Siu~V

Our hotel in Changde was Zeyun Hotel, was a very traditional architectured hotel with a banquet style room to have our morning buffet breakfast.

As usual, their noodles are always plain looking but definitely tastes better than it looks. Love the fact i could load up on my coriander!

Modest portion for breakfast this morning.

Hotel lobby

We then headed about 4 hrs away to an ancient city called Fenghuang (Phoenix) city well known for its Miao and Tujia minority. Famous Miao minority dishes include Spicy and Sour fish which looked and tasted a bit like non spicy tomyam. I mist say the broth was delicious.

Other dishes we had …

More fatty pork ..

This dumpling was pretty good - thin skinned and tasty filling

After lunch, we had a good 2 hr rest in the hotel and out we went again around 4pm to boat riding at Tuojiang River. Touted as one of the most beautiful cities in China, its best to experience both dusk and night time here as the illuminating lights are simply beautiful.

At the entrance with the crowd pouring in as night time befalls. One can see many locals and tourists dressed in the traditional wear for photoshoots or simply for the experience.

Lookee, we found Chagee!

Tried it and found it to be of no significant difference from KL’s. Lol.

Another group photo with Hayley being side promoter of our travel agency.

Starting our walk in the town…. Just an easy walk (with cobblestone steps) inside this small town along the riverside.

With aplenty of stalls selling all sorts. The saving grace for my ewallet (and hubby) was not being able to read what the people were selling so i just strolled by aimlessly 🤣

Very nice original architectural structures

Unfortunately it was a wet day though (forecasted to rain 90%) but luckily it was mainly drizzling..

No playing dress up for us but managed to capture this with Cecilia, our pretty Sarawakian solo traveller.

Leisure time to walk around for those who didnt fancy dressing up 😎

Captivating boat ride ahead !

One of the 2 boats for our group with this wefie taken by Msian guide Sam (aka Horsey)

Many stilt houses built along the riverside… quite a number of boutique hotels here too for people who prefer to stay in this very town to fully soak in the day and night vibes of this beautiful minute town.

Eye catching mini pagoda stands out during the boat ride.

That sums up about 15-20 min of a slow scenic boat ride

During our free time, we managed to savour some of its street food

This aint no ordinary fritter with ma la sauce,

They were made with these jumping live shrimp to make a nice and crispy snack.

Our amazingly tasty snacks- this giant grilled mala squiid (RMB 25)

Shrimp pancake - RMB 10

And their version of stinky tofu (black colored and soaked in a very nice spicy gravy) which wasnt smelly at all when eating them.

One must stay on until night time to enjoy the beautifully-lit town with thousands of lanterns creating a magical atmosphere.

We ended our wet night with yet another local cuisine at the nearby restaurant.

Another Miao local dish we had during dinner was Duck Blood Ginger with crispy rice (forgotten to take an upclose photo) Wasnt really loving the texture of the duck blood - tough to chew. Lol

Just like all our other lunches and dinners, its another myriad of 12 or 13 dishes taking up every empty inch of the lazy Susan. Sadly, at the end of our meals, food wastage could be seen at almost every table serving foreign tour groups.

That night, we stayed at Fengqi Wenhao Intl Hotel.

Small tour groups are always the best as we get to know new acquaintances from all walks of life!

Due to the visa-free requirement for Malaysians, everyone’s headed or heading to China so why not me eh? A colleague’s recommendation convinced me to try out one of Sri America’s English tours. Having been to the more renowned Beijing and Shanghai, so where to next? My initial plan to Xi’an took a 180 degree turn when the Matta fair tour promoter encouraged me otherwise. Her exact words were ‘too much history and full of museums, kids especially definitely bored’! 🥱 And next thing that happened - without the opportunity of doing any research, Zhang Jia Je became my next destination. Truth be told, i just recently heard about those mountains being the inspiration behind Avatar setting.

After a comfortable but small Batik Air night flight, we arrived 4.5 hrs later past midnight at Changsha airport.

SA Travel is said to provide food and accommodation above average amidst a smaller than average tour group size in a more relaxed and not too rush kinda setting. Our first stay was at Microtel by Wyndham. Having arrived around 1.30am at the airport, it was nice that we were given ample time to rest with the day’s activities to start at 11am. Oh, and the hotel rooms are so spacious too for just me and my kid.

The breakfast spread in China is nothing much to shout about as always. Manage your own expectations and sticking to the ‘acceptable’ varieties always help. One thing i learnt, try their cook-to-order noodles dish which is usually of their local specialty. I also took a liking in their unique steamed glutinous rice wrapped in siew mai wrapper style.

Our tour group consisted of only 20 pax of all walks of life, with my kids being the youngest. What a fun jovial bunch i must say!

First stop was Miyin Temple in Ningxiang, which sits the Thousand Hand Guan Yin..

Group photoshoot

Getting to Guan Yin is no easy feat. Not one to admit defeat, we climbed >600 steps to reach her golden feet! When googled, this statue is the 6th tallest statue in the world.