Leisurely Wandering in Changsha

The Ctrip app, dormant for three years, hovered on the edge of being deleted or not, and finally got reactivated. Booking high-speed rail tickets, hotels, and attractions, I set off.

D1: Arrive in Changsha, eat and stroll

High-speed rail from Nanjing South to Changsha South, then direct metro from Changsha South to the hotel. Honestly, Hunan's metro is really reasonably priced. After downloading the 'Changsha Metro' app, during the Spring Festival, no matter how many stations you ride or how many transfers you make, scanning the QR code to enter, it never exceeds 4 yuan.

The long-lost Nanjing South Station, not seen for three years, still the familiar platform.

A cup of coffee starts this familiar yet unfamiliar journey (I've really been looking forward to it for too long).

The festive atmosphere on the Changsha Metro.

They say when you come to Changsha, you must bring a huge stomach. On the first day of arrival, I deeply felt it. Huangxing Road Pedestrian Street offers a perfect experience.

Shop signs full of Hong Kong style.

After queuing for over an hour for the classic black stinky tofu, it's both stinky and addictive, so spicy it makes you doubt life.

There's a Sexy Tea shop every few hundred meters, and the key is that each one has a long line. Here, I feel sorry for other milk tea brands for a few seconds.

The Orchid Latte and Osmanthus Nong recommended by netizens can only be described as average. Forgive me, I really can't get into milk tea. Just tried it for the check-in experience 😅

For chestnut lovers, the cone chestnuts from Jinlimen are worth a try.

Changsha Wu Su Sheng's bursting mochi and hawthorn cake are okay (mainly we ate them when we were hungry 🤭).

Having drunk coffee for so long, this is my first time trying Chinese-style coffee. The Mandarin Duck Coffee under Sexy Tea makes you understand what Chinese-style coffee is. This cup 'After the New Mountain Rain' - I'll finish it, you give up 😅

Day coffee, night alcohol, morning coffee, evening milk tea - all good, none delayed. This is Changsha.

IFS International Finance Center in Changsha - this light show really put in effort. I also put in effort to take photos. Waiting in the cold wind for this shot, I'm dedicated. Sending this big heart to you, keeping the small heart for myself.

D2: Hunan Provincial Museum & Orange Isle

Early in the morning, I went to Changsha Rice Noodle Street to eat rice noodles. I had done my research on the main branch of Bayi Bridge. Beautiful idea but reality was a long queue. When I asked, the waitress said you'd have to queue for two hours, so I gave up. Didn't eat rice noodles, just visited.

Tourists queuing early in the morning for rice noodles.

At the Lawson beside the museum, coffee and bread to fill my stomach before entering the museum. The museum must be booked in advance - important things said three times. Closed on Mondays. Tickets for the whole holiday week were snapped up in seconds. Many tourists without reservations could only take photos at the museum entrance. As a museum veteran, I set an alarm to grab a reservation ticket - a little proud here, hehe ~~

I never figured out what that fairy mist was at the museum entrance early in the morning.

The New Year atmosphere at Hunan Museum was still strong.

Many people guessed this cute creature was a rabbit; I also thought it looked like one. But despite its rabbit-like cute appearance, it's not part of the rabbit family. It's actually the 'Guardian Weasel' from the Western Han Mawangdui lacquer plate of a civet cat, the mascot of the Marquis of Dai's residence in the Changsha Kingdom of the Western Han.

First time experiencing an AR exhibition - immersive viewing makes you understand what 'being there' means. Each exhibition hall opened with a personal introduction by the curator. Thumbs up for the dedicated curator. Four hours at the museum felt not nearly enough. Hunan Museum is truly distinctive. They say if you come to Changsha, you must visit it - indeed.

This 'Peppa Pig' looks a bit fierce, but it's actually a wine vessel.

This is a lamp. Guess where the lamp oil is poured in?

The treasure of Hunan Museum - the plain gauze garment from Mawangdui.

Thomas the Tank Engine on Orange Isle - surprisingly, we didn't queue much. This was a real surprise during the holiday. So I didn't experience the massive crowds on Orange Isle. I heard friends who came the next day had to queue for at least two hours.

