Fenghuang: Phoenix Town

So I realize that I have actually posted about our Summer 2012 Epic in reverse chronological order. We went from Hangzhou to Fenghuang to Zhangjiajie to Xi'an and then back to Hangzhou; my blog posts, however, actually take you in reverse order.  So I figured I would make this reverse journey complete and finally post about our first destination, a lovely little canal town called Fenghuang, which translates to Phoenix (which is apparently what they call peacocks--which in my opinion makes peacocks sound even more awesome then they already are).

So, before I get to Fenghuang, let me talk a little about the planning of Budget Tour.  Liv and I decided that we wanted to see more of China, and that we wanted to do it without spending a lot of money (Chinese income + American debt = not so much disposable income).  Thankfully, China can provide just that kind of travel experience for those who are willing to be a bit more adventurous and spend a few hours in less than ideal travel conditions.  However, neither of us had any concrete idea of what we wanted to see in China...Liv was more interested in seeing some natural wonders, and I was interested in seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors--and other historic kinds of architecture.   So we decided to do a trip that was half man-made, half natural wonders.  The planning of this trip was largely placed on Liv's very capable shoulders.

After a couple of weeks of flipping through the Lonely Planet: China Guide, plotting out different potential sites along a very general path (starts in Hangzhou, ends in Xi'an), we came up with a game plan.  (And by 'we', I pretty much mean Liv--she contacted most of the hostels, figured out all the trains and buses, and wrote down all our information in English and Chinese).  Our plan was to go from Hangzhou to Fenghuang, from there onto Zhangjiajie, and then finally end up in Xi'an before heading back home to Hangzhou.  We would do this by taking the cheapest, or next to cheapest, trains available, and we would be staying in hostels.

Before I get into the lovely Fenghuang, let me tell you a little bit about China's train system.  China has fantastic public transportation.  We opted for one of cheaper trains which took us from Hangzhou to Fenghuang in about 21 hours.  This was not a sleeper car, although we tried our hardest to get sleeper cars on as much of this trip as possible--they get booked up pretty fast, so we actually only managed a sleeper for one leg of our journey.  Our trip included a lot of sitting upright and being smooshed together for long periods of time--our trains rides were all between 21 and 27 hours long. It was often uncomfortable.  But this trip was 1,000% worth it.  Liv spent a lot of time sleeping, I read Game of Thrones, and we both honed our card game skills.

Pretty stoked for the first leg of our journey!  And yes, those trains are just as crowded as they look.

Our glamorous travel.  The pic on the far left is a man selling legs of chicken out at the train window while we were stopped at  station. We were very confused. 

It should also be noted that this trip was our first big solo adventure.  What I mean by that is that we did not have anyone with us who had been in China for many years and who spoke Chinese fluently.  We also did not just fly into the city with the only travel concern being our taxi from the airport to the hostel and back.  This was pretty hardcore, and we were pretty much all on our own--for two full weeks.  And we planned this trip without too much advice from our China-expert friends.  So there were a few moments during this trip (mostly during transitions between locations) that were a little bit scary.

But hey, what's an adventure without a little nerves, am I right?

Maybe you can see why we were a tad nervous at times...

We arrived in Fenghuang in the middle of the afternoon. The touristy part of this town--the sections along the river, with the notable stilt homes, is not very large, and it did not take us more than about 10 minutes of wandering through this touristy section to locate our hostel. (Although it did take a few minutes to locate the touristy part of Fenghuang--this was one of those slightly scary moments).  It probably took us longer than it should of to find our hostel, because we were (despite a considerable lack of sleep) distracted by what we were seeing...but I'll get to that in a minute.

