4 notes when traveling to Phoenix Ancient Town

Phoenix Ancient Town has been a popular destination for Vietnamese tourists in recent years. Photo: Nam Khanh

Fenghuang Ancient Town is an ancient city in China, which has existed for more than 1,300 years with a population mainly of ethnic minorities. In addition to possessing ancient houses, Fenghuang Ancient Town is also surrounded by majestic mountains and the Dajiang River.

Duong Ngoc Cat Tuong (22 years old, Ho Chi Minh City)had a trip to the southern provinces of China, including the ancient town of Phoenix. Below are some notes and experiences that Cat Tuong shared after the trip to the country of a billion people.

Choosing a tour is the safest choice.

According to Cat Tuong, China now allows Vietnamese citizens to travel independently. However, if this is your first time in this country or you have no experience traveling abroad, it is best to book a tour.

Tourists should choose to go on a tour if it is their first time traveling to China. Photo: Nam Khanh

“Going on a tour also has certain advantages. For example, you don’t have to worry about visas or have difficulty communicating with local people,” Cat Tuong said.

Cat Tuong also shared that the ancient town of Phoenix is ​​located in a remote area, so there may be cases of fraud and kidnapping. Therefore, choosing to go on a tour is the safest option for foreign tourists.

Should prepare separate SIM

One of the most common concerns that Vietnamese tourists have is how to access the Internet in China and whether it is difficult.

You should buy a SIM card when traveling in China. Photo: Lien's Corner

According to Cat Tuong, if you want to connect to the Internet in China, you can use Wi-Fi. However, because the ancient town of Phoenix is ​​located in the mountains, there won't be many Wi-Fi signals for you to use. If you want to use a Vietnamese SIM card and then roam internationally, the cost is very high.

Therefore, the best way is to buy a SIM card for traveling to China. “I ordered the SIM card from a website in Vietnam and received it before my departure to China. Wi-Fi in China is very limited, so using a 4G SIM card is more convenient,” said Cat Tuong.

The price of a Chinese SIM card is around 300,000-560,000 VND depending on the data capacity and number of days of use. In addition, you can also buy SIM cards at airports in China but you will have to present more documents.

Taking pictures in the morning is the best

Unlike some videos on social media platforms, according to Cat Tuong, Phoenix Ancient Town is not really sparkling at night.

The best time to walk around and take pictures in Phoenix Ancient Town is early morning. Photo: NVCC

"I thought the filming would be beautiful at night. But no, the scenery wasn't as bright as in the videos, everything wasn't as sparkling as it looked online," Cat Tuong said.

According to Cat Tuong, the best time to walk around and take photos in Phoenix Ancient Town is early in the morning, 6-7am. At this time, the scenery is well-lit, the weather is still cool and there are very few tourists, so you can take photos freely.

Prepare some basic communication vocabulary

Like many countries in East Asia, Chinese people are not good at English. Cat Tuong shared that she encountered many difficulties when visiting this ancient city.

“People here cannot communicate in English. I have to use body language to describe what I want to buy. But many times they don’t understand, so I end up being given the wrong item, sometimes even buying it at a higher price than the people around me,” Cat Tuong confided.

Cat Tuong's advice is to prepare some basic communication vocabulary, download the offline Google Translate application in case you cannot communicate through body language.