China - Autumn 1994

30 Sept	We left early this morning in a cycle-rickshaw for the station, where we had hard-seat reservations for the short journey to Shaoxing. The train was very crowded. At Shaoxing we stayed at the Dalou hotel, an unattractive but reasonably comfortable and very central hotel; we took the local bus no 3, which was not crowded at all to the Lanting Pavilion after lunch. This charming spot is famous as the garden where famous poets and calligraphers have spent many an hour; there was an interesting exhibition of calligraphy, and the gardens were to my eyes as attractive as those of Suzhou. Back in town we wandered the streets before having dinner at an open-air restaurant. The inhabitants of Shaoxing are more sophisticated, or have seen foreigners before, because no-one thought it worthwhile watching us eat.
1 Oct	Today was Chinas 45 th anniversary since Independence, and this was commemorated by banners strung across the major thoroughfares of Shaoxing. However we saw no parades. demonstrations or military fly-pasts, the day was spent calmly enough as far as we could see. We breakfasted on noodles at our hotel and then took a cycle-rickshaw to the East Lake, another beautiful spot some five kilometres south-east of the city. Here we took a boat-trip in the local type of boat, a large canoe that is pedalled with the feet. These boats took us back into town stopping along the way to visit the mausoleum of Yue Lin the emperor. In the city we visited the novelist Lu Xuns childhood home, now converted to the provincial museum, as well as his school. Then (by now it was 3.30pm) we had a late lunch at a famous wine-shop, celebrated in Lu Xuns writings. Shaoxing is famous for a particular kind of rice wine, and this was the place to taste it. Despite the hour it was crowded, many Japanese tour groups were congregated there. It was an interesting occasion, plenty of wine and cold dishes and buns. Then it was time for a nap before wandering the alleys in search of a light snack and some more Shaoxing wine. It was not bad, reminiscent of a dryish sherry.
2 Oct	Today was a travelling day, first after breakfast by bus to Hangzhou where after a last look at West Lake we collected our luggage and made our way to the railway station and found the train for Huaihua a 32 hour journey westwards. It left on time at 14.55 and this time we had a comfortable soft-sleeper. The night journey was only marred by attempts by children and young men to snatch objects from the tables of the compartments from outside at the stops. Easily prevented however by closing the window.

3 Oct	The whole day on the train. In a soft sleeper it is easy to forget the reality of China. The restaurant car on this train was very good, serving spicy Guizhou food. the train continued to and was based at Guiyang. We passed Nanchang , Zhuzhou and finally arrived at Huaihua Here in Huaihua we met the rain, it poured as we walked from the station at least a kilometre to the hotel. The roads were submerged, and pavements deep in mud and water. The hotel was reasonably dry. We didn't go out again once we reached it
4 Oct	It poured all night, but there were only light showers as we took a minibus from Huaihua to Fenghuang. On arrival we ate lunch immediately with spicy, smoky Hunan dishes and then a tour of the town. It's an interesting old place, walled and straddling a wide but shallow river. It is picturesque and attracts many Chinese artists painting the wooden houses, and river views. It is noticeably poorer and therefore more picturesque than anywhere in Jiangsu or Zhejiang that we saw. The hotel is the only one in town, and was attractively situated up a long flight of steps and built in old-fashioned style around a leafy courtyard. Very few foreigners come here, it was full with cadres or visiting officials. There are presumably lodging houses and dormitories for the artists and other Chinese visitors. In the evening we could only manage a bowl of noodles, and then drank a bottle of beer with Raija before returning to the hotel. Apparently there is cholera in the valley, our mini-bus was stopped and sprayed as we entered the town today, and Mr Li is worried about hiking through the villages.
5 Oct	After breakfast we took a bus from the rather primitive central bus station in Fenghuang up the valley to a small village where we started walking through the beautiful mountain scenery. The path wound through rice paddies in various stages of cultivation, people everywhere ploughing by hand or with water-buffaloes, planting, irrigating and generally caring for the rice plants. In between the paddies chilies and other vegetable crops were squeezed into every available square inch of land. It was cloudy with a light drizzle for most of the day, and the paths were muddy and slippery, at one point we had to ford a stream, and in short it was quite a demanding walk for novices. At lunchtime we went into a home in one of the villages to dry ourselves at the stove, but we didn't eat there because of Mr Li's fear of cholera. The villages were small and entirely populated by the Miao people. Thatched roofs, wooden frames and dried earth floors characterized the houses, and there were very few buildings other than dwelling houses. At another village crowds of schoolboys pursued us, but at most they just stopped and stared. We were back just as dusk was falling, hungry, wet but satisfied.
