Hunan Trip
As the end of 2023 approached, my husband said he wanted to take a few days of annual leave. I said, let's travel together. We quickly discussed where to go. I had a previous wish to go to Changsha, and then chatting with a colleague, I learned that the highlight of Hunan tourism is Zhangjiajie. I casually searched online, and a local guide for Zhangjiajie was recommended. I added their WeChat, looked at their itinerary, and found the content acceptable and the price very cheap—5 days and 4 nights—so I booked it. Since we also wanted to go to Changsha, we decided to visit Zhangjiajie first and then spend two days in Changsha.
So we immediately booked flights, flew to Zhangjiajie, and joined a local tour group. Originally, I was not very interested in mountain sightseeing because of my bad knees, but after arriving in Zhangjiajie, I felt it was truly worth the trip.
The first day of the Zhangjiajie itinerary included the National Forest Park, Yangjiajie, Yuanjiajie, Huangshizhai, and Jinbian Stream. The second day: Tianmen Mountain and Baofeng Lake. The third day: Furong Town and Fenghuang Ancient Town. The fourth day: a Miao village and then back to Zhangjiajie to visit the Tusi City.
This trip could be described as a spontaneous departure. We didn't do much research or gather much information; we just had a sense that Zhangjiajie's mountains were of a certain kind, and there was the nationally famous Fenghuang Ancient Town. I looked forward to experiencing the surprises in person.
We arrived at Zhangjiajie's Hehua Airport in the evening. It took 15 minutes to get to the hotel, and we immediately felt the damp cold of the south. The temperature was zero degrees Celsius, and there was no air conditioning, but we found that the locals used fire basins for heating, which worked very well. Sitting at a table with a fire basin under your feet really kept you warm.
The next day, we began the itinerary. Actually, only after arriving at Zhangjiajie did I realize that the main attraction is its unique mountains. We took cable cars to the mountaintops for viewing, and it was truly magnificent. I marveled at nature's craftsmanship. It was really no less impressive than the scenery I saw at the Grand Canyon in the United States—absolutely stunning. Even though the cable car had condensation inside and fog outside, it couldn't diminish its grandeur. No wonder this place was chosen as a filming location for the movie "Avatar."
I also saw online that there were scenic spots like Tianzi Mountain, Shili Gallery, and Huangshigou, and the guide said they all feature the same type of landform—various mountain formations. Yangjiajie, Yuanjiajie, and Huangshizhai all require cable car rides to reach the summit, where you can take photos at viewing platforms. Jinbian Stream is a 7.5-kilometer canyon at the foot of these mountains, which would be very cool and refreshing in summer, with high negative ion content.
One interesting thing on the first day of sightseeing was that the roads on the mountains were icy due to the low temperature, making walking impossible. Local villagers sold claw spikes—a kind of netted shoe cover with triangular iron nails. We bargained each pair down to 20 yuan. Wearing them made walking on the ice safe. At first, we bought one pair and each wore one (someone suggested this method), but later we found it didn't work and bought another pair. It was hilarious. We had to watch our steps carefully.
On the second day, we took a cable car to visit Tianmen Mountain—rare in the world, with first-class technology, a total length of 7,455 meters, and a one-way trip of 30 minutes. The high cable car combined with the rime ice scenery on the mountains made us feel as if we had arrived in a fairyland. The construction of this cable car was truly an incredible engineering feat, hard to believe. The guide said that the Tianmen Mountain scenic area is contracted by a private owner for 20 years, who spent a huge amount of money to develop it.
Tianmen Mountain was historically called Yunmeng Mountain and Songliang Mountain. In 263 AD, a cliff on Songliang Mountain suddenly opened, forming a rare world wonder—Tianmen Cave.
Tianmen Mountain is known as "the No.1 Sacred Mountain of Xiangxi" and is called the soul of Zhangjiajie. For more than 1,700 years, this wonder has attracted countless visitors, especially in 1999 when world-class stunt pilots flew through Tianmen Cave, causing a global sensation.
There is also a small story: before coming, I said I would not walk on the glass plank road because I was scared. But I noticed that the guide didn't emphasize it at all, saying it wasn't scary and everyone could walk across. Sure enough, when we got there, it was easy to cross because the total length was only about 60 meters, and one side could be supported by the mountain while the other side had glass railings.
On the third day, we went to Furong Town and Fenghuang Ancient Town in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. The autonomous prefecture is located in the northwest of Hunan Province, at the junction of four provinces: Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, and Chongqing. It is a typical impoverished area and a pioneer region for China's western development and poverty alleviation. It is the only autonomous prefecture in Hunan. Often these places have their own unique primitive features.
