Friday, October 19, 2012

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!

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