Author¡¯s Note:

This travelog is dedicated to my two travel companions: Mischievous Xiao Zhou and agile A Niu. In harmony with each other, our weekend had turned out to be so graceful and lively. Laughter was resounding and even the cloudy Phoenix Town turned out fine for our delight.

Part¢ñ

At 5:20, on the train from Zhuzhou to Jishou, I got up, brushed my teeth and sat by the window, waiting for the train to stop at the destination.

Considerate Xiaozhou always took good care of me and A Niu. For example, she always promised to guard the luggage for us when we washed our faces or went to the toilet in the early morning so that she had to wash herself in a minute before the train stopped at our destination. That meant she would probably have to jump onto the platform directly out of the window of the train. Another example is that throughout the journey, without any complaint, she carried all of our vitamin supplements: perhaps seven apples and five peaches. As a result, in the following two days, she always urged us to eat the fruit in time, so that she would carry a lighter burden. What a good person! (Duomo Hao di Ren Na!)

Jishou Station was rather clean. In the early morning, A Niu rushed forward dragging the luggage. Xiao Zhou called her back in time, to buy the return ticket in advance. Then we got onto the bus to Phoenix Town.

It was not very far, about 50 km to Phoenix Town. The bus bumped and bumped, and I had to keep wide-awake. This rather annoyed me.

The bus stopped suddenly when Phoenix Town came into view. A queer-looking woman got on the bus. She had bobbing curls, and her glasses were as thick as the bottom of two beer bottles. Her teeth stick out. I imagined her as a woman bandit or the head of a gang, who had constantly been appearing in a Chinese TV show named Struggles with the Wulong Mountain Bandits. I always watched it when I was a little girl. It was nothing much, however, because we were in Xiangxi! (Xiangxi means west Hunan. Before liberation of China in 1949, there were many bandits hidden in this area.)

The woman took a glance at all the passengers on the bus, and then looked into my eyes. (What a shame? Glory? To be chosen by this kind of figure? That was all because I was dressed so well, so luxuriously, and so fashionably. People wearing good clothes always draw attention! No wonder!)

She spoke to us in Putonghua but with great difficulty. I thought it was because her teeth stick out. Anyhow, she blurted out a few questions, asking us very urgently if we needed to find lodging. And then she showed her graceful tourist guide card to us.

Soon we decided to get off the bus at the South Gate and follow her.

Of course Xiao Zhou and A Niu were following me. And there was a new girl as well. I did not know her name, though. She sat to my right on the bus, traveling all alone, so I chatted with her and decided to bring her along.

We followed the woman¡¯s pace while A Niu walked at the end of the team dragging the luggage. She led us down Xin Bridge across Tuo River till we reached the ancient city wall. The bridge was built to give a view over the beauty of Phoenix Town and Tuo River. So inevitably we screamed aloud excitedly on it.

The house of the woman was built along the old city walls. She suggested we live in her house, but that did not suit our ideal for traveling---How could we agree to live in a house with no view of Tuo River when we push the window open?!

So we went on, reaching a range of inns close to the North Gate. The inns were all built on stilts along Tuo River. Then my friend sent me a cell phone message stressing that lodging at Hongqiao would be the best choice. That was true. Even before I traveled to Phoenix Town I knew the most famous inns in Phoenix Town should be Aunt Bao¡¯s (Bao Daniang Jia) and Cuicui Inn. However, this time we were not planning to live in such inns. Our sole goal was to find a house on stilts. So we visited many inns with Xiao Zhou. At last, to our pleasure, the woman took us to a two-storied attic. It was built with wood, and the woman told us that the landlady of this inn was her neighbor. First we looked around the Quad Room; Tuo River was right out of the window - a landscape of liveliness. When the landlady heard we wanted a room with a balcony, she did her best to recommend the attic.

Xiao Zhou and I observed the terrace of the attic. It was really fine. The water of Tuo River was flowing tranquilly underneath the terrace. It would be a good place for us to rest on sunny days or gaze the hours away. It was quite an elegant attic. The only disadvantage of this lodging was that this twin room was suitable for a couple on honeymoon, but we were a team of four people, so Xiao Zhou and I held a meeting on the terrace, to discuss this important issue.

Firstly, A Niu had dragged the luggage for a long time. Secondly, Xiao Zhou and I had grown rather tired of walking. Thirdly, the room cost just Y100 for all four of us to lodge in. For the above reasons, Xiao Zhou and I made a quick decision that we should settle down right here.