6 Oct	Since the earth was still too wet and slippery from the incessant drizzle for trekking to the more remote villages, we went to the Chiliang caves today after breakfast. They were large and interesting as caves go, the caverns and stalactite and stalagmite "sculptures" reminded me of Padirac or Peche-merle in France. After lunch we had more time to wander around the older parts of Fenghuang. For dinner we ate a hotpot, a large pot of spicy, gingery broth was boiling rapidly over a stove and we dipped skewers of meat, bean curd, mushrooms, greens, coriander and other items in it and ate them,with potato flour noodles mixed in a paste of chilies and onions. Very hot and very good. Finally walked through the alleys and lanes of the old town with Raija for a couple of hours. Most people were in bed but a few small shops were still open, and a few people sat on stools outside their homes talking, smoking or just sitting. The people of West Hunan appear very proud, even if poor, they are not so inquisitive about strangers as further east, although they have obviously seen far fewer. But most are very friendly if approached, as when we showed interest in a game of mah jongg the players immediately invited us to sit down and watch.
7 Oct	This morning we went by truck to the market in Shanjiang, it was slow in starting but by noon the streets and market place were packed with Miao selling pigs, ducks, chickens, corn, clothes, fruit and meat, and just about everything else too. What a spectacle. Luckily the drizzle held off under the market and we could appreciate something few tourists see. We returned to Fenghuang and had as usual a feast of a lunch at our favourite hole in the wall, ten different dishes including a whole duck, as well as local spirits and beer. The evening was calm and spent drinking wine with Eva, Monica and the other Swedish girls. Finally Mr Li was hungry again so we searched the town for a late open restaurant where we had a couple of dishes and some more beer.
8 Oct	It poured all morning, and I made the mistake of trying to go for a walk. However it eased off by lunchtime, so I bought an umbrella, hope I won't have to use it. With some regrets we left Fenghuang after lunch on the local bus to Jishou. First impressions were that it was a dismal overgrown village, we were dropped at a modern hotel at one end of town, and as we walked into town we thought it was nothing special but a "typical" Chinese regional capital of about 500,000 people, new buildings springing up, an increasing traffic, and signs of new wealth everywhere. Dinner was at a dance palace, with some interesting dishes, a beef hot-pot, sea-food rice-cake, chicken on an iron-plate, a special local bean-curd dish, but especially the hot-pot was not cooked with the finesse we were used to in Fenghuang. Later in the evening I went dancing with Raija, on entry we were ambushed by two pretty young Chinese students of English who insisted on dancing with us and practising their English. These dance halls are interesting, very formal institutuions often run by the local residents committee, the music is a mixture of Western 1950's and Chinese modern, and the boys dance with the boys, and the girls dance with the girls. Orangeade and lemonade are sold, and most close at 10 pm. I don't think they have been open for very long, I don't remember seeeing any in 1987, but now thery are to be found in the most out-of-the-way small towns in Guizhou and Guangxi.
9 Oct	Yet another rainy day, a light drizzle fell all day. After breakfast we walked to the village of De'ang along a river valley, to an imposing waterfall. Despite the rain it was incredibly beautiful, just like walking in a traditional Chinese painting. The landscape here is easily the equal of the more well-known Li River landscape around Guilin with high limestone crags. We returned to the village, where we admired a water-wheel that was busily irrigating the fields of the village and then further to a very small town where we caught a bus back to Jishou for a late lunch. This was delicious - a duck, a chicken, smoked pork, rice-cakes, stuffed bean curd, vegetable as well as liquor and beer. Another dish we always order is tomato omelette, which every cook can make and the less adventurous (and less tough) stomachs in our party can eat without problem. Travelling in a party of twelve is an excellent way to sample many different dishes, even the smallest restaurant has no problem to serve so many dishes even with a single wok in the kitchen. It takes a while to prepare the dishes, cut, slice, chop the ingredients, but then each dish is cooked in seconds and brought to table. Rice and noodles are always available, especially the noodles are interesting, sometimes home-made, sometimes well-spiced. The bill here was 180Y for all of us, which was about average, so it is not expensive to eat in China. Then Raija, Maija and I walked around the centre of Jishou, we bought raffle tickets, visited a department store and street markets and finished up at the "White Swan coffee house" where we sampled their speciality of (snake) liqueur as well as coffee. After this walk our opinion of Jishou was revised in a positive direction, it is no beauty of a city, but it has a raw vitality.
10 Oct	We left Jishou by train this morning, the railway station was at the other end of town from the hotel, so we took a cycle-rickshaw, it was a long way, and we discovered that Jishou stretches along a river valley and is about ten kilometres long, although only about two kilometres wide. The train was the no. 26 from Guangzhou, but here close to the western terminus it was relatively empty, no-one needed to stand, so our unreserved hard-seat tickets were adequate. We travelled to Luexu (also known as Meng Deng Hu) where a very long flight of stone steps led to the boat dock where the steamer was waiting to depart for the forty minute trip to Wangcun. Wangcun is a small town built entirely along the steep, narrow staircase street leading up from the river, parallel to a waterfall. After lunch Raija and I spent the afternoon walking up and down this staircase, visiting the small ethnographic museum, and a Tujia home with a display of artifacts, as well as a fine view of the waterfall. Very few of us wanted dinner, so only Mr Li, Raija, Irma and myself were eating, when suddenly they noticed my elbow (where I grazed it falling into the canal three weeks earlier) was swollen. They persuaded me that I needed to see a doctor immediately, so Mr Li asked the restaurant owner if there was a doctor in town. His brother was the village doctor, and the village hospital was next door. So within five minutes I was lying on a mattress as the doctor opened up his surgery. The hospital was two rooms with an earth floor. A drip apparatus was the only piece of equipment I could recognize. But the doctor seemed to know what he was doing, asked me if I was allergic to penicillin, took a new razor blade out of its package, and skilfully cut the swelling, releasing a flood of pus and fluid. Raija and Irma who had insisted on accompanying me looked a little green. I was given penicillin and cefelaxin and told to visit the village hospital every day to change the dressing he applied to my elbow.
