Even though Dehang was really cheap to stay at, I couldn’t stay there forever. The next day I check out of the inn and got on the bus back to Jishou City. At Jishou, I continued retracing my steps and got on a bus back to the ancient town of Fenghuang. I got back to Fenghuang at around noon time and I quickly headed to the ancient town area. I remember seeing the Fenghuang International Youth Hostel 凤凰国际青年旅社 which was part of the Hostelling International group which I was a card holder and I intended to stay there.
The hostel is right along the bend of the Tuo River 沱江. Although the inn itself is pretty inconspicuous, you’ll probably miss it a couple of times before finding it. There is a small flight of stairs which makes it not that obvious from the “ground level”. At least I remembered seeing the sign so I headed straight for it.
Fortunately for me, there was still room, I still couldn’t get a single room and the one they had for me was a double. I didn’t want to go for the dorm beds either, so I just took the double room. As usual, the standard of Hostelling International member inns are quite high so I expected nothing less than clean rooms, sheets and toilets.
Some of the walls in my room were under construction but there wasn’t any going on at that time. The room had windows that open up to an amazing view of the Tuo River and the ancient town. It is amazing that they managed to secure this wonderful location and even more amazing that I managed to land this room. It would be amazing to wake up to such a view. There is a pathway just outside my window to allow visitors to hang their clothes, so it would be wise to close the windows when the room is not in use.
It took a look at the rooms I didn’t take and was surprised to see this old style Chinese bed, I wasn’t sure whether it was available for guests to use but I thought it was pretty interesting. The dorms beds at the hostel were also okay. Then again, it was my first time to see dorm beds in China, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I just didn’t like the idea of sharing the room with people I do not know.
Downstairs, there is an internet station and they even have wifi. It seemed ironic to have all these modern technology in this town which is known for it’s ancient-ness. At the time, there were people downstairs but most of them were just surfing or reading books. I really wanted to go outside and start taking photos but I need to eat first. I’m sure Fenghuang would not have any shortage of that.
Address of the hostel, it is along the river near the East Gate of the Hong Bridge
11 Shawan, Tuojiang Town, Fenghuang County,
Xiangxi City, Hunan Province
湖南省 湘西市 凤凰县沱江镇沙湾11号（虹桥东关门旁）
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Wow! What a stunning view of the Tuo River from the hostel.
It certainly was. Seeing the view from the room clinched the deal for me. Though the laundry was a little distracting.