Newbies on the road:

Sorry, I forgot to post the photo in the article I just posted. Make up! Make up!

Because some photos did not set the time when replacing the battery, some photos showed the time on January 1, 2005, which is a bit regrettable. The harvest of this trip is nearly 600 photos... haha

This trip has been considered since May Day this year, and since it was rainy season for the next two months (I only learned when I arrived in Zhangjiajie that traveling in rainy season is also a kind of happiness: )), I didn't make it. Up to now, since my wife will be admitted to the hospital for surgery next month, she has recently decided on a schedule, and I also wish my wife a smooth pass of her minor surgery...

Two days in advance, we bought the N590 train ticket from Guangzhou to Zhangjiajie on June 20. The hard seat was 174 yuan/ticket +5 yuan handling fee/ticket =179 yuan/ticket (The sleeper is about 380. The price checked online is not accurate, so I went to the ticketing outlets to inquire about the details.); At the same time, I bought a hard seat train ticket for the N595 train from Jishou to Guangzhou on June 25. The hard seat is 150 yuan/ticket +5 yuan handling fee/ticket =155 yuan/ticket. I originally planned to buy a hard sleeper ticket on the return journey, but unfortunately I couldn't buy a hard sleeper 8 days earlier, and it might have been taken away by the tour group. At that time, I wondered, were there really so many people visiting Phoenix? It's only 1.86 square kilometers there!

It's not flattering to go with a tour group. The scenic spots they visit are crowded with people (Those scenic spots are well developed, but they are not the best scenery in Zhangjiajie. Everyone will know after reading my travel notes.), and part of the travel agency's itinerary is to go to shopping spots. The most important point is that now travel agencies cannot live in the mountains. The hotels on the mountains have been demolished, and they have to take a bus to and from the city every day. For Zhangjiajie's 48-hour ticket time, you can only go to Liangtian Mountains with the travel agency.

Here is our planned itinerary:
1. The N590 train leaves at 19:58 on June 20, and arrives at Zhangjiajie Station at 9:53 on June 21
2. After getting off the bus, go directly to the Forest Park and live on the mountain. The time to play in the Forest Park is on the afternoon of the 21st, all day on the 22nd, and the morning of the 23rd
3. Go to Zhangjiajie Bus Station on June 23 and take the last bus to Phoenix that day. The time is 14:30
4. On the evening of June 23rd, all day of June 24th, and morning of June 25th, in Phoenix
5. Take the N595 train on the evening of June 25 and return to Guangzhou at 10:52 on the 26th

We took our luggage and some printed strategies on the Internet and boarded the N590 train to Zhangjiajie. My wife had flown many times. This was the first time she took the train, and she looked out the window all the way. Unfortunately, there was no scenery outside the window: ) Two hours before getting off the train, you could feel that most of the train traveled on mountain roads and had to pass through many caves. The train arrived in Zhangjiajie on time at 9:53 a.m. on June 21.

As soon as we got off the train, the ticket inspector didn't check very closely when we got out of the station. We didn't even look at our tickets and let them go. After going down the steps and walking forward for about 50 meters, we found the bus in the train station square. Before we left the station, there were many men and women who might be so-called intermediaries who recommended scenic spots and hotels to you. At the beginning, we said that we had relatives picking us up in the city. Seeing more and more "intermediaries"(some even started pulling our bags), we walked straight to the bus without saying a word, and they left reluctantly. We were going to the bus station, so we got on the No. 2 bus. It cost 1 yuan/person. We saw someone on the bus who could put the entire bicycle on the bus. Awesome! There are already many people in cars, plus bicycles, in one word: crowded! The No. 2 bus does not stop at the entrance of the bus station. After getting off the bus, we have to walk forward 30 meters. The bus station is on the left hand side. When chatting, passengers on the bus remind us to be careful of pickpockets at the bus station. So when we went to the bus station, we carried our bags to the front. The other thing is that the toilet at the bus station costs 1 yuan/person.

