The very next day, I got on a bus to the Hunan city of Jishou 吉首. This is just few hours away from Zhangjiajie City. The highway was nice and paved unlike the previous road from Fenghuang, which begs why they didn’t use this road in the first place. Jishou was just another Chinese city with nothing really worth staying for. It was to be my jumping pad to my next destination – Dehang 德夯.
At the bus terminal where I got off, there wasn’t any way to Dehang. There were faraway destinations available but not Dehang. It seems I was in a long distance bus station. Dehang is deemed too near to be here. The people at the bus station gave me instructions on where to get the bus apparently, it was near the train station. I took a short taxi ride to the train station and there was the bus stand.
There was no bus station, there bus was just parked beside the train station waiting for passengers. This time there will not be any tourists since even locals. It seems like this destination is not really that well publicized, which is good.
I had a quick snack before our bus left, the trip only too less than an hour from the city of Jishou, which was amazing. To think that such lush greenery can be had less than an hour away from a major city. As the limestone mountains of Dehang loom into view, we had to stop at the entrance for tourists (me) to pay the entrance fee. Too bad, I thought I would be able to get away with it. The bus took us all the way to the village square where people from the inns were waiting for passengers.
One particular lady motioned me over and asked whether I need a place to stay. I nodded and she proceeded to lead me back the path where the bus came from and across a small bridge away from the square. This lady was wearing traditional Miao 苗 attire and apparently she wears it quite often as I would find out in the next few days. We finally arrived at her place which was a simple two or three storey building with rooms.
It was a simple house but it was still okay. Her family lives there, and obviously they rent the rooms out for additional income. My room was on the second floor overlooking a small creek behind the building. I thought it was nice to hear the sound of natural running water from your room. There was no aircon but it didn’t need one since it was still quite chilly. There was TV too. There was a toilet attached to the room but no shower. For that I would have to go downstairs to use the family shower room. They had a water heater in the shower, but it takes a little figuring out. Also, you’d have to share the shower room with the washing machine, but I didn’t really mind all these.
The bed was nice and clean, so was the room. But as I found out, the room cannot be closed at all! The lady said that it should not be a problem since they are always there anyway. I guess so. I was in the provinces and usually theft isn’t really a problem here. At least I could close the door a little bit. There were a few Chinese tourists in the house but I didn’t really mind.
Probably the best part of this is the price, I got the place for only RMB30! I could probably stay here a couple of days and save enough to be able to splurge a little on the final days of my trip. Despite this place being a simple as it is, I still liked it. The family is very nice and helpful, if you can speak Chinese I sure they will be a great help to you.
I didn’t get the name of the place though. To get to the inn, turn back to the way the bus came from before crossing the main bridge turn left then turn right at the small bridge there. Head on straight through the small cluster of buildings and go through a small gate on the left, keep walking until you hit the house that is just beside the creek. If you can’t find it, the lady of the house will find you the moment you get there.
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