Journal Entry #23: Saturday, June 5, 2010

I was up early. Partially because it was very hot and uncomfortable in the room and partially because I’m always up early.  I learned a long time ago the sunrises are so much more peaceful and beautiful than the sunsets.  The best thing about our lodging was the view from the outdoor deck that was a part of the room.  The view overlooked the Riverwalk that went throughout the city, and while it was wonderful the evening before because of the nightlights and decoration, the simple sunrise was even more spectacular.

A quick stroll along the river in the quiet of the morning was so enticing that I made a quick exit and let Hoasn have the room to himself to get ready for the day.  On my way out, I discovered from a hotel lobby visitor and native to the area that Fenghuang Ancient City was originally built in the early Qing Dynasty. She said, in very difficult English, “The eastern and northern gate towers are still standing and well preserved.” This unsuspecting docent went on to say that many classic Chinese characteristics can be found everywhere, including streets paved with bluestone blocks in the city, timber-frame stilted houses at the riverside, and other unique buildings.  

Breakfast was scheduled at an upstairs, second floor, outdoors (albeit covered) restaurant that resembled a patio.  It was pleasant enough because of the view and the climate temperature of the morning but again the cleanliness of the kitchen that we passed by and the dining room made it a very undesirable place to eat.  We did however have our meal there and they offered some very local and traditional breakfasts foods such as rice soup they called porridge, some pretty good noodles, and hardboiled eggs.  There was still no coffee or water offered on the menu or otherwise.  The hot tea was there, but we finally sent somebody next door to buy each of us a bottle of water.

Soon after breakfast we headed out again to The Fenghuang Ancient Town, as they call it. The Fenghuang Ancient Town was built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. This small town is considered the Pearl of the West Hunan Province.  In the old legends about the city, there used to be a sacred bird named Phoenix in old India. Phoenix set itself on fire when it was 500 years old. But later, it was reborn from fire and since then it was immortal. This bird in China called Fenghuang is the king of birds. On the southwest side of Fenghuang ancient town, there is a mountain that looks like a flying phoenix. This is why this ancient town is called Fenghuang Ancient Town. 

Traditionally, the Fenghuang Ancient Town is the residential place of the Miao Minority. In 2001, the Chinese government approved Fenghuang Ancient Town to be a nationally designated town for its Miao culture and history. It was the Miao Minority Village that we were to visit later in the day.  But first the old district was on our agenda.  The old district is located between the mountains and a river. The town wall built in red sandstone stands on the riverside. A boat-ride down the river was a wonderful way to see the town.  The town tower was built during the Qing Dynasty, and it still looks towering, although the iron-made gate has rusted almost to the point of destruction. There is a narrow wooden bridge crossing the river under the north town gate. It’s so narrow that when two men cross the river oppositely they have to walk sideways. 

The Old District was as unique as any place we had been in China.  It certainly lived up to its name.  It was old and wonderful.  It was a center of commerce, albeit a commerce of tourism. It was colorful and Chinese.  It was fun, fascinating, and it was abuzz with activity!  We saw natives from the area making their crafts, playing their instruments, and cooking their foods.  They had all sorts of Chinese wearables and collectables for sale and it could be all yours for a big tourist price, or if you were able to bargain with them, a much smaller price!  Carey even had her portrait drawn by a local artist.  I thought it looked pretty good, but she didn’t seem to like it very much.

I sat down on a bench in front of a jewelry store that many of our group had entered; just so that I could watch the people go by me.  As had been the case, I saw lots of people staring at me and probably wondering, “Who was that white guy?” Some of them started to sneak a picture of me and when I saw them I greeted them with my zealous, “Ni Hao China” as I waved them to come and speak with me.  As we met each other many then asked if they could get their photo made with me.  As they were trading cameras and places, I noticed that there were lots of people that wanted to take their photos with me!  As I sat there to do so, people lined up for about 30 minutes just to get their picture made with me!

We returned to the same restaurant that served us breakfast to see what they were offering for lunch.  While the food was OK, it was just that, OK, but not great.  I couldn’t help but think about the cleanliness of their kitchen.  I even took a photo of the facility as I walked out after lunch.

After lunch we traveled to the Shanjiang Village of the Miao Minority. This village is located in a canyon 20 kilometers away from where we were located.  The Miao Minority Village is what we had travelled over the river and through the woods to see.  It was well worth the trek.  But what a trek it was to get there.  First we loaded the bus and went around to the mouth of the river that would eventually get us there.  After disembarking from the bus, the first five hundred yards or so was on foot. When we came over the top of the ridge there was a beautiful man made waterfall that had a Chinese bridge sitting atop the waterfall.  At least I think it was man-made.  Perhaps it was developed out of what was already there naturally, but it was still a stunning view of a waterfall.  There was a stairway that led to the top of the ridge where the bridge was located.  When I arrived at the top of the stairs and entered the covered bridge it seemed so quiet and surreal.  Maybe it was knowing I was deep in the Chinese countryside about as far away from home as I could possibly be.   I recalled at that moment one of the questions that a student had of me in class, “How far away are you from home?”  My answer at the time was, “If I were any farther - I’d be closer!”  

From there we boarded a raft type of boat to make the next leg of the journey to the Miao Village.  Even though the rafts were very old and primitive, they had a small engine to drive the boats and were covered with a roof that just looked Chinese. Because of the number of our group we needed two boats to get where we were going and the native workers had to find another boat driver to service our trip needs.