When I arrived at the bus station, basically all the minibuses leading to the scenic spot were soliciting passengers. At that time, I was afraid that I would get on a "piggy" bus. Hehe, the fare was 13 yuan/person. Because our destination is Tianzi Mountain. According to online information, entering the mountain from Tianzi Mountain can save some energy and money. However, entering the mountain from here took us almost 3 hours by car, which was twice the time to enter the forest park by car. Along the way, we walked mountain roads, with peaks and turns. The car turned countless 90-degree, and some even 180-degree uphill corners before arriving at Tianzi Mountain.

Our appointed tour guide Peng is already waiting for us at the ticket counter. Director Peng is the local tour guide we selected online. When we contacted him, we were a little worried... After all, we only listened to the introduction from other netizens on the Internet, and later realized how lucky we were to hire a local tour guide, haha. Peng Dao is a Tujia person on the mountain and lives in a forest park. He arranged the elite route for us based on our entry into the mountain from the Tianzi Mountain ticket office. It was foggy weather when I came to Zhangjiajie. According to the tour guide, there would be such weather for 80 days a year. Director Peng also made adjustments based on the weather. I forgot to tell you Director Peng's phone number. Peng Qingwu is 13107440171, 13574410371. You can find him when you get there, hehe. The itinerary we chose was 470 yuan/person, 3 days and 2 nights, including accommodation, 5 days and 2 mornings, and including park tickets. However, cable cars, elevators and small trains are not included. Before entering the gate, he gave Peng Director 300 yuan/person, and the rest would be settled when he left. Haha, one tour guide only treats two people, great!

(Since I can't remember where some places are below, I will put more pictures. Everyone has no objections.) After having lunch at the foot of the mountain, I took an eco-friendly car from the ticket office of Tianzi Mountain. I want to insert here, actually, it is not an eco-friendly car. If it uses batteries or hydrogen, it is an eco-friendly car. Is it also environmentally friendly if it uses gasoline? It was already past 2 o'clock in the afternoon when we sat in Helong Park. Then we went to the farmhouse (farmhouse) near Shentang Bay to pack up our luggage and go to see the scenery. The surrounding areas on the mountain were foggy and we didn't see much scenery. We arrived at the top of the mountain to climb the tower for sightseeing. Time passed quickly. After seeing the bronze statue of He Long, it was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Director Peng greeted us. Because his daughter had a heart problem, he wanted to go down the mountain to the city to visit her first. We also agreed. After all, it was really foggy. We didn't go anywhere. Even if we did, we wouldn't see anything. Director Peng taught us how to take a bus to our place, then called the owner of the farmhouse to arrange for us to have dinner and then went down the mountain. We didn't take a bus. We walked back from the top of the mountain. After all, it was only 2 kilometers. The mountain was covered by fog along the road and we didn't see anything. However, we also found a long-legged spider and a bunch of caterpillars more than 10 centimeters long. It was scary!! Halfway through, Director Peng also called to tell us the number of the owner of the farmhouse, worried that we were lost. It seems that Director Peng is quite good. I didn't meet anyone on the way back to the farmhouse. There were only a few environmentally friendly vehicles passing by. There were also the sounds of various birds and animals coming from the roadside. It was a kind of enjoyment to listen to it.

What I want to mention here is the food in Zhangjiajie. Although it is rough rice, we both eat it very well. Both of us eat more food than at home. On the first day, the owner of the farmhouse made wild vegetables for us, which were delicious!!! Eating for two people is 2 dishes and 1 soup. The 2 dishes are usually 1 meat and 1 vegetarian. There is hot water, TV, and a separate bathroom. The hot water on the first day was not very hot, but later I told Director Peng the next day that the hot water would be fine the next day. Because we were tired, we went to bed early. Originally, I didn't see anything on the first day, but my wife and I both said that we would go down the mountain if there was fog the next day. Fortunately, we didn't go down the mountain. It wasn't that we lost a lot if we didn't see the ink landscape paintings the next day.

