Zhangjiajie National Park is about 6 hours by train from Yichang on the Yangtze River, and it is not (yet) on the map for western tourist. It is a big thing however for Chinese tourists, as I was soon to find out. The area is renown for its magnificent karst landscape, and as you can see from the pictures, it is a truly amazing sight. Some of the solo sandstone peaks dotting the landscape look like they will tumble any second, and especially when viewing them from above the views are very dramatic. Having teamed up with easy-going Karen from England [View Full Entry]

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Went out to the airport to fly standby into the southwestern part of China. They began by asking for full fare - fair enough - but I asked for the discount price. They dropped the price by 40 percent, but this is China and you negotiate everything here, so I offered less than half. The stern woman behind the counter replied with a harsh No. I prodded gently a little, but she wouldn’t move, so I finally agreed to her price. She barked Passport! at me, then Luggage! One-word orders from a small-time tyrant in a company uniform. Maybe I should [View Full Entry]

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You'd think the state-run railway system would get a native English speaker to check these kinds of things over before putting them up by the hundreds in trains. What do they take us foreigners to be.... horses? [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Our plane landed at midnight in the city of Zhangjiajie and the local taxicabs had us by the throat. They were a collective mass, no bargaining, they wouldn't compete, it was going to be 300 rmb to the hotel and they knew we had no choice in the matter. We tried to haggle it down to even 200, but they wouldn't budge. Reluctantly we tossed our packs in the trunk and got into the taxi. It would cost us half the price to return to this airport 3 days later. Zhangjiajie is seriously on the map for Asian tourists, but rather [View Full Entry]

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We are now in the town of Fenghuang. We arrived thismorning at 6:00am after catching a local bus from Yangshuo to Guilin (2.5 hours). We then had to get a bus from Guilin to Huaihua (14 hours) along dangerious roads high up in the mountains. Finally we got another cramped local bus which passed beautiful rice paddies and old towns into Fenghuang (2 hours) . We did all this using sign language and a phrase book since know one understands a word we are saying. I cant believe we actually made it this far! While on the bus I chose not [View Full Entry]

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After spending 6 days running around Hong Kong, we were lucky enough to get our Visa on the second attempt at the Chinese embassy. Because of the Olympics, the government are cracking down on multiple entry visas and visas lasting longer than 30 days so they can maintain tighter control on foreigners entering and exiting China. It has been a real painful process involving 2 full days sitting in the embassy trying to push our visa application through. I wish we bought our Visa in England! We spent 4 days visiting the sights of Hongkong, checking out the Avenue of Stars, [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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