The raft trip wasn’t very long, maybe a kilometer or so at the most.  In fact, when I looked back, I could see our departure dock when we arrived at our destination dock.  I thought we had arrived because I began to see native people dressed in what appeared to be a very old style of Chinese dress and head coverings.  The Miao people greeted us warmly.  It was then explained to us that we were not there yet, and what else we needed to do to complete our trek.  We had to walk through a canyon, around more spectacular waterfalls (to the point of getting wet), and I mean these falls were tall and spectacular!  The many waterfalls before us were as majestic as I had ever seen in my life. Once we got past the waterfalls we then had to climb up the stairs that led through the mountain and canyon.  It was as far up and as many stair steps as I had ever walked.  I kept thinking that one day I would walk the Hancock Tower stairwell back in Chicago, but now I thought this was even a greater feat (no pun intended).   Because I was a bit weak from the bad food from the night before, and I was very fatigued from getting a poor night’s sleep, this climb was very hard for me.  I was working really hard not to faint and to try to keep up with the group, but it was getting harder and harder.  I kept thinking how much more could it be?  The trek seemed to never end, but of course it did.  When I finally arrived to the top and out of the cave there was a rest station with refreshments and water.  All I wanted to do was to sit or lay down.  I staggered over to a place to sit and somebody handed me a bottle of water and some snack type food.  I looked up and it was my roommate Hoasn.  He seemed genuinely worried about me.  I assured him that I was fine, but I just needed some time before we continued.  Fortunately for me, everybody else was exhausted at this point as well.  We all sat there for about thirty minutes to recover before we went on to the next leg of the journey.

The next leg of the journey was downhill!  I thought, we just climbed up here, couldn’t we have just gone around?  But the next portion of our trip was within sight and we headed downhill to another body of water, a river I think, and boarded another floating transportation vehicle.  It was on this boat that we were given some very unique further directions.   When we were to finally arrive at the gate of this Miao Village we had to sing to the assembled villagers as our entry into their community.  They would first sing to us and then we were to sing back to them.  They had a Chinese song that we quickly learned and performed upon our arrival.  

The other unusual instructions we were given were bits of instruction and warning about their superstitions.  They had four things we were NOT to do while in their village.  First, NEVER step on the threshold of their entryways as you entered one of their buildings or homes.  Step over them, not on them, we were told.  Second, DO NOT wear sunglasses in their villages.  They thought this was very rude that they could not look us in the eye when they spoke to us.  They also thought that evil spirits were lurking behind eyes that you could not see.  Thirdly, DO NOT whistle!  I’m not sure why we couldn’t, but this was going to be hard for me because I am a whistler!  I whistle when I don’t realize I am doing so.  The fourth part of this instruction was that we could NOT open any umbrellas in the village in the sunshine because they thought that was a sign of a celebration from someone becoming engaged!  I didn’t believe that three of these were going to be a problem for me.  I was already married, and I didn’t have sunglasses or an umbrella with me, but I was a bit worried about my inadvertent whistling.

We finally arrived at the front gate of this wonderfully reclusive and unusual village.  The native girls adorned in their cultural best scurried on over to us, lined up and began singing to us.   It was so cool.  We sang back and they opened the gates.  It would have been cooler if I had not seen our tour guide hand one of the girls our paid entrance tickets as we passed through the gates.

Once inside I realized that this Shanjiang village featured the lifestyle and custom of Miao Minority people. Jiangshan Village in Miao Nationality language was called Bagu, which means Toad Cave, because near to the village, there is a cave with a lot of toads. Currently this Shanjiang village still keeps the old custom of Miao Nationality. In this village, visitors can see the vivid and beautiful costumes of Miao Nationality, and many local customs such as Door-Block Wine, Road-Block Song, Folk Song, and varieties of local festivals.  The Miao Minority village was wonderfully unique!  Maybe it was the tourism but the people and natives were delightful and friendly.  We sang.  We danced. We watched the entertainment of the people and wandered around their village and marketplace for a couple of hours.  I took lots of photos of their people and lifestyles.  It was amazing and fascinating!  Unfortunately, I was still feeling weak, sick and fatigued from the bus ride, the meal and the poor night’s sleep from the day before.  Thus, I did not enjoy this venue as much as the others or as much as I might have on any other given day.  Of all of the 40 days I was in China, if I could go back and do just one day over again, it would probably be this day.  Hopefully I can return on a day when I can be at full strength.

After a full afternoon of strolling through the village, visiting with the residents, and buying and bargaining for souvenirs, it was finally time for us to leave.  But not before I bought me a Chinese Shirt, and for my grandson, Gavyn, the cutest little outfit for Chinese children. Aurelie watched as I bargained for Gavyn’s outfit.  I thought I did pretty well.  The final price was ¥18.  That’s about $2.66!  Edwin helped me bargain for my shirt.  The price started out at ¥50 for the shirt.  We ended up getting two for the price of ¥40, or about $2.95 each.  One was for me and one was for him.

When we finally did exit we left out a back gate, walked about 100 yards and there was our bus waiting for us!  Why didn’t they take us there to drop us off?  Well, I suppose getting there, over the river and through the caves was half the fun and fascination!  We traveled back to the hotel and I decided to forgo dinner and I was off to an early bedtime!  I was later told that the group went back out to the marketplace and had a delightful and a fun time.  I wish I could have joined them but I was done, and so was my day!  Other than being sick, it was one of the best tourism days I had ever experienced.