Dehang and Fenghuang...

Tucked away in central Hunan province are two of the most beautiful places I have ever been to: Dehang and Fegnhuang. They are only about 100km apart, and yet are attractive for entirely different reasons. Dehang is a peaceful, relatively unknown hamlet folded into a verdant valley beneath massive towering karst peaks. A handful of traditional inns give way to narrow rice paddies lining bubbling rivers leading into some of the most picturesque mountains in the world. Fenghuang, though also a traditional river town, is a heaving mass of tourists and multi-storey wooden buildings leaning over the river. At night the neon lights strung along the rebuilt city wall are reflected in the perfect river, illuminating the merrygoers happily tripping over the stepping stones.

It's best if you see for yourself:

The sun begins to set, the town starts to get in gear.

Public works projects are ubiquitous across China. This half-completed suspension bridge was one of the more impressive ones.

These buildings might be reconstructed, but they sure do have character.

Yours truly, employing the timer on a wobbly basket method of self-photography.

Pity the air was so murky, but still: *jaw-drop*

Chinese tourist season happened to coincide with my visit to Fenghuang.

This is pretty much 50% of the town of Dehang.

Halloween in Fenghuang must be disturbing.

Dehang again...

View from my inn.

Another view from my inn...

The simplest menu in town...

The lights start to come on in Fenghuang

I miss Chinese food from China.

I ran past these kids, and they decided it would be a fun game to try and chase me up the valley. They were fast! 

In China, at least in smaller places, when you order rice, you really get all you can eat.

I followed a scrambling route up a river valley from Dehang. Near the top I had to climb this thing.

So, as you can tell, I gave up captioning these a while back. The only utterances I could think to write down were variances on "OMG, so beautiful" and "gasp!". I didn't want to seem to imbecilic, so I refrained. Seriously though, wow.