Lots of adventures so far.
I didn't make it out of the High Speed Rail station before a couple of girls ran up and asked "Uncle, can we take pictures with you?" I bumped into them again while walking around the ancient town.
There are lots of foreigners here. Turns out the nearby airport is part of the visa-free scheme and many people are taking advantage of it.
Was barely awake one morning and got a video call from a photographer friend here. He wanted to kidnap me for some sort of photo/video shoot. I was about to say "Call me back when I'm awake", but he turned his phone to show me the lovely Miao girl who would be in the video. I told him to pick me up in 10 minutes. Even better - there were 2 lovely Miao girls. I was only in a few scenes with them, but tagged along the whole day taking photos and videos of my own. Since I was also in costume, I got more than my usual number of people wanting pics with me.
I got grabbed by a Miao drummer who was working at one of the attractions in town. The next thing I knew, I was getting drum lessons. (Too bad I REALLY suck at drumming.
) I thought I was about to escape, but the Miao wizard who was part of the group grabbed me to be an assistant for a magic trick.
The decorative lights come on at 6:30 PM. I've managed to get two fairly nice videos (and one sadly blurry video) of the moment of enlightenment.
For inspiration in writing, I visited the memorial to Shen CongWen. He wrote the book that made Fenghuang famous. On the way out, I was stopped by a pair of lovely girls who wanted pictures with me. As I was turning to leave, a pair of lovely ladies also wanted pics with me. I feel that this is a sign that Shen CongWen appreciated my visit.