Furong Town is small and became famous because of the movie "Furong Town" starring Liu Xiaoqing. We arrived at Fenghuang Ancient Town in the evening and mainly saw the night scene. The hotel room temperature was as low as 11 degrees Celsius at night, and we curled up freezing. Another reason to visit Xiangxi was for Shen Congwen's "Border Town." Actually, most ancient towns have similar styles. Since it was winter, there were very few people in the ancient town, so we couldn't feel the bustling atmosphere. Walking on the ancient stone slabs through the alleys and visiting Shen Congwen's former residence gave a sense of time travel, as if seeing Cuicui and Tianbao brothers.
On the fourth day, we visited a Miao village and Tusi City. The focus was on understanding the poverty of local ethnic minorities and the history of Tusi City. Visiting Tusi City was truly rewarding. We happened to meet a staff member who studied cultural relics and history and served as a guide. It turned out that the Tusi chief was once very powerful, ruling over five provinces: Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan. Their architectural style was all black—truly different regions have different styles. Moreover, the land of Xiangxi has many magical legends and stories, such as walking corpses and crying marriage. They sound scary, but after learning the stories, I was deeply moved. In the evening of the first day, we watched the performance "Impression Xiangxi" directed by Feng Xiaogang, which was spectacular and worth seeing.
On the fourth day, after visiting Tusi City, we took a high-speed train from Zhangjiajie to Changsha at 6 PM. When we arrived at the hotel in Changsha, it was so warm that I turned off the air conditioning. We planned where to go in Changsha for two days. Initially, we decided: on the first day, Hunan Provincial Museum, Yuelu Mountain, and Orange Isle; on the second day, some historical streets, Taiping Old Street, Pozi Street, Wenheyou, etc.
We had breakfast at the entrance of the hotel: a bowl of "kill pig noodles" (rice noodles with pork). It was very delicious. Then we went to the museum. The highlight of the Hunan Provincial Museum is the Mawangdui Han Tomb, the tomb of Lady Xin Zhui. When discovered in 1972, it had been buried for 2,000 years, but the body was still soft when excavated—truly incredible. At that time, cultural relic experts from more than 100 countries came to visit. We spent over three hours in the museum, learning a lot about the fertile land of Hunan.
In the afternoon, we went to Yuelu Mountain. We didn't enter the famous Yuelu Academy (entrance fee 40 yuan). We climbed Yuelu Mountain, which was lush with green vegetation and beautiful. Hunan University is located here. There are many Changsha snacks around the campus. We took some photos at the Aiwanting Pavilion. The pavilion has a literary reference: "I stop the carriage and sit to enjoy the evening maple grove; the frost-covered leaves are redder than the flowers of February."
From Yuelu Mountain, we went to Orange Isle to see Chairman Mao's statue. From the park entrance to the sculpture is three kilometers. We walked there and back because the shuttle bus had a single fare of 40 yuan per person.
In the evening, we strolled along Huangxing Pedestrian Street. There were many people, similar to Shanghai's Nanjing Road or Beijing's Wangfujing Street.
We walked a lot on the first day, reaching over 17,000 steps. The second day was much easier. The hotel also offered luggage delivery service, which was very convenient, allowing us to travel light for another day, as our flight was at 7:30 PM.
On the second day, our first stop was Du Fu Jiang Pavilion, a pavilion built on the Xiang River bank for Du Fu. It's optional.
Then we went to Wenheyou, which is actually a microcosm of old Changsha from a bygone era.
Leaving Wenheyou, we searched on Xiaohongshu for other places to go. We found Pozi Street and Taiping Old Street.
Pozi Street had no special highlights, and we finished quickly. Then we went to the next street, Taiping Old Street.
Taiping Old Street was quite lively, and we could also visit the former residence of the famous scholar Jia Yi. We had lunch there. The restaurant "Fei Dàchú" was very delicious.
The seven-day Hunan trip ended quickly. One regret was that we didn't have enough time to visit Chairman Mao's hometown, Shaoshan. We'll leave it for next time. The meaning of travel is that there will always be new expectations waiting for you. The land of Xiangxi in Hunan has the history of the majestic Tusi kings, the tragedy of brave warriors dying on the battlefield, and the songs of beautiful Miao girls like Cuicui. The Hunan trip was truly worthwhile, and I look forward to the next journey.
