Orange Island and a surprise

Orange Island

Changsha was meant to be a stop simply it was along the way.  The main sight was Orange Island and even then, it was more iconic rather than a must-see.  I did want to go to Dufu Pavilion if convenient but wasn’t keen on Mount Yuelu as we had many mountains ahead on our trip.

It was a short one-stop metro ride from the hotel to Orange Island where we needed our passports to enter the park.  It was a pleasant enough 3.5km or 1h walk along the eastern side of the long island to get to the bust of young Mao.

On the way, I noticed Dufu Pavilion and it was decidedly unimpressive especially in the grey weather, so I crossed it off our list.

The island was not busy by China standard except for the area near the bust of young Mao.  We returned to the metro on the west side of the island for a slightly different view.

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Rest of the day

After a rest and a zoom meeting (which worked on Chinese wifi) we went out to the local branch of Decathlon.

We continued exploring the pedestrian malls and street food through the afternoon and again in the evening.  The energy of the place was amazing and the food choices were endless.

Wuyi Square was flanked by some huge LED screens which looked good during the day and amazing at night.

Changsha had nothing for us on paper but in reality, we were surprised and taken by the vibe and energy of the place.  We all couldn’t believe that this “nothing” stop had turned out to be a highlight so far!