Blogs from Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China, Asia - page 3

Did you see the movie Avatar. It was filmed here. This is a surprise for you. (And us) My bucket list item. Before this place gets really exploited, this is a must visit in China. It is a little hard to get to. There is a local airport that you can fly within China to Chang Sa, but not from HK. We opted for train as previously mentioned, and then a 5 hour car ride. We have to go back the same way. It sounds harder but it is actually less complicated because of where this place is located. There is a new highway built recently and actually it is a pleasant drive. To begin with the national park is a gem. Thank goodness it is under protection. The views are nothing like we've seen anywhere ... read more

Wed 20/10 Wow! I'm not one for big statements and I am always reluctant to endorse something for others but today was simply and possibly the most impressive 18 hours I can recall From the morning walk along the 5+ km trail of the Zhangjiajie National Park, the afternoon cable car into the heavens atop the pillars of Avatar fame or the evening 'cultural' show set in a natural valley between two towering hills on a stage that extended possibly 50 to 100m radius from our one of maybe 5,000 seats. Wow! NDC 20/10... read more

1st October is National Day in China and we all get 7 days off so, despite dire warnings about not travelling on the equivalent of our Bank Holiday, I ventured on a long distance bus tour to Hunan province, escorted by my good friend Xu Fie and her husband ‘Alan’ and 3 of their friends. They all spoke some English so I had a great support network to manoeuvre me around and make sure I didn’t get left behind! It started with an epic 24 hours travelling south, including one hair-raising moment in the dark and inevitably heavy rain. We had taken a wrong turning and ended up on a route which might actually be a road by next year but at this point was more like rubble, and we all had to get off ... read more

Next day on 29th Aug, we went back to the park again. Today we will visit the Yuanjiajie section of the park. First of all, we got back on the bus provided by the park, the so-called green car, it transferred us to the bus station for the mini train to visit the "picture corridor". Scenery along the ride was beautiful plus comments by the park authority, which gives you guidelines to the mountain to make you imagine the shape of the mountain into different familiar shapes, like three mountains look like three sisters, one big mountain and one small mountain look like a man with his dog. You will have to use your imagination very hard to outline the picture, otherwise, the mountain is still a regular mountain, nothing special. Interesting enough, the train stops ... read more

At the end of Aug, I made my former boss to invite me on a trip to Zhangjiajie to enjoy the beautiful scenery there. I had a great time there not only because it is beautiful there, but also because I had a reunion with my friends. We took one hour evening flight from Xi'an to Zhangjiajie Lotus airport, sounds like a romantic airport, but it is a very small and basic airport. Upon arrival, we ate out in a local barbecue restaurant with cold beer till mid night. The name of the restaurant is called Xiang Ge La. We drank beer and barbecued there with pork and vegetables. I arrived there later than anybody else because I had to deal with my client, Lauren, who wanted to travel to Beijing from Shanghai from 27 Aug ... read more