Yichang
Our 3night/4 day Yangtze River Cruise ended in Yichang. The cruise arranged for all its passengers to be transferred to Three Gorges Visitor Center (三峡游客中心) in the heart of Yichang. Most visitors would proceed to the airport of the train station to get out of Yichang. We decided that since we “landed” in Yichang we might as well stayed a couple of days and explored some Yichang’s sights.
Our plan was to stay three nights in Yichang and this would give us two full days to explore . We had already picked two interesting attractions, one for each day. For the rest of today we planned to just checked into our hotel, rest and relax, have a good meal. At the visitor center we picked up our bags and walked up to the main street to e-hail a taxis to our hotel which was 9 km away.
Echarm Hotel was a local China Hotel Chain. The hotel and reception areas looked nice and modern.
Dinner in Yichang
Our first dinner in Yichang was near our hotel. We took a short walk and came to a hot plate restaurant place called 大圣烧烤. We ordered several items, dumpling, grilled mushroom, meat on skewers and dried cuttlefish. Food was very yummy and we enjoyed our dinner very much.
On the second evening at Yichang we went a “live fish restaurant” 一号渔港·宜昌肥鱼(东山店) for dinner. The restaurant was recommended by our “taxis” driver. The smallest live fish weight about 2kg and it was slaughtered and cooked in a claypot hot soup. The dinner was lovely and costed ¥580 which was quite pricey by China dinner standard.
On our third day in Yichang we ate our dinner in the restaurant near our hotel, Echarm Hotel. We had a long day at QingJiangFangShan Scenic and just wanted a relaxing dinner nearby. We had a vege dish, a tomato egg dish and a pork belly dish. The cost for the entire came up to ¥160.
Chexi Folk Custom Village
Day 2 in Yichang we visited “Three Gorges Sanxia waterfall( (三峡大瀑布) also known as “白果树瀑布”. Unfortunately upon arrival we found the entrance gate to the scenic site CLOSED. We had bought our entrance tickets on Trip.com many months ago and on the tickets we had to select the date of entry which was this very day. So why was the site closed and it was closed for “renovation” just one day before!
We made our complaints to Trip.com online platform immediately and surprisingly a customer service staff actually replied also immediately too. We were refunded the ticket cost and two ways taxis cost between the scenic site and our hotel. We were impressed with “Trip.com” with their professional handling of our situation.
Our taxis driver suggested an alternative tourist attraction Chexi Folk Custom Tourism Area, 车溪民俗旅游区. which was opened from 8.30am to 9.30pm. So from the CLOSED Three Gorges Sanxia Waterfall entrance we got the taxis driver to send us to Chexi Folk Custom Tourism Area.
Just at the entrance we bought our entrance tickets. We purchased discount tickets (50% off) which was for visitors 60 years old and above. The entry tickets could also be bought on Trip.com. and day trip from Yichang to Chexi Cultural Tourism Village was also available too. The day trip though costed a lot more included a two ways transfer.
In our case we had to make a pre-arrangement for our taxis-driver to pick us up and bring us back to our hotel after our visit as she told us that it would be “difficult” to e-hail a taxis from the village as most taxis did not move around this area.
CheXi Cultural Village, 车溪民俗风景区, was situated near the renowned Three Gorges in the southern town of Tucheng. It was named after its abundance of water wheels, 车溪. This locale was not only the hometown of the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan but also the hometown of Wang ZhaoJun, one of the China’s four beauties.
We enjoyed walking about in the village, the river, the waterwheels, the ancient/traditional house, the green hills and the valley were so scenic and tranquil. Some stores were set up demonstrating traditional trades and practices. In the afternoon the folks in the village put up a “show”. It was amazing to have a “deity” floating down with white mist trailing behind him.
Another interesting performance was a folk wedding. How we wished we could stay till the night to see the lighted scene of the village. But we did planned for such a long day out and we had already pre-arranged a pickup so it was time to leave.
mOUNTAIN VISIT
On day 3 in Yichang we visited Qingjiang Fangshan Scenic Area. We arranged for the same taxis driver that brought around the day before to bring us to Qingjiang Fangshan Scenic Area East Entrance and later to fetch us back to our hotel, the agreed two-way fare was ¥300, each way was about 65 km and about 1.5 hour journey. Though the fare was costly it would be more comfortable and “time saving” than public transport.
At the east entrance we went into the visitor center to pick up our entry tickets. We had already bought the entry online on Trip.com and for elderly (60 and above) each entry tickets was ¥65 per person. The staff told us that the trekking route would start from the east and end in the west. She advised us to buy a one way cable car ride which would bring us up to the mountain then trek westward till we reached the west entrance. Then we could board a scenic shuttle bus at the west entrance which would transfer us back to the east entrance. For the shuttle bus ride we also would need to buy the shuttle bus tickets.
Surprising there were no crowd at all. We walked into the cable car building and waited for a car to arrive. The cable car was a small cabin and since there were no other people we got the whole car to ourselves .For those that did not purchase the cable car ride had to walk all the way up. It was a nice trip up the mountain, very scenic and very peaceful. We understood that it would be about 6km to 7km walk to the west gate. The weather was great, there was no crowd and we had the whole day to explore.
The route was very interesting, many long stretches were just hugging the cliffs and some parts was fully “glassed” beneath our feet. It was fun and exciting “walking on air”. QingJiangFangShan Scenic Area ( 清江方山风景区) was a National 4A Level tourist attraction (5A was the highest rank). The scenic area covered a total area of 60 square kilometers. The entire area was located on the mysterious 30 degrees north latitude line. Surrounded and cut by the Wuling Mountains, it had formed a fairyland with peaks like forests and waterfalls all over the mountains.
When the sunlight penetrated into the gorge, the scenery took a change and the place had this surreal atmosphere. We loved wandering around this “fairy land”. It was stunning, it was cooling, it was serene, it was a lovely ethereal “world”,
We saw several “high rock stacks” which reminded us of the famous ZhangJiaJie (张家界). Qingjiang Fangshan Scenic Area turned up better than our expectation.
Another interesting attraction at Qingjiang Fangshan Scenic Area was the 3D Glass Corridor, it offered spectacular views of the river valley over 300 meters below. The truss structure had two spans supported by a central tower with a “two maidens standing back to back white statue”. To walk onto the glass bridge we had to purchase another ticket.
After the Glass Bridge it was another 3 km to the west entrance. It was a downhill walk, gradual and very scenic. We saw waterfalls along the way.
When we reached the west entrance we could take a tourist shuttle that would take us back to the east entrance to meet our driver. But on way to the west entrance we received t call from our taxis driver, she told us that she would meet us at the west entrance. So we did not return to the east entrance and ended up discarding our shuttle bus tickets which we had bought!
Our stay in Yichang
Our stay in Yichang was Echarm Hotel (Yichang Huoche Dongzhan) 宜尚酒店(宜昌火车东站店). We booked a “Smart Deluxe Double Bed Room (180 ° Panoramic View + Zero-Pressure Pillow + Smart Guest Control) with Breakfast. The room size was 40 square metre. The cost was ¥800 for three night stay. The hotel was in a good area with eating places nearby. Our room was big and clean with the attached toilet and shower were squeaky clean.
The hotel had a laundry room and a gym. The washer and dryer were LG commercial washers and dryers. With three nights stay in Echarm there would be plentiful of time to wash our clothes. We loved these commercial washer and dryer, they made laundry so easy and quick!
Breakfast in Echarm was very “Chinese’, which was fine with us.
Other accommodation in Yichang
