Phoenix

I left Huaihua nice and early in the morning because I wanted to get to Fenghuang (Phoenix) in the early afternoon to give me time to explore the city. However, just as I was leaving the city, my back tire popped! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find a shop open because it was Duanwujie (double-5 day - the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar) and it was 7am, but luckily, there was a couple guys on the street a block ahead who fixed it up right away - I actually ran over a small nail - but I was pretty lucky that it happened where it did because I got it fixed right away.

The road to Fenghuang is a national level road (209 Guodao), but it was not nearly as busy as other national roads I have been on, and the ride was quite pleasant. It was a gentle downhill to Mayang (a county seat on the way to Fenghuang), and I made the 60km trip to Mayang in about 3 and a half hours. Fenghuang was only 32 km past Mayang, so I figured I could make it to Fenghuang by 1pm and eat lunch there.

Of course, I didn't take into account that it was generally uphill to Fenghuang, and I ended up only getting into town around 3pm - so I was pretty hungry. Fenghuang is a COOL city. It is up in the mountains, and it has fairly well preserved architecture from the mid-Qing dynasty. It isn't as old as other Chinese cities (It was founded in 1726), but it is still pretty cool. I imagine that it is a bit what Jingdezhen is like.

The famous bridge that marks the entrance to the city.

One of the many many old streets to walk along - the shops were filled with lots of cool artistic crafts - in retrospect, I should have come back here after I was done biking to buy stuff to bring home.

Anyways, I was pretty lucky to come here on Duanwujie, because they have a big festival for it here. There are tons of people everywhere. It took me a couple tries to find a hotel with an open room, so I settled for a cheaper hotel (60 yuan) a bit away from the old town. I think that Duanwujie is bigger in Hunan than other places in China (I think it is pretty popular in Taiwan as well) because it started in Hunan. Westerners might know it as the Dragon Boat Festival. It comes from the story of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and advisor to the Chu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms era of China. If I remember correctly, because of some sort of palace intrigue, an evil guy managed to get Qu Yuan wrongly blamed for some crime, and he was exiled. Distressed that he was unable to serve his kingdom any longer, he committed the ultimate act of devotion to his kingdom by committing suicide by jumping into the Miluo River, which is located in Eastern Hunan by the Dongting Lake. Anyways, just after he committed suicide, the king found out that he had wrongfully exiled his most loyal advisor, and so he sent people racing to Miluo River to throw bits of rice into the river so that the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan's body.

The waterfront in Fenghuang.

People lining up along the banks (or even in the water) to get a good look at the boat races.

The race course

So that is why they have the dragon boat races and why people eat Zongzi (conical sticky rice concoctions with random stuff in it, wrapped in a leaf) on Duanwujie. At least, that is how I remember the story. Anyways, I got to watch some dragon races, and it was pretty fun. Fenghuang has a pretty large old city, and it was really fun to later go exploring the small alleyways and such. I didn't realize it was such a tourist destination, but I'm pretty glad I made it here - it was a lot of fun!