This was also a special China National Holiday week for the whole country, as it was the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, 1949-2019. The celebratory spirit was alive and well throughout our journey, from flag stickers on children’s cheeks to the little flag icon following the digital car images on the rideshare app Didi. Also due to the holiday, our Chinese friends and colleagues warned us that it would be very crowded in Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang (Phoenix Ancient Town) because of the holiday. We went into the week knowing that but anticipating it to be better as long as we got up early and took the trails ~ in our usual fashion.
Being us, before going we did some online research, re-watched the movie Avatar, (because the director was inspired by some of the landscapes inside the national park) and watched a documentary on Amazon about the area. One thing that stood out to us was when the local farmer said something to the effect of, “My son doesn’t want to continue the farm. All the young people want to move to the city, they don’t want a life here in the fields.” This seems to be a trend throughout the country, if not the world. Here is the link if you’re interested in viewing the documentary about this area of Hunan too.
As if the ancient style buildings and five bridges weren’t exciting enough in this mountain valley getaway, our room with the balcony river view, complete with floating wicker chair really
We spent the rest of our time wandering along the riverwalk up and down the worn stone paths lined with small booths with wares for sale. Mini watermelons, red-heart kiwis, Mandarin oranges and what we called the “Phoenix fruit” (researched later ~ actually the Horned fruit, aka kiwano or
We thought the sunset was the highlight of our time in Fenghuang… until we woke up for the sunrise. The sun cast gold on layers of blue mountains and reflected off the river, framing silhouettes of the ancient bridges.
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