That woman pointed us in the right directions and found us lodgings, and asked no charge for all of these services. In fact she was intended to earn the car rental fees, if we ever needed to travel to the surrounding areas of Phoenix. To quote her words, if we did so, that equaled to taking good care of her business. Of course there was no problem! However, ever since we set out, we had decided to stay till ¡°rusted¡± in Phoenix Town.

Part¢ò

Coincidentally, it was the day of the Dragon Boat Festival when we arrived at Phoenix Town. The Dragon Boat Festival was in memory of a famous historical figure called Quyuan. It was two thousand years ago, when the poet Quyuan tied a great stone onto his body and then leaped into the river. People ate glutinous rice balls (Zongzi) by the river, so that the fish would eat the rice instead of biting Quyuan¡¯s corpse. Chinese people have been remembered him in this way for two thousand years. However, throughout Chinese history, people rarely remember a person in the Warring States Period with a festival for thousands of years, and let it be.

As for this special festival, my friend asked me two questions: First, what were the long leaves people around us were holding? It seemed that they were not Zongzi leaves at all. The leaves were called Aiye Leaves. People hang these kind of leaves in the doorway to drive off insects. Second, did Quyuan ever leap into Tuo River? Definitely not, the river Quyuan leaped into was called Miluo River. It had nothing to do with Tuo River at all!

Apart from eating Zongzi, it was universally known that people should have a Dragon Boat Race in celebration of this festival. By Tuo River, a Dragon Boat Race was going to be held----We had visited here in the best season! What a grand ceremony! All the people in town were gathered. Even the government of Jishou city had organized a team to join this race.

It was so bustling. In the guestroom we heard that both banks of the river were already packed with a great number of spectators. The landlady said layers and layers of people were standing closely to each other in two or three circles, waiting for the Dragon Boat Race to start. We heard feebly the sound of gongs and drums. After a short rest, we composed ourselves, asked for orientation and then rushed out directly to Hongqiao. It was about 11 o¡¯clock in the morning.

There were altogether four bridges in Phoenix Town, all crossing Tuo River. They were called New Bridge (Xinqiao), Leaper¡¯s Rocks (Tiaoyan), Wooden Bridge (Muqiao) and Rainbow Bridge (Hongqiao). Leaper¡¯s Rocks consisted of two groups of paralyzing stone piers, each of them one inch high, and fixed into the water. It was constructed for people who crossed Tuo River in both directions. Each stone pier was fixed a certain distance off another. People should cross these stone piers step by step, looking as if they were jumping across the river. So it is called Leaper¡¯s Rocks.

However, local people tend to prefer the Wooden Bridge built close to Leaper¡¯s Rocks. People fastened many pieces of wood together and stick them into the river to make the bridge piers. This wooden bridge, built high over the river, required even more courage when stepping onto it. In fact it was only a little wider than a person¡¯s shoulders, and there was nothing to hold onto. Suppose that two persons meet on the Wooden Bridge. In this case one of them must stand aside and let the other person pass first. And if an old local folk were passing the bridge carrying loads several times larger than his own body, it was likely that the person in the opposite direction would be squeezed off the bridge.

Rainbow Bridge was a symbol architecture of Phoenix Town. It was built across Tuo River, sheltering the pedestrians from wind and rain. The bridge looked fairly spectacular. To put it more specifically, it looked as if a city gate was built across the river.

Hongqiao was the only way to watch the Dragon Boat Race. At our arrival the bridge was already packed densely, so that we had to cross the bridge with great difficulty. We could never take a closer look at the bridge, about how it looked in detail.

There was no standing room for us on the bridge at all. The best positions for viewing the race were occupied as early as possible. A Niu was tall, so she could see something in the distance if she stood on tiptoe. However, I could never see anything even if I stretched my neck and jumped instantly. So A Niu suggested us to rest in a hostel/bar by the riverbank. Maybe in this way we could see the dragon boats through the window. So we turned to walk along the riverbank.

Phoenix Town was a small town built along the banks of Tuo River. It grew world famous because Shen Congwen, a famous Chinese writer with his hometown in Phoenix, had written a novel describing this place. So the little town became a sacred place for contemporary people to explore its culture.

The path of flagstones was still very crooked, but the writer lived no more in his birth place, but somewhere in the hidden miseries of heaven. I wondered when the remote, peaceful town in the book would revive. I was afraid there were so many people traveling here that we had to walk past everything in a fast pace. Shall we slow down and linger along it?

