After descending the mountain we made the hour drive to Huangshan City, the biggest city of the region. It is also the transportation hub for the area with both train station and airport for people wanting to get to the Yellow Mountains.
With no hotel problems like the night before, we checked in and found some dinner. That night I think we all slept quite soundly except for the random call around midnight offering additional services.
The next morning we ventured to the nearby ancient street that is now basically the tourist nucleus of Huangshan City. It is a long narrow street with lots of souvenir shops and restaurants all in cool looking old buildings. It doesn’t quite match up to West Street in Yangshuo and about fifty percent of the shops are calligraphy supplies, mostly ink stones.
The other downside to this market was the vendors who didn’t seem to want to haggle with us as much as in other places. I still think the best market in the country is in Nanjing.
I did find a shop with some of the coolest Chinese-style paintings I’ve seen, done with a modern twist. I couldn’t afford anything other than a couple of catalogs of his work.
Although I wasn’t enchanted by the market or hotel in Tunxi, I really liked the city. It is one of those cities I just felt comfortable in. I felt it wasn’t too big or too small and didn’t feel fake. I even said to myself that I could live there.
This city is about equidistant from both Hefei and Nanjing which is why most visitors to Huangshan come directly from Nanjing or Shanghai and miss Anhui’s capitol all together.
The trip came to an end with the drive home to Hefei. Overall, it was a good trip mostly because of the people I was with. I had some great experiences and some terrible ones I hope never to repeat. I can’t wait for my next adventure. Until then, hope you have fun on your own adventures.
