Travel Tips: Little-Known Facts About Shopping in Zhangjiajie
Shopping is an important part of tourism activities, but if you don't know the essentials, you will waste money and even suffer anger and fatigue. The principles to grasp in travel shopping are: 1. You should buy local specialties or distinctive souvenirs. 2. You should shop around and carefully distinguish genuine from fake. 3. You should buy smaller and lighter items for easy carrying. If you need to check them in, you must understand whether the purchased items are allowed to be checked. 4. You should avoid impulse buying…
Shopping is an important part of any trip, but if you don't know what you're doing, you can end up wasting money—or even getting annoyed and worn out.
The principles you should follow when shopping while traveling are:
1. Buy local specialties or distinctive souvenirs.
2. Compare prices at several stores, and carefully check whether items are genuine.
3. Buy items that are small and light so they're easy to carry. If you need to check them in, make sure the items are allowed to be checked.
4. Avoid impulse buying. Whether you're buying something for yourself, for your collection, or as a gift for family and friends, ask yourself whether it has real value.
Otherwise, impulse buying will only cost you money and tire you out.
Zhangjiajie has five classic must-see scenic routes: the Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park premium tour route, the Huangshizhai premium tour route, the Golden Whip Stream premium tour route,
the Tianzi Mountain premium tour route, and the Yellow Dragon Cave scenic area.
For independent travelers, these five routes are generally the standard way to visit Zhangjiajie. During your trip, the simplest way to tell whether a scenic spot is one of the most standard local attractions is
to see how many tour groups arranged by travel agencies are around you in the scenic area. Basically, where there are many visitors, that's where the local highlight scenic areas are! In addition, besides these five premium tour routes, Zhangjiajie also has some scenic areas that are under development or not yet developed, such as Yangjiajie Scenic Area and Yuanjiajie Scenic Area. The tourist facilities and roads in these areas are currently not especially complete,
so independent travelers visiting Zhangjiajie are advised not to venture there on their own.
What attractions around Zhangjiajie are worth visiting?
Answer: There are many attractions worth visiting around Zhangjiajie, such as Fenghuang Ancient Town and Furong Town/Mengdong River in the neighboring Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.
Today, Zhangjiajie is connected to Fenghuang Ancient Town by train and high-standard highways, making transportation quite convenient. Zhangjiajie is also connected to Changde's Peach Blossom Spring, Shaoshan,
Changsha, and Yichang's Greater and Lesser Three Gorges scenic areas.
For local specialties, the Three Treasures and One Marvel are enough. Most specialties don't suit northerners' tastes—they're just a token of goodwill! Other specialties are listed below, and you can pick out a few you like:
· Tujia embroidered brocade small handbag · Bamboo tube liquor · Brocade handicrafts
· Handmade batik painting · Artistic bonsai · Chai Ge Wang
· Handmade insoles · Furong Hunan embroidery Lion King · Furong Hunan embroidery Bride
· Blood tofu · She fan (community rice) · Shiitake mushrooms
· Mushroom oil · Rock ear fungus · Large pine mushrooms
· Tujia cured meat · Eucommia · Fern root powder
· Kudzu root powder · Miao flower belt · Miaoling bamboo ware
· Turtle-pattern stone carving · Bonsai root carving · Tujia brocade
· Tujia collage painting · Qingyan Mingcui tea · Tianchong Maojian tea
· Zengshan Maojian tea · Maoyanmei tea · Lobster flower tea
Overall, Zhangjiajie's shopping market is fairly well regulated, especially in recent years with the crackdown on illegal shopping venues, which has achieved good results. There is almost no forced selling, but tourists should still pay attention to the following when shopping while traveling:
1. Don't spend money at unlicensed "black shops"—you may not worry, but I do;
2. Don't casually buy "antiques and curios," "fossils and rare stones," "jewelry and jade," or "precious medicinal materials" unless you really know what you're doing;
3. Don't believe in "human-shaped fleeceflower root"—no matter how much it looks like one, it's still a "once-in-a-thousand-years" find;
4. Check the goods and bargain, and only take them after the price is settled. If you're not really interested in buying, it's best not to touch their goods to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Ask for a receipt for future reference;