SUMMER 2021 HUNAN PROVINCE CHINA 中国湖南
FURONG ANCIENT TOWN 芙蓉古镇 Waterfall town / Hibiscus town
How to Get there:
go to Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan province in China (I got the slow train from Shanghai, overnight 10 hours, leaving at 8pm and arriving at 6am super cheap for bed or hard seat)
option 1: bus
you can get a bus directly to Furong From Changsha. There is a bus at 9:40am from Changsha West bus station (长沙汽车西站) to Furongzhen 芙蓉镇 it takes around 5.5h and costs 145RMB. there's a stop along the way for lunch and the bathroom.
option 2: train
you can also go from Avatar mountain zhangjiajie 张家界
https://fromsunrisetosunset.com/avatar-mountains-beautiful-ancient-town-china-zhangjiajie-fenghuang/
The town has over 2000 years of history, it is full of ancient houses, built around a river with waterfall. very picturesque and there is also a beautiful golden temple to visit. One also can stay in the town as there are many BnBs available and nice restaurants too. The town became famous after the movie Hibiscus was filmed there, The town, previously known as Wangcun (王村) changed its name following the success of the movie, becoming Furong ancient town (Furong 芙蓉 in Chinese means Hibiscus) The buidlings are typical of the chinese Tujia ethnic minority group 土家族 who are the original inhabitants of the town and are still the predominant population today. The buildings are perched on the cliff and are known as Diaojiaolou (吊脚楼 cliff hanging homes), which are typical residential houses built by Tujia people. Adorned with colorful decorations and intricate carvings,
The Furong Waterfall cascades through the town's center and plunges into the Youshui River below. It has a drop height of 60 meters and a width of 40 meters, he biggest waterfall in western Hunan. The best time to see the waterfall is during the rainy season (June-August) when its flow is fullest and most impressive. The town is not very big, 1/2 day to full day is enough. I stayed until late afternoon, able to find a shared car that would take me to Fenghuang ancient city 凤凰古镇 to meet my friend
from FURONG 芙蓉古镇 I shared a lift (pinche 拼车） with a group of chinese who had a car and were also ravelling to the same place as me (fenghuang ancient town) I used the Chinese app hello car (halouche 哈喽车）but there's also options for the bus or train
FENG HUANG ANCIENT TOWN 凤凰古城
I arrived late in the evening and met up with my friend who had already checked into the hotel. Fenghuang is bigger than furong offers more to do and see with a lot more hotel/guest house options to stay in.
Fenghuang, also known as Phoenix Ancient Town has a long history of more than 400 years
FENGHUANG at night
Tuojiang Ancient Street
minority show performance based on
Shen Congwen's book "Border Town"
DAYTIME EXPLORING
dare to try???
FENGHUANG 凤凰古城 PHOENIX ANCIENT TOWN
day time explorations
Miao minority village, 苗寨 canyon 峡谷, glass bridge walkway 玻璃栈道 , Miao King cave 苗王洞 day trip 一线天+ evening show 晚会 100 RMB (so cheap! so, we booked a place for the next day!)
Xiangxi Tianlong Valley
The tour took us to the canyon and a tour around some of the nearby minority villages
(Deihang Miao Zhai) introducing their customs, jobs, dress and traditions and letting us
try some of their local wares
overall it was a nice chilled trip. staying for 2 night and 3days, getting the train back to Changsha and then on to Shanghai.
