenghuang waren we niet alleen. Naast de werkende Chinezen en de arme Chinezen schieten er nog genoeg over om tijdens de week tripjes in eigen land te maken. Zo ook Timothy, een stotterende Chinees die voor het gemak zichzelf een Engelse naam gegeven had. Nog maar net aangekomen in Fenghuang klampte hij ... read more