20100617 长沙 --〉张家界

We stayed in a 5-star hotel in Changsha. But, no toiletries were provided, i.e. there were no soaps, no shampoo, no toothbrush, no combs, no plastic bags for sanitary napkins... Huh? Well, since 2007, the Hunan Province Governor instructed that hotels shouldn't provide these one-time-usage (一次性) toiletries to save the environment. I was caught unaware bcoz I didn't bring any soap or shampoo along.

This 5-star hotel looks posh but it's not user-friendly, 有姿势，无实际. The shower booth and the toilet booth share the same sliding door. If you slide close the door while you're having a shower, the one sitting on the toilet bowl will be exposed. There's no place to hang your towel but you have to hang your towel at the handle bar outside the shower booth. Thirdly, the slanting glass plate in the shower, which is supposed to hold a soap/shampoo/anything else can't hold anything at all. I put my spectacles there and it slided down; I put a soap bar there and it slided down.

After a one-day car + aeroplane + bus + bullet train journey, nonetheless, the beds were superb. Buffet breakfast was nice. We went to 马王堆 museum after breakfast.

马王堆 refers to the big land pile near Changsha where 马殷, the Marquis of the Han Dynasty (五代时期) lived.

The chinese knew Taichi (太极) since then.

Bowls for drinking wine.

The top ladle is the genuine one while the bottom ladle was an imitation bcoz the real one was broken while it was unearthed. But, it's noted that the 2000-year-old ladle looks shinier than the newly made.

3 tombs were found. Tomb #1 belongs to the Marquis of Dai, 轪，named 利苍. Tomb #2 belongs to the wife of 利苍 and Tomb #3 is believed to belong to the son of 利苍. The most interesting thing in this historical site is not the 3 tombs but the 2100-year-old lady mummy. This lady was the wife of 利苍. The difference between this mummy and those in Egypt is that, the organs of the dead are still intact inside the body. In Egypt, the organs were taken out and preserved in jars. How did the chinese managed to preserve the mummy so well? They made sure that the tombs were in a vacuum state.




We had lunch after the museum visit. For this Hunan trip, we had soup on stove all the time.

After lunch, we began our long journey to Zhangjiajie from Changsha. The distance is about 320 km and the journey took us approximately 5 hours. Upon reaching there, we visited a cave.

Just like any tour in China, the tour guide would tell tales about dragons. This stalactite looks like a dragon and that stalagmite looks like a phoenix. To me, they're all stones. Most probably I'm not imaginative.

Everywhere you go in Zhangjiajie, you'd see boards about Avatar, the magnificent computer animation by James Cameron.

Then, dinner time came. We had dinner at the hotel.

We stayed in a 4-star hotel. This one was better than the 5-star hotel in Changsha. Body shampoo and shampoo were provided. How come? Well, the one-time-usage toiletries were not provided but only the body shampoo and shampoo were provided in containers stuck on the wall. So, it's a win-win design: save the environment while the hotel guests' needs were catered.