Huangshan City (10/19,21/2012)

Friday, October 19, 2012
I kidnapped Kent from work so that we could take an afternoon flight to Huangshan/Yellow Mountains in Anhui Province of China. We arrived a half hour late at 16:00, were met by our China Highlights guide, Jerry, and had a driver take us the 4 km/2.5 miles to the hotel in Huangshan City, an incorporation of Tunxi and a couple other small towns.
After check-in at the Huangshan International Hotel, we were on our own.
This was the largest room and the largest beds we have had in China:

The bathroom had a picture window view of the beds, or vice versa:

Fancy furniture and a valet stand:

The hotel had its own garden with bridges, rockery, pond, etc.:

Across the street were some topiary trees:

And next door was the Christ Church:

The Xin'an River:

With fisherman:

Washerwoman:

Boats:

Garden plots:

Daizhen Park, a "joint army-civilian garden:"

We visited the Tunxi Lao Jie/Old Street:

The street is lined with two-story buildings of the Huizhou-style, many exhibiting intricate carved wood decorations:

KSS

Some of it painted or gilded:

KSS

Some of it worn and weary:

The Anhui Province is also known for what they call brick carving:

The brick is the gray decoration above windows and doors:

We also noted black paintings and designs on the whitewashed walls:

The Wancuilou Museum:

Tongderen, the old pharmacy:

And the smoking pharmacist:

The shops were full of products for which the Province is known, such as wood and root carvings:

Stone carvings:

And bamboo carvings:

Popular with tourists are the wooden frogs:

When you rub the stick across the knobby backs, it sounds like a frog croaking.
They also have animal horn "carvings:"

Other well-known products are for calligraphy:

Including Anhui ink sticks:

And Shexian carved stone ink stones:

Talk about long queues! (This time we mean the single braid of hair:)

There were also gummy candies:

Pepper cookies:

Hot pepper products:

And tea; Anhui Province produces Keemun tea (black) and Tunxi/Mao Feng tea (green):

Some fun shops:

We had dinner at the Lao Jie Diyilou Restaurant:

You take a clipboard and write the numbers of the dishes you would like, having browsed a couple counters like this one:

You are given a table number, and then wait for the food to be prepared and brought to you:

We had some edible tree fungi:

KSS

A stew with pork meatballs and meat-filled egg dumplings:

KSS

And some crispy potato "chips" with scallions and hot peppers:

KSS

The street was lighted for the evening, including the decorative archway:

And our restaurant:

The opposite river bank with lasers circling from a hilltop:

The old pedestrian bridge from both sides:

The Yingbin Bridge:

We returned to the hotel.

On Sunday we were dropped off on Tunxi Lao Jie/Old Street for three hours to kill time before going to the airport. We were able to take a few more photos with more daylight, but spent most of the time nursing drinks and eating a light dinner of Huizhou Rice (with eggs and veggies) and Curry Chicken Rice.
We saw girls playing Chinese jump rope!