We wandered back to IFC at 4:30, planning to find a Hunan cuisine restaurant for a good meal. Reality told me I was overthinking - every restaurant had a two-hour queue, some even said they were done taking numbers. So I gave up, turned around, and saw M-Stand, a huge one, reportedly the flagship store in Changsha. I quickly went in and devoured cake and coffee, satisfied. In the end, in Changsha where I was supposed to eat Hunan cuisine, I found a Sichuan restaurant for dinner. The Hunan restaurants were too crowded to queue for.

Kaws on the roof of IFC.

D3: Yueyang

High-speed rail 30 minutes direct to Yueyang, to experience Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower.

At the bus stop from the high-speed rail station to Yueyang Tower scenic area, without change, we asked the driver if Alipay or WeChat was okay. Before the driver could answer, a strange woman directly helped us insert coins. Big heart to her. During chat, we learned they were from Dongbei and also visiting Yueyang without much planning. So I volunteered to help them plan a simple one-day itinerary, successfully steering them away from the tourist trap attractions.

Bianhe Street in Yueyang city.

Encountered a flash mob of opera on Bianhe Street.

The Yueyang Tower seemed a bit different from what I imagined.

This is the ancient city gate of Yueyang.

Is this Dongting Lake? It seems hard to feel Fan Zhongyan's description of 'the magnificent scenery of Baling lies entirely in Dongting Lake'.

The little surprise of this Yueyang trip was the Saint An Ancient Temple. Saint An Temple is a historic temple in Yueyang, built in the early Tang dynasty. The peaceful chanting and swirling sandalwood smoke immerse you in a strong Buddhist culture.

The Yueyang Pagoda in Saint An Temple has nine stories. Climbing to the top, on the right you can overlook the South Lake, on the left you can gaze into the distance at Dongting, and straight ahead you can view the entire Yueyang city.

I had the chance to eat at Liu Longzi, which I couldn't in Changsha, and importantly, there was no queue.

This rice noodle was so spicy I drank sweet soybean milk like crazy.

It was too cold by Dongting Lake, so I decided to end the Yueyang trip early and return to Changsha. Since it was still early, I headed to Yuelu Mountain.

At the foot of the mountain, Yuelu Academy, located inside Hunan University, is one of the four famous academies in history.

The plaque 'Yuelu Academy' was personally inscribed by Emperor Zhenzong of Song.

'Learning Reaches Nature' was bestowed by Emperor Kangxi, encouraging the promotion of Neo-Confucianism and self-cultivation; 'True Lineage of the Way' was bestowed by Emperor Qianlong, the highest praise for the propagation of Neo-Confucianism at Yuelu Academy.

The screen wall of the lecture hall features the 'Record of Yuelu Academy', written by Zhang Shi, a Neo-Confucian scholar and the principal of the academy in the Southern Song dynasty, serving as the basic outline for cultivating talents at Yuelu Academy.

Yuelu Academy is the predecessor of Hunan University, whose name was personally inscribed by Chairman Mao.

A corner of Yuelu Academy.

Aiwanting Pavilion, located halfway up Yuelu Mountain, was built during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty. Originally named Red Leaf Pavilion, it was later renamed Aiwanting after the poem line 'Stopping to sit and love the maple grove at dusk, frost leaves are redder than the flowers of February.' The plaque is engraved with calligraphy by Mao Zedong.

Descending Yuelu Mountain, I returned to the hotel for a short rest before heading to Super Wenheyou for food. But when I got there, I found out Wenheyou didn't open until the fifth day of the lunar new year, so I could only take a photo of the logo and leave. 'Eat and stroll here' shrank to 'Photo here'.

D4: Go home

Yesterday's tight schedule earned me a natural wake-up today. They say coming to Changsha is for eating, but the streets are full of spicy food, which made us hesitate. The most important thing: we couldn't eat, couldn't eat, couldn't eat. Everywhere required at least a two-hour queue. Arriving in Changsha on the first day of the lunar new year, I managed to experience a less crowded Changsha before the main tourist wave arrived. No attraction had exaggerated queues. In four days in Changsha, I only had one cup of Sexy Tea, which was more than enough. But for milk tea lovers, you can have a different one every day. We'll just look; looking is as good as drinking. Goodbye, Changsha.

Ate breakfast at Xiao Mai's (yes, not rice noodles - too spicy, couldn't handle it). Departed for Changsha South. Over 5 hours on the high-speed rail, I typed up the travel notes, then took a short nap. Switching back to work mode, work hard and look forward to the next trip.