Food Galore

(September 30th) Today had a very busy itinerary, but you can't start off a day like that hungry. A short walk down the river (everything in Fenghuang is centered on the river) turned up a little noodle restaurant. For the price of less than $2, I enjoyed a scrumptuous bowl of noodles which of course was very spicy.

After eating, it was on to walking around Phoenix City proper. Most of Phoenix City is comprised of narrow streets with shops lining both sides. Like many places in China, transportation is all by walking and the streets can get quite crowded. Here's a typical street when it's not so crowded. The architecture style of the buildings is very characteristic of Fenghuang and it will feature more prominently in some later photographs.

Fenghuang is quite a popular destination for Chinese tourists even if it is unknown to Westerners. One of the popular things to do is to visit the many museums in town. Most of the museums are homes that used to belong wealthy businessmen or magistrates of Fenghuang's past. The homes have since been converted into museums and artifacts and heirlooms line the insides. This is the outer wall of one of the museums we visited today.

The river is the focal point of much of the time. Historically it used to be that the less desirable spots in town were located along the river, but as the town became well-known, property along the river is now the most desirable. There are two main bridges over the river in town and this the smaller of the two.

Sometimes you take a shot and the details of the image really capture you. In this photo, the buildings and the water wheel are both extremely important and make the majority of the image. But it is the three small people in the foreground that balance the shot. Like most of Fenghuang, these people have come to the river to wash their laundry.

After staying in town through midday, we visited a nearby cave. This cave certainly wasn't as impressive as Yellow Dragon Cave that I had seen previously, but it's still quite an impressive feat. This time I was without a tripod, but still photographed a bunch. Like last time, you have a very fast moving guide that the group must keep up with.

After the cave, it was back for another meal. For dinner, we usually ordered a bunch of different dishes and consequently I got to taste many different foods during my trip. The vegetables used are great and make for a colorful (and spicy) plate. I feel like the food photos are getting a bit better balanced. By the way, that's tea in the background of this shot, not beer that someone thought it was.