We found our hostel (cute and kind of off-beat--following the pattern of hostels in China) and checked in.  Our hostel was fine, although since the whole town is wedged along this river, our hostel was a tad on the damp side.  And our whole bathroom was the shower, with the toilet (a squat toilet--which is unusual for hostels) that served as both a toilet and a drain for our shower. The bathroom was unpleasant.  But the rest was clean and comfortable, and so we were pretty happy.  We dropped off all our stuff, and headed out the door to explore a bit and find food.   We walked a few doors down from our hostel and ordered a really early dinner (it was probably about 3:00 pm).  We then walked around a bit, but we both sort of decided to wait to really sink our teeth into sightseeing until the next day, as we'd pretty much been awake for a full day.  Thus, we walked back to our hostel and passed out around 6:00pm.  We slept for a good 14 hours. Sadly, I have no pictures of this hostel.

The food of Fenghuang. Sooooooooooo Good. The pics at the end are these wonderful egg pockets they make. Like the world's greatest egg McMuffin.

Having turned in so early the day before, we were wide awake by about 8:00 in the morning.  We ate breakfast at our hostel (an indulgence that I engaged in at almost every hostel I've ever stayed at--they offer good old fashioned American breakfasts), bought a tourist map of Fenghuang, and then hit the town.

Our first morning in Fenghuang.

This town is cute, and different from other canal towns I have been in.  First, it's larger than some of the other canal towns, which means you are not just walking around the same four streets. It also means that you are not fighting against streams of thousands of people through this itty bitt touristy town.  Additionally, the stilt architecture was new (not something I had seen in similar towns) and made for some really cool views of the river, with this hodgepodge of buildings jutting out over the water.  Many of these homes, hotels, and restaurants had balcony seating looking out over these rivers. Finally, since Fenghuang is somewhat further off the beaten track, being all the way in Hunan Province, it doesn't have that sad, overused, over-hyped quality to it.  And the people who lived there didn't look miserable because they were not constantly being packed with tourists.  I mean, there were a lot of people there, but it wasn't so packed you were fighting to get through some of the narrower streets.  And is just had an altogether different vibe.

Some  scenic shots of Fenghuang.

Some More!

As a tourist to the town, you could walk along the river, take pictures, wade into the stream, or take a boat ride up and down the river.  On the streets that did not run directly next to the river, you could find little shops selling every possible kind of souvenir and trinket.  There were also several other restaurants, hotels/hostels, and even a few nightclubs.  We stumbled upon a really great little cafe whose name had something to do with birds--Sparrow Cafe? Swallow Cafe? We indulged in properly made coffee and pizza (both were sort of hit or miss the further away from big cities you got).  We visited this place a couple of times...until the police came in right when we were about to leave and shut it down because the boss didn't pay their rent that month.  Whoops.  Liv also got locked in the bathroom for like a solid 15 minutes; the lock was screwy and would not unlock, despite banging, wiggling, and yelling.  But they had this really cute friendly cat! And pizza!!

Swallow Cafe...or something. It was wonderful.

So what is it exactly that is so appealing about Fenghuang?  It's one of those towns that has preserved an older form of architecture (preserved, and rehabbed), and it is located in the middle of an otherwise modern city.  The stilt architecture means that the structures along the river jut out in a hodgepodge, yet still appealing way, creating a really interesting harmony between man and nature.  There are no cars or mopeds through this older section of the city, which is a nice change from the rest of China. You can get some common, and not so common, trinkets from the many vendors around the town, and as someone who had never been to Hunan province before, you can try some new kinds of food.  I highly recommend being adventurous with the food in this province--it was really good.  Even the street food--we had these fried egg pockets for breakfast one morning that were amazing. 

Fenghuang at night.

We stayed in Fenghuang for about a solid two days before catching a bus and heading to Zhangjiajie.  During that time, we spent a lot of time walking, snapping pictures of those cool stilts (and being asked to be in other people's pics, of course), eating local food, and in general just relaxing.   Both of us had just had friends and family visit us from home, and while that time is precious, it can also be exhausting.   So just chilling next to a river, reading a bit, and drinking coffee was an excellent and relaxing way to begin Budget Tour--one of the most epic trips of my life.

For other stops on this epic trip, check out here, here, and here