Fanceden Hotel Yongzhou

Location is excellent, right on Yongzhou/Lengshuitan's busiest street. First impression: a smiling and attentive doorman, efficient reception staff, and a cool, tastefully-furnished lobby - thankfully lacking any of the faux-rococo furniture, gold-wrapped pillars, or out-of-tune pianola (playing ghastly renditions of cellphone ringtones) one normally finds in such establishments. Our room was of decent proportions, with a comfortable, genuinely king-sized bed. Internet was free but a bit slow, and wi-fi was sorely missed. Bathroom was well-equipped with a nice big rain-effect shower head. Flat screen TV. Double-glazed windows shielded the outside noise to some extent. We had a rear-facing room which copped incessant train horns all day and night, but I'm guessing this was probably vastly preferable to the non-stop car tooting, screeching brakes and jackhammers from the hotel's street frontage. Ask for a rear-facing room. Breakfast was adequate to good, with no Western options - understandable, as I was the only laowai in the hotel and indeed, apparently the only one in the whole of Yongzhou. The same room acted as the hotel's main restaurant in the evening, and the food was a revelation: best Hunan cuisine I have eaten anywhere. I strongly recommend their he luo (water snails in spicy broth) and xue ya (duck cooked in its own blood - sounds disgusting but utterly delicious). A pity their table service was so poor - delivered by bored, forgetful young girls with no training whatsoever. All in all, a pleasant surprise of a hotel, and a place I looked forward to returning to after each day's sightseeing in the oven-like southern Hunan summer.