Underrated Hunan

Last Monday afternoon I left for a week long trip with CIEE to Hunan (western China). Without question, it was by far my favorite traveling experience in China. Hunan is southwest of Shanghai and has a landscape unlike anything I have ever seen. I was orignally hoping that we would go just a bit farther west to Sichuan, because it is famous for it terraced mountains, spicy food, and minorities (I've heard some say that real Tibetans really live there). Unfortunately or fortunately, Sichuan was too far away so we boarded a plane for Zhangjiajie, Hunan. （张家界 湖南）
We left for Hunan on Monday afternoon, and finally arrived at our hostel in Zhangjiajie city proper at about midnight. Approximately 60-70% of Chinese domestic flights leave and arrive on time. Because we wanted to travel away from Shanghai, we spent a bulk of the travel budget on plane tickets. Thus, we stayed in less than five star accommodations. The first hostel was great, it had hot water with adequate water pressure, but there were no mattresses on the beds.

Day Two
After waking up I went on a breakfast adventure. Our hostel, despite being in the middle of the city, lacked ordinary breakfast options. In Shanghai, if you were to walk outside at seven o clock in the morning you would find a host of various morning meal options, from sealed soup in a glass, to steam buns to sandwiches and croissants or Taiwan pancake or you tiao or sesame ball to noodle soup. In Zhangjiajie, there was nothing. Finally, at seven fifteen, one steam bun stand opened. During the breakfast quest I also learned that in rural and particularly western China, people rarely except coins. They have no faith in anything but paper money. I find this especially curious, because the paper small change is nothing but tiny bits of pulp, but the coins have weight, and thus, to me, a more tangible value as money. So you no someone has come from the city because they have change jostling around their pockets.
Next, we took a bus to our real destination, 张家界公园 Zhangjiajie National Park. Something rather wonderful about traveling in Hunan that I discovered, was people's enthusiasm and eagerness to help us out. In Shanghai, there is sort of a similar phenomenon, in that if you ask someone directions, they will provide some even if they themselves don't know (often times they guess wrong). In Hunan, everyone was ready to stand and wait for a bus with us, or in the case of our hostel boss in FengHuang, call the bus driver and tell him to look out for the six foriengers and the Canton girl.
After arriving in the small town outside the park, we checked into our new accommodations, which was more of a wonderful hotel than a hostel and evidently extremely cheap. There were normal beds (not bunks) with mattresses, a TV, lights, and a bathroom inside the room! (But it was squatty) Our hostel boss was one of the most wonderful people I have met thus far. She held our hands our entire trip. She knew everyone in town, and would call them before we went somewhere to alert them to our presence. She had every bus driver's route and cell number memorized (which is sort of amazing, because there are no set bus routes in Zhangjiaie) and would wait for the bus outside. She told us where to eat, called the restaurants about what we should order. I called her Hostel Mama.
Hostel Mama exemplified the attitude that I got from all of the residents of Zhangjiajie. Everyone seemed very relaxed and happy to be alive, a complete opposite to what I am used to in Shanghai. Everyone on the buses knew eachother, and would chat on their communtes to work. In Shanghai, no one even yields a smile. The police don't all have police cars, so when they boarded the bus they brought heavy wooden chairs to assert their authority, but still engaged in small talk with the rest of the community. I think that the Zhangjiajie personality is only helped by how cute and tiny the people are. About 90%+ (I think) of the population of ZJJ is Miao zu, one of China's 56 officially recognized and largest minority groups. The Miao zu look just like the Han, but speak Miao yu and are very small. My knees don't fit under there tables. I was considering getting a foot massage after two long days of hiking, and kind of wish that I would have, just to see the reaction to the size of my feet.