Had to get up early but luckily i stayed pretty near the bus station so going to the bus was ok, jumped onboard and headed out of zhangjiajie, I had only been there for 24 hours! but I will be back!
This bus was pretty small and really slow, winding through beautiful mountains, tiny villages and scenic drops, the journey was that far, 100 miles maybe, but the estimated time was 4-5 hours! We soon saw why.... Down this one single carriage way was a continual stream of buses and huge coaches all winding through the mountains towards or away from this famous scenic village, and of course being china every few hundred meters was a car pulled over, or a tractor, or a broken down lorry, or a piece of road missing, narrowing the traffic to pinch points, and then there were all of the slow moving goods vehicles also crawling down the roads and it is nearly impossible to overtake as there is too much traffic! and looking on my phone gps this is the only road for 50miles in each direction, so all traffic must use this road which 50 years ago was a mud track through the chinese backwaters! A crazy busy road, and this wasn't even in peak season!
Since the chinese apparently detest toilets on buses there is a mid way stop, (if you need the bathroom in those 2-3 hours, tough! ) and at this stop I was approached by a Chinese guy from the coach, he introduced himself in perfect English as paul and I found out that although both his parents are Chinese he was born in London and raised there not even speaking Chinese! he then moved out here and now works in finance in shanghai, he is a really nice guy and gave me a lot of advice about finding real jobs out here and even offered to give me a hand if I need it! which would be amazing! we chatted on the route and exchanged email addresses but parted ways when we arrived in the city as we had booked a place in a different side of town.
I found my hotel and it was beautiful, bamboo everywhere, wooden floors and a raised wooden bed but unfortunately I had been fooled into another damn open hole toilet shower combo! but for 12pounds a night I was going to complain!
Dumped my stuff and grabbed my camera and went on a flurry of picture taking around the town extending into the evening and night, some really came out well and I was very impressed! Shooting on manual a lot more now too to really control what I'm getting back and the look I'm trying to capture!
After the marathon session and some takeaway spicy dofu for dinner I ended up sitting by the river in the dark with a beer, a lovely day in fenghuang!
This bus was pretty small and really slow, winding through beautiful mountains, tiny villages and scenic drops, the journey was that far, 100 miles maybe, but the estimated time was 4-5 hours! We soon saw why.... Down this one single carriage way was a continual stream of buses and huge coaches all winding through the mountains towards or away from this famous scenic village, and of course being china every few hundred meters was a car pulled over, or a tractor, or a broken down lorry, or a piece of road missing, narrowing the traffic to pinch points, and then there were all of the slow moving goods vehicles also crawling down the roads and it is nearly impossible to overtake as there is too much traffic! and looking on my phone gps this is the only road for 50miles in each direction, so all traffic must use this road which 50 years ago was a mud track through the chinese backwaters! A crazy busy road, and this wasn't even in peak season!
Since the chinese apparently detest toilets on buses there is a mid way stop, (if you need the bathroom in those 2-3 hours, tough! ) and at this stop I was approached by a Chinese guy from the coach, he introduced himself in perfect English as paul and I found out that although both his parents are Chinese he was born in London and raised there not even speaking Chinese! he then moved out here and now works in finance in shanghai, he is a really nice guy and gave me a lot of advice about finding real jobs out here and even offered to give me a hand if I need it! which would be amazing! we chatted on the route and exchanged email addresses but parted ways when we arrived in the city as we had booked a place in a different side of town.
I found my hotel and it was beautiful, bamboo everywhere, wooden floors and a raised wooden bed but unfortunately I had been fooled into another damn open hole toilet shower combo! but for 12pounds a night I was going to complain!
Dumped my stuff and grabbed my camera and went on a flurry of picture taking around the town extending into the evening and night, some really came out well and I was very impressed! Shooting on manual a lot more now too to really control what I'm getting back and the look I'm trying to capture!
After the marathon session and some takeaway spicy dofu for dinner I ended up sitting by the river in the dark with a beer, a lovely day in fenghuang!
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