Zhangjiajie at last

Our plane landed at midnight in the city of Zhangjiajie and the local taxicabs had us by the throat. They were a collective mass, no bargaining, they wouldn't compete, it was going to be 300 rmb to the hotel and they knew we had no choice in the matter. We tried to haggle it down to even 200, but they wouldn't budge. Reluctantly we tossed our packs in the trunk and got into the taxi. It would cost us half the price to return to this airport 3 days later.

Zhangjiajie is seriously on the map for Asian tourists, but rather off the map for Westerners. Our Chinese friends had raved of its beauty, and the karst landscape appealed to the geographer in me. Not to mention, a few days of hiking to clear the mind and heal the lungs from the daily pollution of Tianjin was something to daydream about.

This is a trip we could never have managed on our own 6 months ago, not without serious stress anyways. We ended up having to change rooms as the first one assigned was extremely odorous. We learned quickly to agree on the price of meals before eating, as the price would be virtual extortion if they could catch you off guard. Oh, and figuring out which bus to hop on within the park itself was mind boggling, but fortunately we tended to find somebody patient enough to eek out meaning from our Chinglish.

When we talk about Zhangjiajie, it is actually a series of 3 parks which are connected, and one admission serves all three. Its quite large, with lots to do, so we easily used up our 2.5 days there, and could have spent longer; however, we left at the beginning of the official May Holiday, and we were glad to have had the chance to enjoy the park before that onslaught of people.

Chinese people love to climb mountains. As such, every important mountain (shan) has cement stairs all the way up. I have come to the conclusion this is a far more difficult ascent or descent than a good rugged dirt path. Its also harder to pass people. You feel exhausted and hot climbing up and down the mountain, when a little old lady in polyester pants, a formal jacket and high heel shoes passes you. Or, an older lady, who makes her living selling snacks to the tourists, passes you carrying jugs of water and cucumbers.

Fortunately, parks like these have a few key attractions, and the lesser attractions tend to be for the solitary souls. Craig and I were often able to veer away from the crowd to enjoy a few hours of peaceful hiking, with only the occasional other hiker to be found.

On our last day, we made our way to Yellow Dragon Cave, a series of caverns of enormous size with a great collection of stalagmites and stalactities which are unfortunately lit a little on the tacky side. Still, the natural wonder of the place still overpowered the garish colours. The cave has an underground river on which you can take a boat ride, and of course, lots of stairs for climbing.

I see little point trying to describe the scenery, its surreal and stunningly beautiful. I hope the pictures will tell the story.

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