Adlibing Asia: Day 53 - Headed for the riverside village of Fenghuang

After relaxing the morning away and taking in some last views of Dehang, we made our way to our next village: Fenghuang. On the way there we met some Chinese medical students who upon arrival accompanied us to a great (and cheap) hostel, just a short walk from the river. We were happy when they decided to forego the taxi ride there, as this fitted in with our budget ways ...

Following the students' orders of "xiuxi xiuxi" (have a rest) - something we hear often, and are willing to comply with - we headed out to explore the old village. Fenghuang is a village that is home to Tujia and Miao minorities and is surrounded by ancient city walls (significantly retouched to perfection) on the southbank of Tuo River, gate towers, bridges and interesting riverside houses supported by stilts.

After coming from Dehang the bustling and touristy Fenghuang was quite a change, but we enjoyed walking around the markets and people watching whilst sitting by the river. Like most Chinese tourist destinations, a ticket is required to enter most attractions, but for a change there were several places we could visit for free - so, unsurprisingly, we wandered the alleyways searching for them!

During this search we crossed the Tuo River via stepping stones and came across the North Gate Tower, and took a battlestation on the ancient defensive wall.

We also came across the Wanming Pagoda towering above the river, the Fucheng Gate, East Gate Tower, East Past Gate, and the Hong Qiao Bridge.

The early evening was spent relaxing in the hostel before we ventured out for dinner - which was a mission in itself! First we found some vege dumplings and a new filled bread - we thought we were eating it rather competently with our chopsticks, until the restaurant staff came over to try and correct us, which made us more confused and we probably ended up eating worse than we were originally! The food at this restaurant was more pricey than expected (and didn't fill us up) so we continued our search for food and came across a street fill of barbeque and noodle stalls. Here we dived into a few bowls of noodles and Adam tried a delicious barbequed stick of chilli snails - mmm mmmm - and tried a beer he had been wanting to try for a while: Snow Beer!