SPRING IS IN THE AIR !!!

Spring has finally arrived to Rizhao & its Botanical garden! ;)

Wedding shoots are full on ;) (not that they ever stopped :))

...and this is what happens when wedding photographer gets distracted from his job ;)

Enjoy the blossoms everyone!!! :)

Fenghuang ancient town 凤凰

let`s stroll around :)

River - your communal "washing machine", sink, etc ;) 

Unfortunately this ancient town doesn`t feel that antient any more: 

...old houses are being renovated to accomodate tourist needs

...traditional costumes are being rented for tourist photos

- construction noise is "in the air"

- shopping seems to be the main focus

- at nights it turns into hardly tolerable "disco hell" (ear plugs are not a bad idea!) 

Yes, river front rooms are quite nice (and we did stay in one of those ;)... but as the sun sets...be prepared to bear with "disco hell"! So ...if you`re hoping to get some sleep before 11:30 pm... look for less central area or forget about river views! ;)

We stayed on Beibian Jie. It`s as central as there can be and we heard it all full volume!!!

If you want a quiet river view find this pagoda & look for accommodation in that area... it`s the most picturesque area of Fenghuang & it seemed to be further away from disco hell (though you never know - it`s developing real fast!) 

 +  there is a nice & simple street food area (for some won-ton, noodle soup of BBQ), Soul cafe for Western taste (cakes, cocoas & coffees ;) & ice - cream cafe!

And if you wander away from the busy touristy streets you still can find real locals in their old houses minding their own business & not trying to sell you anything :)

P.S. ;)

Spring 2012 FASHION TRENDS spotted at the Fenghuang bus station 

Cheers! ;)

Spring is in the air!!! :)

Pandora is far, but Zhangjiajie is near!

7 free days & VOILA - HUNAN province "done"! ;)

We managed to see: 

• a bit of Changsha (not that we wanted even that much)
• Zhangjiajie National Forest park  
• Fenghuang river town

We (me & Jenny) were the first "foreign friends" staying in this very nice & new hostel in Changsha! 

10:50 in the morning we caught a 4 h bus to Zhangjiajie (120 RMB)!

Spring was in the air!

Arriving to Zhangjiajie town we immediately got on a minibus (10 RMB) to Zhangjiajie village - one of the entrance points to Zhangjiajie forest park... 

...and 40 minutes later we were amidst the beautiful peaks!

Market in Zhangjiajie village

We skipped this one ;)

...instead we opted for Tujia minority speciality - Tujia chicken (we tried hard to identify the missing pieces of a whole chicken that was promised...we identified head, feet...but meaty parts of chicken had gone missing) 

Early next morning after emptying our instant noodle breakfast packages we started our hike! 

Start time: 7:55 a.m. 

Finish time: 7 p.m. 

Distance covered: more than 20 km

Ticket price: 248 RMB (valid for 2 days)

Chinese claim that mountains of Zhangjiajie national forest park were the inspiration for the floating "Hallelujah mountains" of planet Pandora in Avatar movie! Hollywood photographers have reportedly spent several days taking photos in that area in 2008.

And now the local government is tempting tourists by slogans like: 

"Pandora is far, but Zhangjiajie is near!"

One of the park`s peaks has even been renamed Avatar mountain :)

Huangshi village area (~3 km around, ~2 km down-climb)

Straight to the top! Incredible beauty!

Lots of monkeys included ;)

Golden Whip Stream path 5,7 km

Bailong sky lift

...quite an amazing glass-wall lift ride!!!

views from above!

Yuanjiajie scenic area 

Avatarish, isn`t it?

Going down...~ 1,5 km steep path down

back on the Golden Whip Stream path... 

3,7 km deja-vu trip ;)

We got out from the park at around 7 pm...twilight time...everyone else had already left....so it was a truly  magical feeling having all that majestic natural beauty to ourselves!!! 

Never mind the next day we`d have hard time walking because of pain in our muscles...

...and after all that walking & practically no food for the whole day...well deserved night BBQ with our trip special: wine + coke :)

The next day we continued to Fenghuang - THE river town! 

Stay tuned ;)