Yishang & Zhangjiajie

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Bec

So following the river cruise we eagerly (well as eager as you can be at 6 am in the morning) clambered off the boat and caught a taxi into Yishang to catch a train to Zhangjiajie later on that day. Yishang is famed as being the gateway to the Three Gorges Dam (big monstrosity hydroelectric project bla bla bla) however it is now famed for making david and bec very happy. We not only had some sunshine for the first time in days, we also stumbled upon a coffee shop (sorry to sound really saaaaad) but we sat there lording it up with some filter coffee (first cup in China), the smelly boat a distant memory, what a moment, small things small traveling minds...

Then topped it off with noodles from a street stall in the sun with the owner sending his little gimp around the corner to get us hot bread... yep, Yishang rocked.

Later on we jumped on the train to Zhangjarjie and apart from getting stranded in the scabby station area on the first night (and staying in a room with no heating, so the fleeces, hats and sleeping bags came out) and the following morning catching the bus to the wrong village, we had a great time.

We spent the next two days in Wullingyan nation park (which is in Zhangjiajie), climbing mountains and living like royalty in a dead nice hotel, which had no customers as its winter here and no one else is silly enough to stay overnight in these parts. So we got a great pad that over looked the mountains for 7 quid - nice.

So a bit more about the National park (we cut the page out of the guide book in an effort to save us carrying the book, but now I have lost the page so this may be a bit sketchy) but there are lots (250)"craggy peaks and rock columns".

We saw the national park as an opportunity to get of our lazy arses and do some seriouse exercise for two days! And we did - on the first day we climbed 4000 steps up to the top of a mountain, it took us 3 hours, we ponged, but were feeling chuffed until we realised there was a cable car to the top which had transported 100's of Chinease tourists up to the 3k loop, so plumes of cigarette smoke, mass gobbing (all the men and women spit continuously) and many many mega phones all shouting at groups of three tourists followed.

This continued for the next two days, however the park is so beautiful and every where you looked there were amazing mountains with the added bonus of wild monkeys. So for two days we climbed up and down many many many many steps, checking out huge rocks and dodging chinease tourists in stilettos and trouser suits.

Its all good.
x

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Comments

[katie w]

Hi Bec and Dave I love the blogg and Eve loves the pic's aunite and uncle blogg are making a big impression, you have done such a fantstic job at writing it that when the photos appeared it was all as I imagined. Love ya lots Kate xxxx

[Malski]

Wild Monkeys
Ist all very well mentioning wild monkeys...what about some "wild" shots of the monkeys doing what they do best? Come on Dave! Do you know how much effort it is taking to log on to this thing? Ha ha top blogging dudes keep it up!