To Zhangjiajie

We arrived in Changsha yesterday afternoon and checked in to the Mellow Orange hotel. No one at reception spoke English but they had our reservation. Our room was the biggest and, so far, cheapest of the trip. It had the first minibar offering condoms we had ever seen.

We went for supper to a place recommended by a guide book, Fire Palace, where the ordering process resembles dim sum - carts are brought by the table and you point (in our case) to what you want. The food was indeed fiery; even the snow peas and broccoli had chilis on them.

Then we took the subway to the old part of town, which is a shopping area. The photo is of an alley off the shopping street. We went back to the hotel early. At one point Laurie asked me if I had dropped a business card near the door. No, but someone had slid a card under the door. It advertised call girls. Two more cards appeared ten minutes later. Proof positive that ours was not a hotel aimed at foreign tourists.

Now we're on the train to Zhangjiajie City, where we will get a bus to the village at the park entrance. This is our first time on a regular train in China. Not bad, but the fast trains are much better.