Tues 19 10

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Tues19/10

From an uninspiring room where the dirty brown carpet was badly stained and beds that had less bounce than a concrete slab we woke early to pack then to a equally less than inspiring breakfast - juice was a cordial, tea and coffee in short supply and glasses (from the juice bar) were used in lieu of the no supply of cups for the dregs of the tea pot.

Great news was that Iggi's bags that missed the Changsha flight out of HKK finally caught up with us, but only retrievable after the Hotel manager started work at 7:30

The big decision at the start of the bus trip was if the rotation of seats meant clockwise / anti clockwise or down one side. All was resolved however tomorrow may demonstrate this was not a long term understanding

From the hotel in Changde it was a direct coach trip 135 km to Zhangjiajie (Zang-ji-joo) along some magnificent expressway. Fully a freeway with no intersections and 3 lanes each way around the city and a minimum 2 beyond. The scenery generally becoming more hilly with scattered 3 story ('farm') houses surrounded by rice fields or similar

The exit from the Expressway took us directly into a tunnel (maybe 5km long) through the hills into the Huanglong Scenic spot.

It was an early lunch, again with possibly 10 courses before heading to the Yellow Dragon Cave.

The monkey at the approach has it right!

As an impressive cave as I've ever seen. A 15min walk through very large caves and a boat ride along the rest of it. WOW!

The afternoon was a trip back to town, some shopping followed by an early dinner. Shades of Du-Ja-Vu as the restaurant was the same as for lunch with an almost identical 'House Special' menu

Staying at the 20 week old Guo Bin Hotel which has several buildings set out like an old school quadrangle with a long walk between buildings.


NDC 19/10

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