Sunday, February 22, 2009

Long wknd in Changsha?

mmmmm... Hunan dishes...

A friend of mine and I are planning a spontaneous, weekend escape to Changsha in Hunan. I have been wanting to go to Hunan for ages, mainly because of all the yummy/spicy food… I have read that Changsha city is nothing special, but we weren’t thinking about spending too much time in the city, but rather just having the city as our base point and doing some day trips to near-by attraction such as the Yuelu landscapes…

Unfortunately we don’t have time to travel further into Hunan (this time) because we were only going to be away for 3-4 days.

I am still thinking that it could be nice with a change of scene. What do you guys reckon –has anyone who’s been to Changsha any travel tips? I am not a huge sightseeing bug, but maybe there’s something that would be nice to see? (how are the Yule landscapes –anyone?) Chatting to locals is probably what I enjoy the most, so if we end up going, that will be a big part of the trip.

16 comments:

Dunkelziffer said...

sofa...(I had to write this)

Zhefeng said...

Who said that Changsha has nothing special?!

heyjulia said...

Fantastic.I asked a friend--a Hunan girl if she has some places to recommend,she said the "长沙臭豆腐"is quite famous:),also the "米粉",and the "岳鹭书院",she suggests that you could chat with the local people and you'll have a harvest of fine places and snack spots:)

Jason said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason said...

Wow you will come to changsha?- Good choice!
I'm a changshaness!haha So I want tell you that changsha is one of the most exciting city in China, it's always with passion.
And the most famous things in changsha is food and bar.
So if you like bar you will like changsha!
I recommend 火宫殿 to you because you can find half of the famous food in that place.
And for the bar you can go to 酒吧一条街.If you can't find this place just ask,I think everyone in Changsha can tell you.

Steph said...

I recommend the Hunan Provincial Museum, especially the 2100-year-old-lady. The museum is free, but remember to take your passport to get your entry ticket. You can also go to the actual place where they found the tombs, which is in one of the suburbs of Changsha, though it was a bit tricky to find the place. If you're interested, I can give you more information.

Jonna Wibelius said...

Zhefeng -I read it in a guide book... I think the point the book was trying to make is that Changsha is not at beautiful as the country side in Hunan...

Jason & Chunhua -thanks for the tips!! I already read about the food street and that is on top of my 'places to go' list... yum!

Steph -I'd love some more info? Do u mind emailing me? ( jonnawib at yahoo.se)

Anonymous said...

I like your writting--simple and good.It's the good reading paper for English learners.

wvivi

Diane said...

Swedish, English, Chinese . . . And now you're speaking my language - pictures of food. I think you have a communication gift! and I'm beginning to get hungry when I log on.

Also, I was waiting for someone to say 'sofa' again. It's like shoptalk and kind of a little game within.
I like your new profile photo, by the way. And I always enjoy your writing.

pilgrimchick said...

Sounds like fun--and hopefully delicious.

Brad Farless said...

Interesting... I'm taking an 8 day trip to the Philippines starting Wednesday. Asia is fun... so easy to travel from place to place and see things that are completely different. You can ride a plane for six hours in the US, step out and look around and see the same basic scenery you just left behind.

Jonna, I miss your old profile picture. It looked more... vibrant and natural.

Jonna Wibelius said...

Diane -haha, I am such a food junkie :) Glad to hear I'm not the only one.

Brad -mmmm gotta love travelling in Asia! Only problems is that there are too many places to go to, and not enough time. But better to start somewhere... Enjoy the Philippines! (and as for the new pic.. gotta change things up at time. New pic will be up in some months.. I'll aim for something more 'vibrant' then... :) )

wivivi -yup, I'm no English language expert...

Anonymous said...

OH, I love your new picture too. I don't think it's better than the old one, just different -- in a nice way, of course.

Though, as you say, you are not an "English language expert" (at least, not yet), I think your English writing skills are really improving as the months go on. They were already good when I started reading your blog, but now they are even better. Really, it's quite noticeable. Well done! Good for you!

Perhaps there is something in Changsha about the hoot-owl that came to visit Jia Yi (though apparently not bearing a letter from Hogwarts)? Anyway, even if there isn't, the food is certainly reason enough for a visit. I wish I could join you. I LOVE Hunan food. :)

Jonna Wibelius said...

Flyingfish -thank you, you are always so nice to me. I took one of yours 'what would u like for 2009' advices into consideration and spent some more time on editing/polishing my texts and apparently that has paid off, which is great to hear :) Still got a lot to learn, however, that's the whole idea with writing :) And I've never enjoyed it as much as I do now! (I wish I could feel the same way about writing in Chinese but... ehum.. nope. Not quite there yet)

Yeah Hunan food is a good reason itself to go to Hunan!

Brad Farless said...

Jonna, you're definitely right. There's so much to see in Asia that I'm afraid I'll never get to see it all. ^_^ So... that's something great about the internet. You can experience a place without ever having been there. Like, with your blog about China!

Little Tiger said...

I didn't think Changsha was anything spectacular. While we were there we found a great Xinjiang restaurant, so we kept going back there.

It was only when we left that we found out Hunan food was so famous! Typical!!