On the evening of July 27, with a desire and expectation for the beautiful scenery of Xiangxi, I followed the tour group (22 members and a full escort team leader) to Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport. The flight was Air China CA1771 and took off at 20:45, which was a little late. But it doesn't matter, we have passion. However, it seemed that God wanted to test our sincerity and announced that the flight was cancelled. With strong disappointment and anger, everyone flocked to the Air China Duty Officer's window and demanded an explanation. The answer was very indifferent: the plane was out of order and could not be repaired tonight. We are scheduled to leave tomorrow. How can we? Several strong men surrounded the duty officer. Everyone was chatting, and the crowd was furious and overwhelmed each other in momentum. Finally, Air China arranged for everyone to stay at Xiaoshan Mingri Hotel (four-star) for one night, and flew to Dayong Airport at 8:00 the next day (Dayong is the former name of Zhangjiajie. For some unknown reason, the airline never changed its name), and each person compensated 300 yuan. Everyone is quite satisfied with this solution.

At about 9:45 a.m. on July 28, we arrived at Hehua Airport in Zhangjiajie, and our local escort Wang welcomed us. After getting on the tour bus, each person was given another 150 yuan, which was the refund of the room charge for the night. Everyone couldn't help but be delighted. The unhappiness of cancellation of the flight disappeared, and they gathered their spirits to take the bus to Furong Town. The scenery along the way was idyllic. Xiangxi's economy is underdeveloped, there are basically no large-scale industries, and agriculture is underdeveloped. Only one town grows flue-cured tobacco, and the rest mainly relies on tourism.

Everyone is familiar with Furong Town, and now they have to buy tickets to enter. After a quick tour, they will go to the "First Spiral" main store for dinner. There are three special dishes: one is rice tofu (Liu Xiaoqing made it famous across the country); the other is mandarin fish; and the third is field snails (the "First Spiral" field snails are of course a special dish). When I put it on the table, I saw rice tofu: a red pot of soup with light yellow cat ears floating in it. The taste is so average, not as delicious as the cat ears at Zhiweiguan in Hangzhou! Mandarin fish: Is it fried Mandarin fish with red pepper and black bean? Field snail: It is braised with chili seeds. The shell of the snail is broken and boiled. It is more delicious. If you ignore the smell of fine sand and mud in the field snail, it is okay! There is also a kind of snack that is wrapped in leaves and the filling is wrapped in soybean flour, which tastes like Qingming dumplings.

After the meal, get on the bus and go to the Mengdong River for rafting. With full preparation in advance, I bought a long water gun, changed into a raincoat, and set off in a rubber raft for 10 people. During this period, the people riding the raft next door did not pay attention and secretly fired it with a water gun. Unexpectedly, when they met an opponent with more firepower, they used a longer and thicker water cannon, so they could only hold their heads and be beaten. The scenery of the Mengdong River is infinitely beautiful. There are high mountain walls on both sides, the air is fresh and pleasant, and the sounds of birds are pleasant to the ears. From time to time, waterfalls splash from the mountain walls and rapids, like beads and jade, reflecting bright light. The scene is similar to "The sound of apes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait cannot stop crying, and the light boat has passed thousands of mountains." The current is sometimes rapid and sometimes gentle. In the rushing place, we grab the raft to surf, and take out a water gun to shoot it at the gentle place. Everyone's clothes are wet and it's a pleasure. Along the way, there are many heroes who jumped off the raft to swim, envious of the land ducks on the raft. After drifting for more than 2 hours, I arrived at the destination and landed. I changed into dry clothes, got on the bus, and went to Fenghuang Ancient City to stay (staying at Fenghuang Jiangtian Tourism Resort).

It was already past 9 o'clock in the evening when I arrived in Fenghuang Town. I hurriedly put down my luggage and toured the ancient city at night. At night, there is a lively scene along the Tuojiang River. On both sides of the street are densely packed stalls selling tourist souvenirs and bars next to each other. The sound of shouts and music is earth-shaking. The peaceful ancient city has passed away, and a new city of philistine cities is unfolding before our eyes. I was speechless and could only remember the hometown of the literati-Phoenix from the book. On the morning of July 29, we officially visited the ancient city. The bar is still asleep, and young girls and old women selling hand-woven wreaths are among tourists. There are also those who pull ginger candies, those who sell silver ornaments, those who roast corn, those who rent Miao costumes and take photos, those who sell hand-woven bags, and those who sell dried shrimps, dried rock ears and dried bacon. Occasionally, there are local children who pull tourists to force their own straw grasshoppers and butterflies during summer vacation. They are numerous and filled the entire ancient city. We swam the Tuojiang River in a small boat, and the boat-punting brother took the initiative to teach us to sing folk songs. In his clear and pleasant singing, we vaguely felt a trace of the simple atmosphere of the ancient city. Visiting Phoenix, we took a bus to Wulingyuan Accommodation (Dynasty International Hotel) in Zhangjiajie, and inspected some local specialty supermarkets in Wulingyuan at night.