Stepping upstairs, we knocked at a few houses. No one allowed us to enter his/her house because they said the number of people they were receiving had already exceeded the government¡¯s permission. The doorways extending to the riverbank were filled endlessly with a great stream of people. Hands in hands we squeezed our way through the crowd. Sometimes our hands were loosened and we were pushed astray. More and more people were rushing out and another group were pushing in¡­

At this very moment¡­

¡°Stay away£¡Stay away£¡We are carrying boiled water! Take Notice! Boiled Water!¡±

A commending roar was resounding. Unconsciously, people drew apart. (That meant people had great potential to shrink and extend their bodies). I looked back to see a group of men in uniforms carrying two great barrels. There was rice in one barrel and soup in the other. HAHA! I realized that they were sending lunch to the team members of the Dragon Boat Race. Ok, it was our greatest chance, too! So I followed them through the crowd. Xiao Zhou was so very clever, too. We looked each other in the eye. What a meaningful look! Without saying anything, we followed the team very closely, till Tuo River was surging beneath----

The Dragon Boat Race would be held at the lower reaches of Hongqiao. Two or three dragon boats were floating on the water surface, rowed very sluggishly to and fro. No one knew exactly when the race was ever going to begin. Spectators packed both sides of Tuo River. I never knew where they all popped up from. Many people stood in the water because there was no room on the land. Some children sat at the bank. Water splashed up as the little feet kicked up and down. More children were seated on the steps of the dam, or climbed onto the columns of back yards and rooftops, waiting for the performance to begin very high spiritedly. Xiaozhou and I found a bank to stand on. A Niu arrived seconds later, too. But the other girl was lost.

Thus we waited for the Dragon Boat Race to start. Fifteen minutes had passed. Someone was shouting through the loudspeaker asking the team members to register. Half an hour had passed. Several dragon boats were sailing past us slowly, getting some slight cheers. The village folk were clapping occasionally.

We became high-spirited, as if the players were ready, and the Dragon Boat Race was to start at once¡­but three quarters of an hour had passed. Someone was still shouting through the loudspeaker. At this moment, I got hungry. Obviously, it was not easy to solve this problem. I looked around, hoping to get some inspiration. However, I looked left and then right, only to see waves and waves of people¡¯s heads.

There was a concrete wall behind us. It was perhaps the base of someone¡¯s house, or else the dam. Anyway it was as high as one person, so that we would not be able to climb over it. The backyard of a local house was right inside the wall. So we shouted to the wall, inquiring if the people in the yard would have any food to sell to us. Later on, getting no response, I asked the children spectators to ask if they had any Zongzi. As a result, a woman came out lifting a great plastic bag of Zongzi, bent down and passed it to us across the wall. I asked her how much the Zongzi were and a child shouted out ¡°Ten yuan for one Zongzi¡±. So I responded with a smiling face: ¡°What a shame you treat me so cruelly!¡± At last the woman said all the food was free. How cheerful! Every time I left home and traveled to a strange place, I would come across good people who helped me without asking anything from me. You see, you see, how good people in Phoenix Town were! She gave Zongzi to us for free, six! We had been very very hungry, so each of us swallowed one very quickly. It was so delicious. We left one for the girl. The children sitting overhead were watching us with watering mouths. I asked them if they wanted to eat Zongzi, and they nodded very steadily, so I gave the other two Zongzi to them.

At last we heard vaguely that the race would be postponed till the afternoon. What a shame for all the spectators!

We had lunch in Aunt Bao¡¯s. Though we were not noble people, we intended to see how the famous figure Bao Daniang (Aunt Bao) looked. So we choose a restaurant that had something to do with her. The sour and chili fish was delicious. We ate it till our bellies were swelling, and there was still much fish meat left in the pot.

Opposite her restaurant there were a pair of stone statues of earth god and goddess (Underground spirit in Chinese myths, who lives in the earth of a town and pops up once it is called upon). Both the god and goddess looked lovely and plump. A Niu excitedly asked us to take photos for her. By the plump face of the goddess A Niu looked more lovely and delicate.

On our way back, we passed Soul Cafe, a famous cafe in Phoenix Town. It was opening its wooden gate to receive the newest guests of the day. Imagine it! What a good time it would be, to sit by the river in a stilted wooden house, sip some coffee, while digesting our lunch.

