China Day 9 - Jingmen to Zhangjiajie by Train | Halal Food in Zhangjiajie

Assalamualaikum. Ni Hao!

Previous post here.

20 Jan 2016
Zhangjiajie, Hunan China

Our train from Jingmen (departure time: 732am) departed on time. Kali ni memang sengaja pilih hard seat (yang memang locals selalu opted) sebab perjalanan ndak jauh. Jea & I agreed to only buy hard seat ticket for journey less than 5 hours. Itulah cara paling berjimat & efficient for us. Alhamdulillah, memang berkesan. Banyak dapat jimat.

View along the journey was awesome but I was too lazy to take out the camera. Getting an aisle seat does have its own disadvantage (sometimes). Ni memang bukan aku pilih seat, auto assigned. Jadinya, tabah. 'Pinjam' tingkap orang seberang untuk menikmati view. And sambil cuci mata tengok jiran seberang seat juga. Ehem. 

But the funny part would be the locals expression the moment we entered the train. Semua macam berkelip non stop; terpesona tengok dua ketul alien jelita naik carriage marhaien. Gitu assumption si Err. 

Hard Seat (2 pax) : CNY 163.00 (RM 48.50 per pax)

Destination : Jingmen - Zhangjiajie 

Duration : 4 hours 15 minutes

Bought from Ctrip

# Sempat snapped view yang ni jak. Boleh lah dari tiada 

# Seat adalah 3+2 (we got the 3 seats). Ahjussi bertiga ni duduk depan kami *tu yang cuci mata tengok jiran sebelah*

Dalam sejam journey, datanglah train attendant tolak cart. Jual food & drink macam dalam AirAisa tu. Both of us still ada bekalan bun so we didn't buy anything. Kenyang cuci mata jak si Err sebenarnya. And masa ni juga merasa pengalaman inspected by police officers; on the train. Sebiji macam dalam C-drama oii. Kalau ndak silap ada 3 CIDs, masuk each carriages & randomly checking on passengers & their luggage. Sampai row kami, diorang passed by jak. Sebabnya malas mau complicated-kan keadaan yang bakalan berayam-itik aku rasa. Yalah kami jak pun aliens dalam gerabak masa tu. Punah harapan tau. Walhal both of us sudah ready mau tunjuk our ID.

# How our carriage looks like from outside. 

# Train platform at Zhangjiajie Railway Station

# Foggy morning 

# Fog welcome our arrival

# First thing first; cari hotel. 17 hours train ride haruslah masing-masing lemau mau mengangkut anak gajah

# Mall / shoplots along the way to our hotel

At first memang a bit surprised upon seeing the town. Ingatkan pekan koboi kecil jak kan. Sekali tengok. Eh complete ada mall, apartment tinggi melangit, double lane road. Terus ketuk diri sendiri, tulah akibat ndak buat research awal. Masuk second leg of the trip, memang kerja si Jea arranged semua. From purchasing train ticket, to hotel booking, to places of interest, directions etc.

# Passed by this restaurant before reaching our hotel. Terus perut berkonsert

Memang mencabar iman betul tiap kali lalu depan restaurant. Harus perut bergendang buat konsert. Lagi gila bila perut lapar, and hotel pula hilang dari radar. Turned out, Jea hasn't figure out the exact direction to the hotel. She only jot down the information given by the hotel in their page in booking.com. We're already in the right neighborhood just that we didn't know which building. Pula tu semua bangunan tinggi-tinggi, signboard pun haruslah dalam Pinyin. And kami tiada internet to contact the hotel. To make thing worst, Jea saved the address in English but the hotel name in Pinyin. Masalahnya, both of us read NO Pinyin. Huwaaaa

Masa ni memang sikit jadi naga. Sebab ngantuk, penat, bag berat....and lapar. Elehe, haritu hotel di Beijing pun kau salah jalan Bie oii. Walhal masa tu direction lengkap tapi kau yang ndak fokus. Ngek. So aku pun suruh diri bertendangtenang. Benda ndak settle kalau jadi naga, and hotel ndak akan suddenly appear before you. Aku pun jalankan tugas as assistant. Travel berdua kan, walau sudah agih tugas since beginning...kau kena main peranan juga bila benda begini jadi. Sebab kalau kau tetap harap yang sorang jak mencari, dengan kau-kau sekali lah berpusing in circle. Silap-silap sampai malam pun ndak jumpa hotel. Pfftt.

We stopped by at few hotels, tried to ask the location to our hotel. Ada yang awal lagi geleng laju, some did try to help but because the address was in English therefore they cannot help much although ada nama hotel. Too many hotels jadinya diorang memang lah tiada kerja menghafal nama each hotels. Sikit lagi mau give up masa tu, mau cancel & walk in any hotel. Tapi sebab sudah bayar depo, by hook or crook kena jugalah cari. Maka bermula lah sesi membanding ejaan nama hotel yang kami ada with the hotels name on the signboard. Gigih ok periksa each signboard. First time in life, aku try baca Chinese characters. And alhamdulillah, Allah bantu musafir dua ketul ni. After nearly an hour searching...we finally found our hotel. 