Because eco-friendly vehicles were available at 8:30 in the morning, and when we got up at 7:30 the next day, the fog outside was even heavier than the first day. Director Peng had already called and said that he was on time to take us to the mountain. I had breakfast (noodles + poached eggs, and some pickled cabbage from the mountains). Our destination today is Wulong Village first. When we arrived at Wulong Village, there was a thunderstorm and the fog dissipated a lot. It was really open to the sky. Along the way, Director Peng kept calling us to ask other tour guides where we could see the fog and where we couldn't see it. Then I went to Yi Yi Nizhi, Xianren Bridge, Daguan Terrace, Tianzi Seat, Tianbo Fu. Director Peng's photography skills are good, and fortunately he hired a tour guide, so we took many photos. In many places I went today, I had to walk several miles before meeting one or two people. If Director Peng was not there, we would have taken a group photo. I think it would have been a real problem. We held the camera for Director Peng, and Director Peng also took a lot of scenery for us. My wife always reminisces, reminisces again on the way back to Guangzhou. Since we left at noon on the third day, Director Peng also added our itinerary and went to Shentangwan and Dianjiangtai at around 5 p.m. For today's itinerary, my wife and I agreed that it was the most beautiful one in Tianpo Prefecture and it was worth the fare.

There is only one morning on June 23. Take the Tianzi Mountain cableway down the mountain from the top of the mountain, 52 yuan/person. My wife couldn't walk at that time. In short, she felt that her feet were not her own. She walked slowly with a crutch, hehe. Director Peng took us to Shuihuan Simen, where Jiang Laoti's three words "Zhangjiajie" were written. Finally, we also walked back to Shili Gallery. Shili Gallery felt that there was no need to take the small train inside. The route was not long, and it took more than an hour to walk back and forth. Later, when we chatted with tourists who went to Phoenix with us, they thought that Shili Gallery was the most beautiful. At that time, when we had just seen the beautiful scenery from the top of the mountain, we didn't feel anything at all about Shili Gallery, haha. At that time, when viewed from Tianbo Prefecture, it was called Chinese ink landscape painting.

After leaving the gate from Wulingyuan, we settled all the expenses. Peng Director drove us to the bus station. Of course, from the moment we left the gate, all the expenses for this section of the road should have been paid by us. We bought tickets for three people from the gate of Wulingyuan to the bus station of Wulingyuan. Only there is a bus to Zhangjiajie Bus Station, and you can also take a taxi to Wulingyuan Bus Station. Unfortunately, the driver offered 10 yuan. We didn't take it (the ticket from Wulingyuan Gate to Wulingyuan bus station didn't even cost to start the meter). We and three tour guide got on the bus station for 10 yuan/person. After more than an hour, I arrived at the bus station. I bought a ticket to Phoenix at 14:30 for 60 yuan/person. I went to the supermarket next to me and bought 2 loaves of bread to prevent me from getting hungry on the bus.

After getting off the bus at Fenghuang, you can take a taxi to Fenghuang Ancient City (Fenghuang inside Hongqiao is called Ancient City, and the outside is called New City). Phoenix's taxi starts at 2 yuan +5 jiao fuel surcharge. It costs about 6 yuan from the bus station to Gucheng. Phoenix is really crowded with people. Maybe it's a weekend for us. I finally found an inn along the river (Yiyeqing Inn) and stayed for two nights. It was 70 yuan/night. It was equipped with a balcony, separate toilet, hot water, TV, and fan. From the balcony, what I saw was the opposite Tuojiang cruise ship singing. Now I feel that there are no more penthouse on the Internet. Basically, all inns are made of cement and steel bars at the bottom, with wooden boards on the outer and second floors, and the roofs are made of tiles. That night, we had dinner at the somewhat famous Ambassador Restaurant in the local area. We served a piece of blood cake duck, a pound of glutinous rice wine (the glutinous rice wine seemed to be mixed with water and was not good to drink), and a few small dishes. Three people (one of whom was met on the way to Fenghuang) were only over 60 yuan, which was reasonable enough.

We didn't go to the Eight Scenery of Phoenix because it was a universal ticket and not only sold. It seems to cost 108 yuan/person, because many local netizens say it is boring. You can take a cruise ship without buying a pass. There is a boat here in Shen Congwen's Cemetery, and you can travel downstream to Taohua Island and other places. I suggest you not go to Taohua Island. It costs 40 yuan/person. It's okay to take a cruise ship. You can go directly to the dock to find a boatman. The so-called intermediaries who ask you if you want to take the boat outside will charge a half rebate. The approximate time from Shen Congwen's Cemetery to Peach Blossom Island is an hour round trip, and the price is about 10-15 yuan/person.

