Fenghuang Huofeng Hotel

... the crowds to the river itself but that was as bad... one boat after another chock full of singing visitors, garish in their orange life jackets against the green water. I decided to enjoy my balcony seat as a prime reading spot, with earplugs in place, and wait for the daytrippers to leave before I ventured out...but they didn't go! They were all staying in town, it seemed, and as the pagoda and temples were ...

... 1493;
489;ה, עיגול בצק אורז ירוק מאודה ממולא שעועי 14; אדומה מתוקה, מוקף בעלה שמוסי 07; טעם, אכלתי ...

... 1502;שלימ 97;ם תוספת מדהימ 92; לנהר שזורם במרכז העיר. הגעתי באוטו 89;וס לעיר, אחד מיני רבים שעזב ...

... walking down the matrix of alleys, you would come across several live animals in cages or tanks waiting outside for the next hungry customer. Included in this list of animals were, rats, guinea pigs, tortoises, fish,chickens and they even had a pigs face. Its hard to describe but basically its the pigs face cut off, flattened and hung up to to dry. One of them had its eyes still in place, which was not the greatest site ...

... The only down side was the toilet and shower both had see thorugh glass. Which was a bit awkward when we needed to go. We did get a knock on the door though about 11.30pm and it was a member of staff with the local police. Finally they had caught up with Alison and were taking her away. Peace at last. Unfortunatley it was the wrong room. There are no pictures as the town was rubbish.

Alison: Ditto except the part about the police :-)

... in that there are shops everywhere selling tacky tourist rubbish. But it's quite a nice change from trekking for 9+ hours every day. Going to Liuzhou and then on to Yizhou tomorrow night, which is meant to be as beautiful as Guilin, but not as touristy. Not sure where to go after that, but will try to keep things updated.

Edit: Facebook has now been banned in China. I'm sure it's for a good reason, and for the good of the country as a whole... Ahem.

I have been staying in Feng Huang (Phoenix Town) for about 3 days now. It is a very charming "old style" town that is located right on the river. Many of the buildings have stilt-like supports that extend into the water of the river. The streets and alleyways are narrow and there are many small shops, restaurants, guesthouses, and bars throughout the town. Because of the unique way the town is situated on the river it has become quite a big tourist town, especially for the Chinese (I have ...

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notes:

arrived off the bus with 3 hours to sightsee fenghuang. Came with canadian friends. dropped off bags at their hostel. very beautiful river town. could stay longer, but saw most of the city in 3 hours really. mostly selling wierd stuff on streets. amazing views along water. walked across a rock step bridge. blitzed through everything. caught bus with 20 minutes to spare.

... higher and separated from the group the dampness and excitement raised bumps on my arms.             The path began to climb steeply and stairs became more and more frequent as I reached the final climb up one of the karst cliffs to reach a lookout and another Miao village. My lungs were definitely burning but a month and a half of stair climbing in China had prepared me for it and in a shorter time than I would have thought I had reached the top and was able to gaze down ...

... We also watched the Opening Ceremony, how cool was that?! The streets of the village were empty, absolutely everyone closed up shop to watch the ceremony. They also had local fireworks that exploded, it seemed, exactly in time with the giant footprint fireworks we were seeing on the tv in Beijing!!