Advertisement
Published: July 22nd 2012
Plank Walk, Tianmen Shan, Zhangjiajie
Kerry on the plank walk and an idea of where it is!New photos on:
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/China-Hunan-Summer%!/(MISSING) …..I may consider Avatar a 3D movie with 2D plot & characters but the area used as a backdrop for the alien world in the film is worth seeing. I visited Zhangjiajie in Hunan province during the winter holiday but fog & low visibility gave only tantalising glimpses of the Wulingyuan national park & Tianmen Shan. This issue of the YYW will have to be devoted to the the small town with nothing much to attract the thousands of visitors other than its proximity to some of the most outstanding natural scenery I have ever seen. I had aimed to cover this & the final part, (Guilin, Yangshou & the beautiful Li River), all in this edition but, having looked at the photos, Zhangjiajie is just too big to share a blog.....
…..I left the last blog at the stage where Bruce & Kerry are remarkably still talking to me as we stumble out of the taxi into the Home Inn at 5am after the 5 hour seatless train trip from Yichang, the only tickets available. Naturally half of the first day is set aside for the rest we didn't get during 5 hours of
Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie
Karst peak, early morning training for being reincarnated as sardines. We get up for lunch at La Mian, one of those great little Hole-in-the-wall places all over China where the people from Lanzhou in the western province of Gansu work their magic on boiled & fried noodles, rice & a whole range of vegetables usually flavoured with beef or lamb. The Aussie visitors are impressed by the noodles, (Mian), being pulled, (La), by hand before their very eyes. After that some gentle information gathering in the afternoon, (thank you very much the lovely young lady at the nearby backpacker hostel who gives us all the details we need). I also have to say Kerry is very thorough when it comes to getting to the nitty-gritty.....
….a parody of a cheesy 70's song comes to mind as I think of that damned train, to the tune of the Carpenters', “Close to you”:
Why do crowds suddenly appear, when there's no – room to spare
just like me, they long to be, close to you
There are box-es piling high, I can't stand, I can't lie
just like me, they long to be, close to you
just another little town,
out here in the country
a million population, maybe two
and slightly more than half of them
are just about to board the train with you.....
…..we decide to make the most of our time here with an early start the next day, (I think it's Monday). I wake up earlier than expected to what sounds like one of those spinning top toys that older Chinese men & women like to demonstrate in parks. Not usually at 5am though. It sounds like Mongolian throat singing played through a broken speaker. After 20 incessant minutes it seems like a good idea to into the little square behind the hotel & inform the owner it might be a good idea to play with it a bit later or risk having it stuffed..... Anyway, it turns out to be an insect, almost certainly a cicada, it's too dark to see.....
…..we've been told there are yellow buses running from the main bus station from 6.30am. We ask around but can't see any yellow ones & are reluctant to take the bus the drivers inform us go to Wulingyuan. We finally settle on a small muddy ochre & light
olive bus. I guess if your English is not all that fluent probably yellow is a good approximation. We are sure it's going the pretty way but there's blue sky & countryside on the one hour trip to the park entrance.....
…..I am again a little remiss in preparing Bruce & Kerry. The term “National Park” in Australia conjures up visions of a little kiosk in the bush & a chat with a couple of park rangers prior to disappearing into the solace of the wilderness for as long as you choose. I omitted to tell them that the hundreds of people gathering at the ticket office is just the start & the megaphones, coloured flags to identify tour groups & huge groups of people wearing identical silly hats in bright, easily identifiable colours, are all quite normal here. Entry to the parks is quite expensive at ¥248, not including cable cars at ¥52 a pop. However the infrastructure is extensive. There are well established walks with paths &, yes, (of course!), steps, thousands of 'em, though some walks are along streams with hardly any steps. We finally get out of range of the megaphone wielding guides & I
Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie
Bruce karsting a glance at the camera decide to take a walk up the steps, (don't say it, sister, I know what you're thinking), & Bruce & Kerry arrange to meet me later at the shuttle bus stop marked on the map.....
…..the megaphone is a product of the same perverse human ingenuity that gave us the rack & the cluster bomb. I don't say it was invented in China but they have embraced this appalling device. Combined with the voices that tour guides are all required to have in China, chosen on a scale much like the grades of sandpaper. P100 grade, sorry your voice is way too smooth for this job. P16, coarse grit, name your price.....
…..of course the “bus stop” is like a busy town bus station anywhere else in the world, in fact it is a small town, souvenir stalls, street food, restaurants & the crowds have increased. I finally give up & we meet later in the afternoon at the cable car station, after we have been taken round a good part of the park by separate buses, then only after Bruce manages to borrow someone's mobile to call me. The cable car down, another chance to experience China
in the cattle-run style barriers which are the only way to make people queue here. The queue zig-zags for several turns in 30 metre long single file queues. You end up becoming passing friends with people as you pass them again & again, especially as the only foreigners in the place.....