On the morning of July 30, our tour route was Yuanjiajie-Tianzi Mountain-Helong Park-Shili Gallery (I bought a big ticket for Zhangjiajie (face price of 245 yuan), which can be used for two days based on fingerprint identification). To get to the Yuan family, you have to take the Hundred Dragons Ladder (face price of 56 yuan). Although the Hundred Dragons Ladder is questioned as a failure to destroy the natural ecology, I am still very happy to appreciate the magic of nature without having to climb the mountain hard. Zhangjiajie's mountains are indeed unique: stone walls and stone pillars are lined up, as smooth as if cut by a knife, and the tops of many stone peaks are also as smooth as polished, which is really unbelievable. Then go to Tianzi Mountain to visit Helong Park, take the Tianzi Mountain cableway (one-way fare is 52 yuan, and the reverse of the ticket is a postcard with 80 cents postage) to Shili Gallery, and take a small train to visit. It turns out that Shili Gallery is named because the mountain walls on both sides of the tour route are like a picture scroll. After a day of sightseeing, go back to the hotel to rest, and continue to inspect some local specialty supermarkets in Wulingyuan in the evening.

On the morning of July 31, our tour route was Zhangjiajie Forest Park-Jinbian Creek. As soon as you enter the Forest Park, the temperature cools down. Take the cableway to Huangshi Village (the round-trip ticket price is 92 yuan, and the reverse side of the ticket is also a postcard with 80 cents postage). Take the mountain road and have a panoramic tour of the Great Huangshi Village, then take the cableway down. After eating at the restaurant outside the Forest Park, re-enter the Forest Park and visit the Jinbian River. The tour guide told us that the distance of Jinbian River is 5.7 kilometers. After actually walking the whole journey, everyone felt that it was more than this. There are many Jinbian River fish in the water of Jinbian River, which look like stick fish in the West Lake. Local people fry the dried fish, spread it with red chili, and sell them on bamboo sticks. The largest one is 10 yuan/piece, the medium one is 10 yuan/2 pieces, and the smallest one is 10 yuan/4 pieces. There are many bees on the mountain, and two of them were stung by bees (including Director Wang himself). I also met wild monkeys beside a section of the stream. At first, I suddenly saw a little monkey jumping between the branches. Everyone shouted and was very excited; suddenly I saw three wild monkeys jumping over, which made me even more excited; Then, if I looked carefully, I saw that the mountains and plains were full of monkeys, so I can only describe my mood at this time as horror. There are many roads to walk on this day and it is very tiring. My feet also blisters and walked the entire way with a Band-Aid on. After a day of sightseeing, go back to the hotel to rest. Due to the sudden rain, I didn't go out shopping that night.

On August 1, the tour guide arranged for a morning rest, checked out after 11 o'clock, and set out to visit Huanglong Cave-Baofeng Lake-Zhangjiajie City Shopping-and return trip to Hehua Airport. So, after sleeping until 9 o'clock, I went to Wulingyuan Specialty Supermarket and bought a cardboard box (2 yuan) for packaging, sealed the specialties I had bought in a few days, and got on the bus to visit Huanglong Cave. There are too many tourists visiting Huanglong Cave. The stalactites and stalagmites in the cave have been eroded by carbon dioxide for a long time, and the color has long changed from the original milky white to the current gray-black. Unfortunately! The cave is very big, deep and high. The average water depth of the river water in the cave is 6 meters, and the deepest point is 12 meters. It is indeed a masterpiece of nature. I really regret Baofeng Lake. I climbed a lot to the mountain. When I took a boat to visit Baofeng Lake, the sun was scorching to death. After circling the lake, I got off the boat and went down the mountain. I was tired and sunburned. Except for the 72 meters at the deepest point of the lake, I sighed, the scenery was very ordinary.

After the tour, we drove back to Zhangjiajie City. We had dinner at a place called "Green Farm" on the road. This was the best meal we had during our stay in Hunan (the last dinner is always more abundant and can leave a good impression on tourists!) The farm covers a large area, is well decorated, and the sisters who serve are also very fierce. They use folk songs to persuade customers to drink, which has repeatedly worked. Fire trucks and 120 ambulances were also parked at the entrance of the farm. The tour guide said that these trucks were driven by local people to eat, which shows that this place is indeed unique. After dinner, we drove to the city, shopped at the largest Guanghe Supermarket (after actual comparison, we found that the price of the specialty supermarket in Wulingyuan was cheaper than that in Guanghe), and went to the airport for the return journey. The return trip was Air China flight CA1772. It took off at 22:30 and arrived at Xiaoshan Airport at 0:21. I dragged my exhausted body home and ended my trip to Xiangxi.

Summary: When traveling with a group, the itinerary is relatively fast, and the group meal has no special characteristics (because most people's tastes are taken care of, Hunan spicy dishes are rarely served), but you don't have to worry about transportation and accommodation. Tickets and cableway tickets are all arranged, so you don't have to consider the strategy of ticket evasion, and you don't need to save money without taking cableway and climbing on your legs, which saves you a lot of trouble.