11 Oct	Today it hardly rained at all, and we took a boat trip from Wangcun to the Shell Dragon Cave through beautiful gorges, about five hours there and back. The boat was full of Chinese tour groups who spent the entire journey taking photos of each other (and of me); it was great fun. Back in Wangcun there was time for a stroll up the staircase street, this time as far as the main road where the bus station and a few more modern shops are situated. No traffic is possible in the old town, which makes it an especially peaceful place to stay. Eva decides to have her hair done in one of the beauty salons, and I pay another visit to my doctor. Three penicillin injections and eight ceflexin tablets within 24 hours should kill most germs. Our hotel is perfectly situated by the dock with a view over the river. Naturally we are the only foreign guests, but it is full of Chinese guests, and even has its own dance hall.

12 Oct	We left Wangcun in sunshine this morning and took the boat back to Meng Deng Hu station and from there a train northwards to Zhangjiajie. The train journey was uneventful, it was not crowded and we were talking to a couple of journalist most of the way. At Zhangjiajie Station we ate lunch amid the chaos of a Chinese railway station and Mr Li sorted out a bus which would take us to Zhangjiajie village, about fifty kilometres away. We arrived at four o'clock and decided to immediately start walking through the National Park. Wulongyuan is a designated National Park where an entrance fee is charged (27Y for foreigners) at least if you enter by the main entrance. The entrance is in a small village full of hotels, restaurants and general Chinense tourist tingle-tangle, so it was very refreshing to leave that behind - we started walking along a flat path but after a half-hour we came to steps and climbed more than three hundred metres to reach the "First Bridge Under Heaven" just as it was getting dark. Close by was a rather primitive hotel, but it was equipped with a disco.
13 Oct	We walked first to the bridge itself, a narrow stone arch - with a one thousand metre drop. Then we walked around the valley with incredible views over the limestone columns. We continued walking to Tianzi village where we checked in to a hotel considerably more luxurious than last nights. In the village I found an infirmary which was able to change the dressing on my elbow, at the same time rubbing it with a herbal medicine paste of some kind. From the village we continued walking to the He Long memorial with more fine views, and back to the hotel, totally about fifteen kilometres trekking today.
14 Oct	From the village we descended by a steep stone staircase to the valley floor, and then along a river to a small village where we ate lunch. We continued along the valley to the park entrance where those who didn't want to walk further were taken to a hotel. The four of us (Monica, Elisabeth, Maija and I) climbed to Huangshi (Yellow Stone) Village up a steep staircase - about one hour - to a beautifully situated and wonderfully primitive little hotel, just as dusk fell. The electricity there was not available, so we enjoyed an excellent dinner by candlelight under the stars.
15 Oct	After breakfast I climbed slowly down the mountain with Maija with really fantastic views from the top and all the way down. We met many Chinese tourist groups on their way up the mountain, and arrived at the entrance at about 11 am. We took a bus back to the station where we ate lunch and a doctor changed my bandage again. The train left on time and after a five-hour trip filled with tearful goodbyes I left the train at Huaihua, while Mr Li and the others continued on to Beijing for five days sightseeing there and then a return flight to Scandinavia. It was dark as I left the station, alone in China, but it was a warm darkness, as opposed to the wet darkness of our previous stop in Huaihua. Before leaving the station I had to get a signature at a special window in the ticket office to break my journey, the lady behind the glass was angry, although not at me, and scrawled some characters on the ticket. Immediately past the barrier I was accosted by a pretty young girl who asked if I was looking for somewhere to stay. I agreed that I was and she led me out of the station and turned right into a teeming bazaar, first to one hotel that was full, and then to another where a very acceptable room was mine for 30Y. This phenomenon with touts leading customers to hotels is common in China; in many towns however they refuse to discuss with foreigners, presumably because the hotels they are working for don't take foreigners. But it is useful to know about all the same. The touts usually have a card with pictures of the hotel and the room and a price list. I went down into the bazaar and ate - fried rice, beer and jiaozi, they were very friendly, drank beer with me, and then tried to charge me 20Y. However they laughed and accepted 10Y when I added up the bill for them.

China (15 September 1994 - 10 November 1994 part 2)