The thin layer of fog in the early morning of the Tuojiang River has its unique charm. The next morning we went to the "Time-honored Noodle Restaurant" for breakfast. The flour tasted really good. We went to Jixin to go to the market. There was nothing to see, so I suggested not to go. What were sold inside were some fruits, clothes, vegetables, pesticides, etc. There were not many people wearing ethnic clothes. It is recommended to go to the market in Shanjiang. It is relatively large and you can see Miao women dressed in costumes everywhere. As for Tianlong Gorge and Miao Village, there are many Miao villages. According to netizens 'recommendations, Duluo Village and Tianlong Gorge are worth visiting. Because we have just returned from Zhangjiajie, Tianlong Gorge has nothing to attract, so we have not gone to anything else. In the evening, we can go to the bar for a drink. We like to be quiet and quiet. We bought a bottle of beer and sat on the balcony of our room. There are 30 skewers of sheep and beef for RMB yuan, so that you can eat and drink thoroughly.

Food in Fenghuang Ancient City is basically twice as expensive as in the new city, especially restaurants in Linjiang. If you have time and want to save money, you can go to Xincheng to eat. Phoenix has many ginger candies, all of which are authentic. Hehe. Just buy some of these personal feelings. My wife likes dried kiwis, which are sour and sweet, so she bought more than a pound. The roadside in Phoenix is full of silver ornaments and other small ornaments displayed by hawkers. Don't care what they ask, basically just pay the price 5 yuan/piece. They will sell it. Whether it is true or not depends on what everyone thinks. I think it's just a matter of silver content and workmanship, hehe.

Since we had to check out at 12 noon, we checked out at 11:30 on June 25 and had our last meal in Phoenix at the Ambassador Hotel. I took a taxi to the bus station for 6 yuan, and got on the bus from Fenghuang to Jishou, 14 yuan/person. After an hour and a half, the car arrived at Jishou's bus station. Since it was early, there were commercial streets and more than a dozen Internet cafes opposite the Jishou bus station for only 1.5 yuan/hour. The weather was very hot. We spent an hour surfing the Internet (and cooling off the air conditioner), strolling the commercial street, and it was already 17:30, and the train left at 18:58. After asking for directions, I came to the snack street on the commercial street for dinner. It is very close to the bus station, and it takes about 10 minutes to walk. We ordered 3 dishes and 1 soup and paid only 35 yuan. Then I went to the street to take a taxi and waited for 15 minutes. There were many taxis, but unfortunately they were all full. I couldn't wait, so I had to take the bus, 1 yuan/person.

After getting on the train, there was no talk all the way. The train arrived in Guangzhou safely 50 minutes late. Farewell, Zhangjiajie; Farewell, Phoenix.




PS:
Train tickets can be booked 10 days in advance. If passengers who have bought hard seats cannot stand it on the train, they can make up for a sleeper ticket. They can just go directly to the flight attendant.
The clothes washed in the farmhouse we live in on the mountains of Zhangjiajie are very difficult to dry. Our clothes haven't dried for 3 days. If there are no conditions, we suggest we just change our underwear.
The temperature difference between morning and evening in Zhangjiajie is large. Remember to bring a pair of trousers and a coat for each person. We spent the night in June covered with quilts and wore short-sleeved clothes in the morning.
If there are few guests, eco-friendly cars and cableways in Zhangjiajie Scenic Area will stop at around 17:30. Don't stay too late.
The toilets in Zhangjiajie and Fenghuang cost 1 yuan/person, but the hygiene of the toilets is not three-star.
Drinks in Zhangjiajie Scenic Area are a bit expensive, costing 5 yuan per bottle. I suggest you bring a thermos bottle and fill a pot of water every morning. Moreover, the thermos bottle can also be used as a cup on the train.

(Tianbo Prefecture)

(The farmhouse we stayed in (separate bathroom, TV, hot water))

([These are called ink paintings])

( [Director Peng and I])

(Phoenix Night View)