So we walked in and leaned by the window. Raising our heads we saw Hongqiao and Tuo River beneath it. Then in the dim light we started to observe curiously the cafe and its boss. The cafe was a two-storied wooden house on stilts. A reception desk was by the window. In the doorway there was a computer, some books and DVDs in random order. The space was narrow, only allowing room for four little square wooden tables painted black. The boss was named Jeff, a Guangzhou fellow who spoke with a Beijing accent. He was bald headed, bearded and sounded a little timid. One of his friends was playing with a camera in the corner of the room, looking really very professional. Evidently they were both Guangdongese, but they never spoke to each other in Putonghua.

In fact, the fame of Soul Cafe, besides the unique boss, was largely attributed to the homemade coffee and cheesecakes. The coffee overflowed with fragrance while the cheesecakes were fine, creamy and smooth. My friend¡¯s recommendations would be Mocha, Cappuccino and a frozen drink. So each of us chose a cup of black coffee, a cup of Mocha, a cup of Cappuccino and of course the most lovely cheesecakes.

Nearly for a whole afternoon we were ¡°rusted¡± in soul, drenched in sluggish sunshine, as well as in lazy jazz, and too happy to know how time was flowing. During this time, A Niu asked us to act as the famous detective ¡°Kenan¡± dealing with two unsolved murder cases. As for that professional photographer, he promised to take a photo for us, unwillingly though, and then began to play with our camera. By accident he pressed the button unconsciously, taking a photo of professional standard for all of us. Jeff, somewhat timid, had been answering our curious questions with lowered head. Anyhow, he kept refusing to speak in Cantonese. A reserved man he was.

Walking out of Soul Cafe, we stepped into a shop selling jewelry. This shop was in fact a bar. The boss had established a corner selling decorations from Nepal. A Niu, on seeing the dazzling things, rushed to them and began to choose various kinds of earrings very excitedly. She had had her ears pierced recently. As early as she was in Zhuzhou, she had bought two pearl earrings. Now the earrings were so dazzling! What a feast for the eyes! Every pair of earrings looked so attractive. At last, this skillful bargainer got her favorite things for a very satisfactory price: she got two pairs of exotic style earrings and a shining golden colored necklace. And she had made good friends with a person from Hainan. I discovered that A Niu was really very skillful when bargaining. I really admired her very much. At least I had learnt two methods of bargaining from her: I could tell the boss I was still a student who didn¡¯t learn a single penny at all, so they would pity me and lower the price at once; or I would promise to ¡°take good care of the folk¡¯s business¡±, so that the people were so touched that he/she might offer a great discount tearfully.

And we were amazed to discover that the boss, a tall and thin fellow nick-named Long Yellow Hair, was just one of the people who conversed with Jeff in Soul Cafe. Later on we learnt he was really somebody in Phoenix. His big photos were posted on the notice board of quite a few cafes/bars in town, his big head and protruding cheekbones being the spotlight of these places. Someone pointed at the pictures and told us very seriously, xx bar belonged to him in the past, now xx bar was his, xxx was his ex-girlfriend, and then changed to someone else.

Wandering in a good mood, we arrived at Xincheng. Several times I sat down right on the ground, sticking out my feet and chewing pickled radishes bought from the roadside stand. We three also climbed onto the high stairs, overlooking the whole town from Chenghuang Temple and making great comments. From time to time A Niu posed coolly and I took photos for her. We had made a decision ever since we arrived at Phoenix Town: We would never visit any official attraction that asked for any entrance fee from us.

We seldom remembered the girl we had lost till I gave a sudden scream. Ever since we had passed the crowd of spectators we had been wandering for hours regardless of the girl¡¯s disappearance. We were even ignorant of her name or cell phone number. What was more, we had left our valuables in our room for too long a time. In great regret and fears we rushed back to the inn.

The landlady said the little girl had returned to the inn once, and she went out again because she did not find us here. When the landlady unlocked the door, we were again at ease. The luggage and valuables were still laid out in disorder on the large bed. And there was a strip of paper left by the girl, telling her name, where she had left for, and her cell phone number. To our delight, she had returned to the inn when we were talking about her. She was a student from Yunnan travelling all alone to Phoenix Town. However, she had been to many other places of China and this was her last destination. After visiting Phoenix she would return to Kunming. What a brave and considerate girl! We liked her very much and we didn¡¯t ignore her for the remaining part of our journey.

