20100616 PEN --> BKK --> 广州 --> 长沙

On this day, we had to wake up at 4am to go to the Penang airport bcoz we're catching a 7:30am flight to Guangzhou, with a transit in BKK. When we arrived at Guangzhou, we had an early dinner at 5:30pm. Then, we headed to the railway station to catch the 8:13pm bullet train to Changsha. The distance between Guangzhou and Changsha is about 700km. With the bullet train ride, it just took us approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes.

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.

20100618 张家界

First sightseeing destination: a lake named 宝峰湖. As hubby pointed out, tours in China made you walk 10 miles a day. Hah... hah... it's true. We walked, walked, walked, uphill, downhill, up-the-stairs, down-the-stairs. Those who couldn't walk, could pay for a ride in a 轿子.

We had a boat ride. When the boat approached a small boat house, a pretty girl would sing for us. An unmarried girl is called 阿妹. 阿妹 has a penchant for bespectacled guys. As for guys, to get 阿妹 to marry you, you need to answer riddles from 阿妹, by singing out your answers. Furthermore, you need to spend 3 + 3 + 3 years working hard for 阿妹. I forgot the 2 tasks for the initial 6 years. In the last 3 years, you need to handle wash-leg-water for 阿妹 every nite.

A Dragon Rock.

This is our first "compulsory shopping" stop: medicine shop. I was very mad at Mama Peh for believing their tricks and buying whatever medicines they asked her to buy. She didn't bring enough cash and lok card. But, her credit card bank didn't allow her to lok over a certain amount. She then asked me to lok my card. Then, I barked at her. Everyone was stunned.

I didn't buy anything. The massager kept asking me to buy and refuse to free my legs. The hot water had turned icy cold, yet, she refused to let me go.

This is an eye-opener for me. I've never seen such a lazy-Susan before. It "sinks" under the table so that the top surface is on a par with the table.

Lunch was served.

After lunch, we began our first day journey in Zhangjiajie Park. We had a 2-day entrance.

The tickets are soooooo advanced that the machines scan and save our thumbprints information on the entrance tickets. On the next day, we had to match our thumbprints with the information stored in our tickets. This is how the Chinese forcefully, technologically, willfully make sure that the tickets are not transferrable. Clap...clap... 好料... ho liao!

Everywhere you are in China, people try to sell things to you.

Everywhere you go in China, people try to sell service to you.

Now, this is really amazing. China can do anything. No wonder the movie 2012 mentioned that the "Noah's Arks" were built in China.

From the top of the mountain, we took a lift to go down.

The lift was descending...

The lift descended to a certain level and we're blocked out of the beautiful scenery bcoz we're inside the mountain, literally, in a cave.

Chinese like the word 第一 a lot. It used to be "the first under the sky". Now, the word has changed to "the first in the world".

It's all about Avatar everywhere.

After dinner, it was show time. The show started promptly at 8:10pm. Before the show began, there was an auction of Chinese paintings.

The design of the hall is really Chineeeseee. The chairs are solid wooden chairs, with cushion pads. This Chinese "philharmonic" auditorium has boxes for the nobles, but that was the long-gone era. Now, the boxes for the nobles were "seated" by speakers and spotlights.

After 2 hours of indoor auditorium stage show, audiences were led to the outdoor arena.

The emcee was very humourous. There was a performance where 8 big fat guys/gals were required to stand on top on a wooden plank. Underneath the wooden plank was the hero. The hero was not only capable of supporting the 8 big fat guys/gals, he was able to send vibration up too. The emcee "interviewed" each of the 8 big fat guys/gals. There were 7 guys and 1 girl. The humongous girl was from Taiwan. Then, the emcee sarcastically said the 伙食 in Taiwan must be very good. The last person being "interviewed" was the heaviest person. He was from Malaysia. The emcee then poked fun by saying, "原来，最好的伙食是在马来西亚！".

The show ended after 2.5 hours. The lighting and stage decoration were marvelous. It's worth the extra RMB 250 we had to fork out (exclusive from our tour package).

Oh... 僵尸 stories originated from Hunan. But now, they've lost the knowledge to 赶尸.