FengHuang

'Where are you going next? Oh Fenghuang, the old city, very beautiful'

6 hours on a bus, checking every time we went through a town whether we had arrived at Fenghuang. At some point a guy got on the bus and started speaking to everyone through a portable PA attached to his belt. 'Fenghuang' could be discerned a few times, then we didn't see a town for another half hour.

It was dark, I asked the person next to me if the place we had just stopped (not a bus stop) was Fenghuang. 'Yes, Fenghuang old city!'. Excellent.

I got out, fobbed off the taxi drivers, and looked into my Lonely Planet for where I wanted to stay. I then showed the street name to a nearby shop owner, who then had to consult with his wife. It was decided that the street was over the bridge right in front of us, then a right. Wrong.

I went around, sat down, got out my compass and stared at the map. I should point out that I was doing this next to a beautiful river running through the town, with a wooden footbridge providing a point of reference, and neon lights adorning all the surrounding buildings completely puzzling me. Anyway, I had to go across the river, then down to the city walls, and some alleyway.

Well I walked around quite a bit, down quite a few alleyways, then I finally found the alleyway I wanted (thanks to the compass, I only got lost once more). The guesthouse was full. I was going off to my second option when, on a whim, I stopped in to a guesthouse on the same alley as the first and asked to see their room. It didn't overlook the river, but had two comfortable beds, a sit down toilet, a decent shower, a computer, and it was clean. I think it was 40 yuan for one night, I was sold.

Card with a map of the guesthouse in hand I set off to explore this strange 'old town' that for some reason was lit up more brightly than Macau. Up, down, around, constantly looking at my map. A few skewers of meat, asked by the stall dude whether I was muslim, over a bridge, a few photos, then I needed a drink.

The place was pretty packed with tourists, and there were quite a few bars. However, every single bar I went into ended up being for freaking kareoke. Given some artificial clappers, the crowd went nuts at everyone that dared get up and sing. I was tricked more than a couple of times by bars that had live bands playing. The live bands were there to play for the kareoke.

Bar hopping around, I walked up one street, near where the bus dropped me off, and past a hotel. A young lass rushed up to me and asked me if I wanted a massage. From the groping gestures she made with her hands, I suspected it wasn't a foot massage that she was offering. I begged off and went to find a bar with some decent music. I didn't find one.

On the walk back to the guesthouse (about 1 am), I passed many very drunk Chinese kids. The place was packed with Chinese kids, either in relationships, or looking to pick up. Anyway, a few of these kids made use of the nearby river to purge themselves, and I chuckled at them all the way back to my room.

In the morning I got up and decided I needed to know how the hell to get out of the town to Guilin. First taxi, 20 yuan. Steep, but I didn't know where the hell I was going. The bus station he dropped me off at claimed no knowledge of buses to Guilin, and after about 30 minutes of miming, I managed to get them to write down where I needed to go. Next taxi, 30 yuan! There were no other taxis in sight, nor any bus stops (near a bus station, I know), so I growled and got in. He did take me to the correct bus station, and I was able to buy a ticket for a bus to Guilin, departing the following morning.

Sick of taxis I decided to walk it back. Into a chemist and I pointed at my map, the ground, the bus station, general circles, but all I could get were questions on where I wanted to go. I eventually pointed to the centre of town, and they pointed me down the hill. Ten minutes later I was pretty much lost and hailed the next taxi I saw. This lady actually used the meter, and the trip cost me 3 yuan. For the rest of the day I swore at every taxi driver that accosted me.

Walked around the town, very quaint, pretty, beautiful river. Especially nice without all the LED strip lighting on every building lit up. Throngs of tourists (the vast majority domestic, I saw two Westerners my entire time in the town). I took a tout up on her offer of a boat ride for 30 yuan. Off down to the river, and on further some more, then into a boat where I was the only passenger. Pleasant ride down the river, with tourists in other boats waving and yelling hello at me all along the way. Half way, we stopped at a warehouse that was selling some fruit flavoured liquors. I tasted a couple, then the boat captain/driver/dude grabbed me, filled up two cups with some clear liquid, and gave me one. He downed about half of his in one go and smiled at me. I smelled it, a definite aroma of methylated spirits, and had a sip. God awful. I smiled, had a gulp, nodded when he gestured to his throat, then bought a gourd of the stuff so as not to look like a pussy. Sunk the rest of the death drink on the boat. Blergh.

Slightly tipsy, I got a human tuk-tuk ride back to the centre of town. I walked around the town for a while, getting lost occassionally. At some point I busted through to an entirely different area, with lots of other people, and interesting buildings. There was also a square with the same strange organised aerobics that I had seen previously in other cities. Wandered around some more, then my meat bag decided to impose itself on me. Time for dinner.

I popped into one little place that looked quite nice. I stood around, walked up to the staff, then followed one around for what felt like an eternity. They looked at me, then buggered off. I was about to leave when a customer pointed to a table, yelled at the staff, pointed at the table, yelled some more, then told me to please sit down. A waitress (she couldn't have been older than 12 years old) came up to me with a menu. I pointed at something at random and waited. She came back later, apparently they didn't have that. I pointed at something else, which they did have. Excellent. Also a beer, which was apparently hard to decide what to do with (I had to choose between the two they stocked).

In the end I had a quite nice, and very large, bowl of tiny shrimp in a chilli sauce, and some rice. During my meal a few customers got into a heated discussion with the owner. I don't think I chose the most reliable of resturaunts. Anyway, I paid, and left.

On my way back, I heard 'Anil!'. Looking around I saw the two ladies who helped me out on the train to Zhangjiaje. We chatted, then they introduced me to all their friends. I walked with them for a while, then decided I needed to sleep. Photo, back to bed, packed, slept.

The next morning I got a taxi to the bus station. The guy wanted 20 yuan, I said no and pointed to the meter, 3 yuan later I was at the bus station. Off to Guilin!