…..having said all that, after escaping from the megaphones & the worst of the crowds it is a stunning place. Around 3,000 karst peaks in a unique landscape which is unlike anything I've seen anywhere else. I won't go on, just have a look at the Photobucket link.....
…..the word “karst” that I thought was a type of rock or rock formation is actually a word describing a type of landscape, usually limestone or dolomite, which has been formed by sinkholes, caves & in this case canyons, being formed by some of the rock being dissolved away. I must also mention Bruce's predilection for word play. Incorrigible as ever it is impossible to tour Wulingyuan without exhausting every possibility, 'karst of thousands', clothing stalls selling 'karst offs', 'the die is karst', 'karst my lot in'.....Lest you be tempted to raise your eyebrows at these appalling puns, let
Tianmen Shan, Zhangjiajie
View from the Home Inn hotel he, (or she), who is without guilt karst the first stone.....
…..the next morning is clear & bright & the view from my room at the Home Inn is the best I've ever had in China. Tianmen Shan, the great, sheer mountain about 8km from the town, on a clear, sunny day. One of the world's longest cable cars, over 7km, runs from a station, (yes, in the scale of infrastructure projects in China, like a large city bus station), over gently undulating countryside towards the mountain. Tianmen means gate, or door, of Heaven. Tianmen Dong, (cave) is not really a cave but a colossal opening in the side of the mountain. The cable car suddenly takes a downward plunge, the mountain looming behind, then a little later takes a breathtaking turn skyward to the top of Tianmen Shan.....
…..this is just a test to see if you're made of the right stuff for the Glass Plank Walk. A few years ago a concrete path was attached, securely I hope, near the top of both sheer sides of Tianmen Shan. The cablecar rises over 1,200m, most of it in the last section which rises at an alarming angle.
Tianmen Shan, Zhangjiajie
Bruce and Kerry in the cable car The path goes for kilometres around the mountain & on a beautiful, clear, a little cloudy but mostly sunny day it's the nearest you'll get to walking on air. I was under the impression that the snow covered path was made entirely from glass. In fact the glass section is only, (only!), 60m long. Still the whole thing is an amazing piece of work & you can only imagine how they built it.....
…..there's a ¥10 charge for soft overshoes when you enter the glass section, refunded at the other end. This keeps the glass clean for a clear view of what's probably a 1 kilometre drop beneath your feet. Reassuring to know the glass is about 6.5cm thick but when you're standing on it, it never seems quite sufficient. Bruce & Kerry are suitably impressed, if not a little gobsmacked.....
…..there's another plank walk on the other side, a little more sedate, why, there's even a slope beneath your feet on some parts, albeit a very steep one. The views are still stunning & it's much quieter round here. I also spot a lot of interesting insects landing on the handrails. No tour groups. No megaphones. Truly
we have arrived at the Gate of Heaven.....
…..naturally, at the top of what must have previously been an almost inaccessible Chinese mountain there's a Buddhist temple. Not a little shrine or small shelter built from a few locally available materials but an elaborate stone & tile temple complex housing sacred relics in a bank safe that's open for viewing during opening times. There's also a chair lift to the highest point, which now sports an impressive, spacious new viewing point with unfortunately malodorous toilets. The view, & the smell, are better outside.....
…..but wait, there's more. Get out of the cable car at the halfway station down the mountain, then take a shuttle bus up kilometres of specially built hairpin roads to Tianmen Dong, the “cave”, the huge hole I mentioned, over 130m high. It has been the scene of various stunts. An American stunt man, Jeb Corliss, has flown through it in a specially made gliding suit. A group of 3 fighter planes has also flown through it. We arrive at the bus terminus but this is China & the expectation that we are almost there is dashed by the sight of a single flight of,
(I'm told), 999 steps to the opening itself. It's cooler on the mountain top than in Zhangjiajie but still a bit too warm to climb that far. We all go up anyway....
…..when you see the photos it appears in some to be flat or gently rising sections followed by steps. In fact the “gently rising” sections are steps at a normal incline, the other bits, including a long section right at the top, are steeper stairs, at an angle which, for anyone who might lose their footing, almost certain death. I'm not exaggerating. There are some newly installed handrails, some roped off as the paint dries, & a lot of people walking, occasionally running, up the middle, out of reach of the rails.....
…..I think we all concur over dinner near the station before our train leaves for Guilin, that for sheer, breathtaking impact & wonder at the extent of the infrastructure & the audacity of the plank walk, Tianmen has been the highlight of the trip so far. On to Guangxi province, Guilin, the Li River, Yangshuo. More of all that later.....
photos from the 3 gorges on:
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/China-3%!G(MISSING)orges-2012/
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0343s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kerry
non-member comment
Breath holdingly awesome
I found myself holding my breath just looking at these amazing photos! Not sure I'd be keen enough/brave enough/fit enough to tackle those steps!