Characteristic Topic Inn (Theme Topic Inn)

Room Type : Standard Twin Room 

Date : 20 January - 22 January 2016 (2 nights)

Price : RM 187.00 (2 pax)

Booked via booking.com

Nearest station : Zhangjiajie Railway Station

# If only ada nama hotel in English, senang jugalah kerja. But yeah, thing happened for a reason

# Lobby area

# Counter / reception area

# Common area

Berkat sesat barat tu, perhaps bagi more time to the housekeeper to clean our room. And although we arrived earlier than the check-in time, we're allowed to go to our room straight away. Alhamdulillah. Boleh lah regangkan segala urat yang tegang. Masa ni pun mood masing-masing sudah kembali normal. Adat bermusafir. Level sabar / darah naik turun.

# Sebabkan hotel ni kan ala-ala bertema katanye, we're given the English Theme room. Puas hati sebab katil besar wei, instead of twin room (single bed)...it's a twin room (queen bed). 

# As per Jea, ni jaklah kot yang ada ciri English. Apart from the pictures hang on the wall above our headbed. 

# Clean & spacious bathroom. Kali ni tiada glass window or frosted glass macam di Harbin & Xi'an

Pastu sajalah gatal tanya one of the staff if we can have a look at other room. Kunun mau bilik selain English Theme tu. Dasar kan sempat lagi perangai gitu muncul. The only room available is the Hello Kitty room. Ok, masa ni aku sudah berbunga sebab bilik pink. But when he told us why he didn't give us the room; we immediately agreed to just stick to our current room. I forgot what the reason was but it was enough to make us changed our mind. It has something to do with the bathroom if I'm not mistaken. Was it outside or was it clogged. Yang penting, laju dua ketul tu ndak jadi tukar bilik. Padan muka, jadi cerewet lagi.

# The Hello Kitty Theme room. Comelnya lahai dinding pink, curtains pink. Bukan rezeki

Lepak sejam dua, settledkan apa yang wajib i.e solat, makan, mandi; barulah kami keluar lagi. Kali ni misi beli train tiket to Fenghuang. Kami cuma stay 3 hari di Zhangjiajie. On the way tu memang disajikan dengan view orang berjualan makanan tepi jalan. Cuci mata jaklah tengok. Sambil telan liur. Memang sudah set dalam kepala, no halal food di Zhangjiajie.

# Oh makanan! Kenapa perlu non-halal? Gitu soalan aku sama Jea masa ni

On the way to the railway station, sudah ditentukan rezeki kami...we saw this small shop with Halal sign. Green signboard memang landmark kedai tu owned by Muslim. Allah jaklah tau macamana melompat keriangan kami petang tu. Automatik rasa lapar semula. 

Pagi tadi dari train station kami memang guna laluan sama untuk pi hotel. Macamana boleh missed kedai tu? Ish, memang mainan perasaan betul. Tapi apa pun, Allah sudah bagi nampak. And memang rezeki kami dapat makan di sana. 

# Entrance Zhangjiajie Railway Station. Belah kanan tu area yang kami keluar pagi tadi (arrival hall)

# Lepas discuss train fare & type of seat bagai, Jea jalankan tugas beli tiket

Sudah dapat tiket, ke mana kita? Oh yeah. Mestilah destinasi terpenting; kedai halal. Walau kecil jak kedai ni, besar sumbangan sama musafir macam kami. Tiba-tiba emosi kan. 

# Memang patut ndak perasan pun, sebab al-kecil. Tersepit di tengah gitu

# Macam biasa, mau order kalu...tunjuk jak menu di dinding. Or if berkenan menu orang yang tengah makan tu...tunjuk bowl orang tu

# Muka orang happy tunggu order (belum tengok happy yang behind the camera tu macamana kan). We decided to have it tapau-ed (take away).

# Dinner. Seriously sedap gila as the noodles were freshly made upon order

Syukur. Dalam risau kebuluran, rupanya wujud kedai halal di Zhangjiajie. Kenyang melantun dinner malam tu. Terus pandang sepi maggi & segala buns. Tapi sempat jak aku supper dengan bun malam tu. Forever perut tong drum.

Before tidur, aku sempatlah membebel bilik tu extra sejuk. Pastu siap boleh dengar orang lalu lalang berborak di jalan. Katil aku tepi tingkap, clear sangat lah segala bunyi nan bising tu. I can deal with the noise but not the cold. Pastu aku pun selak langsir, rupanya si Err bijak bestari lupa tutup tingkap. No wonder lah sejuk semacam. Pasrah jak Jea dapat travel partner extra bijak macam si Err.

Both of us tidur awal that night. Penat masih bersisa gitu. Kena simpan tenaga sebab the next day mau hiking katanye. Begitu penyakit mau hiking bagai masa winter. 

So where to us the next day? Next entry.

Till then, wassalam.

eryantierdabdulkarim