Today is the first day of our tour around the city of Fenghuang, which means Phoenix in Chinese. It is the
hometown to a lot of historical figures and many famous fictions. Everyone got up pretty late due to the
travel and hostel logistic issues the previous day. Then after some brief discussions, we headed over to
the “Miao Canyou” and “Miao Museum” (Fenghuang is the hometown to the Miao Minority group in
China). We joined a tourist group for easier transportation.
It took about an hour and a half to get to the “Miao Canyon.” It was not a boring bus ride at all. The
guide was talking about different and interesting stories/history about the Miao minority group. He
taught us how to say “good,” “is that good,” “bathroom,” and “goodbye” in Miao’s own language. Miao
minority group only has its own speaking language but no written language. He also taught us to sing
a song called “Blossom” in Miao’s language. We got stuck in a traffic jam right before we got to our
destination so we all got off the bus and walked the rest of the way. We walked through some farm
lands and met some interesting old ladies who were somehow trying to force us to buy their stuff, but
unfortunately failed.
Then we took a boat to a cave. The boat was made out of bamboo. It had about ten bamboo shoots
tied together on the bottom and had branches to sit on. We arrived at the first cave which had a
wooden bull head hanging at the gate. The guide told us that it was for casting the ghosts away in the
Miao minority group’s belief. There was a river running through the cave and we walked on the bridge
alongside it. There was a beautiful waterfall outside the cave. It was pretty cool.
We then took another boat trip to the second cave. Unfortunately, on this boat trip there were other
people from other passing boats splashing us using buckets. To make it worse, we were splashed from
both sides of the boat. Many of us got soaked, but some lucky ones who sat in the front missed the fun.
Then we got to the cave. It started with stairs leading upwards into the cave. After we finished the first
fifty steps, we were led into a left turn where we found endless amounts of stairs in front of us, leading
upwards (very high) and into the dark. It was an exciting stair climbing experience, especially because it
was in a huge but dark cave.
Then we had lunch at the Miao’s Village, and they served us local homemade rice wine which usually
expresses the host’s hospitality. The food was simple and traditional. After lunch we went to the Miao’s
Museum, which is a showcase for Miao’s culture and traditions. Then we watched a performance from
Miao’s young adults. There was also an auction for some original Chinese paintings.
Then we had an interesting ride back. The odometer, RPM, and gas indicator were somehow all broken,
so we travelled for two hours at 0 km/hr, 0 RPM, and no gas at all, yet we were able to make it all the
way back to our hotel without a problem. The turns on the way were extremely sharp too. We had many
160 degree turns on the edge of the mountains.
It was a fun day. Then we walked to the riverside for dinner and did some more walking following
dinner. The view by the river was absolutely amazing both before dark and when the night arrived. We
walked on the stones in the river connecting the two banks. Some kids were also swimming in the river.
The water was very clear and you could see the seaweed clearly deep at the bottom of the river.
After we got back to our hotel, something interesting happened. Nikki told me my phone was beeping,
and as soon as I stood up from my bed, it crashed on the floor. Then when I tried to call the front desk
to come fix it, we discovered that our phone was broken. I eventually got my bed fixed, but it was
definitely an interesting and entertaining experience to end a fun day.
-Yijia
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