Light Rain in Hunan

Friday, July 4, 2008--Fenghuang (Continued)

When I left the cyber cafe, I went wandering through the old town streets of Fenghuang. They are narrow, cobblestoned, and lined with old wooden buildings with businesses at street level and houses above. Most of the businesses today cater to the tourists--tea shops, restaurants, dried fruit stores, stores selling local spirits, souvenir shops, etc. Some of them face the river that goes through the middle of the old town, so I also walked along it. On the outer reaches, I came across an area where the young men gather in the afternoons to swim and bathe together where the water is still behind a dam. This area, like Dehang where I was before, is home to the Miao tribal people, so there are people in native costumes selling souvenirs, offering to have their photos made for a price, etc.

All day long, I only saw two other westerners--a blonde couple walking together. I saw them twice. It's interesting that this place survives on its popularity with Chinese tourists and does not have more westerners.

One problem for westerners, due to there not being enough of us, I guess, is that menus are not posted in English anywhere. It's as if I were in any city in terms of choosing a restaurant and trying to eat. By 18:00, I was hungry since the only thing I had eaten all day was a banana the lady on the bus had given me. I was searching for a place that looked clean enough and easy enough for eating. I passed some young people sitting at a streetside table having noodles. One said hello. I asked if he spoke English, and he did a little. I asked about the noodles, and he said they were good and invited me to join them. I ate the noodles which were fine except for the meat pieces having some gristle on them. Then when I tried to pay, the young man who spoke English and had said he is a mariner on a large ship insisted on paying for mine. We took photos of me with him and his friends and then parted. On the way home, I was thirsty, so I bought a beer and drank it on my balcony as I watched the boats in the river and the restaurants across the way setting up the tables for the dinner crowds.

I was tired and stayed in the room in the evening. I did go out on the balcony at dark, however, to watch the candles floating down the river. It is a tradition that the tourists light candles in small paper boats and send them floating down the river at dark. That combined with the outlines of the old roofs and the neon lighting flashing on some of the signs really gave a nice atmosphere to the evening.

Unfortunately, because it is a tourist town, it is a noisy town at night. Music comes from bars and restaurants until late in the evening. People were having a great time, I could tell. I just inserted my ear plugs and went to sleep.

Saturday, July 5, 2008--Fenghuang

I awoke to the sound of light rain. I looked to check, and could see it looked as if it would continue. I just went back to bed for another hour after opening the door slightly (with the screen locked) to let fresh air into the room.

It has continued to rain lightly all day. The sky is not dark. It's rather light. And I can see the hills in the distance, so the clouds are not heavy. The conditions are just right to keep the rain coming rather than the clouds breaking up.

I went out for a while in the morning. I was hungry and thought I would go to a local bakery I had seen near my room. When I got there, they had little to offer today. They had either sold out or had not finished baking. So I wandered to another area of town and found a bakery. I bought some cookies that are similar to almond cookies that can be bought in Chinese bakeries in America. They are light and crumbly--about 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter--and have sesame seeds on them. I got a package of 15 cookies for less than $1 U.S. It wasn't fun being out, so I returned to the room and stood on the balcony eating cookies and watching the river and the opposite bank. Then I spent much of the rest of the day reading, planning travels, etc. I've come out now to be at the cyber cafe and will probably eat before returning to the room for the night. Unless the rain stops, I don't want to spend time outside.

I have now finished 2/5 (40%) of my travels for this year. I've been in China over 4 weeks and have only 2 weeks to go before traveling into northern Thailand.