Shaoyang in central Hunan province, about 1,500 km and 20 hours by overnight train south-west of Shanghai, sees very few western visitors. That makes it all the more interesting a place to visit as it goes about its life unaffected by tourism. Shaoyang is the hometown of our Chinese friend Yajun and we came here for the first time in January for the Chinese New Year. This time was even more special as we were here to witness Yajun’s wedding to her fiancée Jingfeng.Chinese weddings are big events and this one was no exception. Apparently 28 October was a propitious date to be married in China and firecrackers were going off all over town to herald one marriage after another. Yajun and Jingfeng’s 8-car motorcade arrived at the hotel at 10am, and at noon their several hundred guests including us witnessed the wedding ceremony and then enjoyed a great Hunanese Banquet. The wedding ceremony was very different from an Australian wedding – it was more dramatic, energetic, and intense.
Once again Yajun’s parents and family made us very welcome in Shaoyang and it seemed that only a few hours separated one delicious banquet meal from the next. When it was all over we had some calories to burn off and we had a mountain in mind as the place to do just that.