Part ¢ó

Walking along the old city walls, we sorted out many other delicate things. What a great achievement! We had bought everything and our desire for shopping was greatly satisfied. To quote A Niu¡¯s Ad. Slogan: ¡°EVERYONE CAN BUY WHAT HE/SHE WANTS TO BUY JUST IN PHOENIX TOWN.¡±

It started drizzling but we kept shopping in utmost joy. In the neighboring room of The Relics of Old Phoenix Town Government there was a shop selling local delicacies. Someone was stirring the golden and sticky syrup with a wooden stick as the liquid was bubbling, sending out steam and a strong flavor. I said to the boss: ¡°How wonderful if I could pack up the fragrance in a little container and take it home!¡± However, fragrance could never be packed. How could the solidified crystal object send out so thick fragrance! So many things, once passed, would be gone forever, with only the present memories remaining.

When my friends were selecting silver ornaments, I sat beside a path listening to an old man blowing a Calabash Flute (Hulu Si, a Chinese calabash shaped musical instrument) at the opposite end of the road. This instrument was regarded as the simplest one to play. The holes were ranged from the top to the bottom representing different notes. It was a calabash that would make a beautiful sound as long as it was blown by a player with dancing fingers. How I wished I could feel happiness forever from this piece of music!

We had dinner in a famous restaurant. The tables were laid by the Tuo River. While having dinner, we enjoyed the cool summer wind and the beauty of the river.

At this moment, the red lamps were lit, sparkling in Hongqiao, shining on Tuo River and lighting Phoenix Town. My heart fluttered with the wind. The evening of Phoenix town was so enchanting! ----At the riverbank a group of children were wandering and selling Secret Wishes Lamps. The lamps were made of folded paper, costing only a few Jiao each. We bought some lamps and displayed them on the water. The waves sent them lightly floating into the water---the starry lotus lamps wavering in the ripples, loading our sincere wishes, to float afar, mingling into the colored shadows of Hongqiao.

My heart was softening little by little as the ripples folded. Looking in the remoteness, the surface of the river seemed as if burning, and the ripples were flashing. Tears were sparkling in my eyes. I could not express how deeply I was touched, but kept repeating to my companions, beautiful, beautiful Phoenix Town, I will come to you again.¡±

Deeply impressed, I stared at the Lotus Lamps floating afar. The night, like a considerate fairy, was carefully hiding the sparks in my eyes. I knew at that moment the lotus in my mind was opening.

Then we returned to Soul Cafe, a little intoxicated in our journeys. We took photos with Jeff. A Niu loved collecting photos of China in the 1980s. First she stood in front of Liberty Shop (Jiefang Zonghe Shangdian). Then she chose to take a photo very intimately with an old tricycle. Of course, how should such a fan ignore the chance of taking photos with a living person, and so also with Jeff!

On Sunday morning, while the other two girls were still asleep, I got up to take photos of Phoenix Town covered in mist. However, I did not see any mist at all. In the tranquil town I had a conversation with a woman washing clothes by the riverbank. She said she had been beating wet clothes with the wooden stick in her hand for more than ten years. Then she added to ask me if I needed to buy her wooden stick. My God! People said the woman washing clothes by Tuo River formed a beautiful landscape, anyhow I slipped from this woman very quickly, nearly falling in horror!

Then I tried to cross the Wooden Bridge, but withdrew even before I reached the middle of it. So I decided to go and find a breakfast stand.

When I passed the town gate, I saw two old men seated in the gate hole. One was playing an auto fiddle while the other was playing a moon lute (Yueqin). High spirited and concentrated in music, the two men matched each other perfectly. I sat listening with keen interest and great attention. They played traditional compositions and then popular music fluently. The lovely old men were just amusing themselves, ignoring the world around them.

I asked a girl looking like a student: ¡°Do they come here and play some pieces of music everyday?¡± She said yes, and every weekend she would travel here from Xincheng just for their amazing performance.

Some minutes later, I left for a breakfast stand, packed some food and then returned to my inn.

Shopping, chatting in bars, taking photos¡­

These were our main plans for the new day. Of course, ¡°Soul¡± was still our Soul. We three had fallen in love with the four tables of soul cafe.

In the afternoon, after scanning every corner of Phoenix Town, and discovering nothing new, we started our way back home. And we said goodbye to the girl, who altered her direction to Kunming.

We arrived at Jishou Station at 6 o¡¯clock in the afternoon. The great Ad. Slogan was hung in midair: ¡°The old town of Phoenix has waited for you for a thousand years.¡± What an touching sentence! And we heard that the tickets were sold out. Very luckily we had bought the return tickets in advance.

We arrived at Zhuzhou at four o¡¯clock in the morning.

This is my travelog to Phoenix Town. It records fully and plainly my travels. Every time I read it, I revisit the town in my mind¡¯s eye.

FROM:ctrip.com