Zhangjiajie at last

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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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Photos

Emperor's Brushes
These mountains look like paintbruhes.

Bridge I actually crossed
The bottom was a metal grid/mesh, so you could see through. Crossing this bridge was a big challenge for me. Harder than a similar bridge later on which was a natural stone bridge, at least you couldn't see through it.

Other options for going up the hill
So you don't have to do all the climbing if you don't want to, you can pay somebody else.

Cable Car - Tianzi Shan
Cable car on the first day of mountain climbing.

More Mountains
OK, I admit, looking at them now, I can't remember the names of most of these mountains, they start to blur.

The other path down the hill
We got away from the crowded path and enjoyed this beautiful path back down the mountain.

Overpriced Lunch
We stuck to veggie dishes here, the meat sitting out in 35 degree weather seemed sketchy.

Elevator up the mountain
Look hard and you will see the elevator up the mountain. This was really fun.

Locks for Luck in Love
Craig and I followed tradition by having our initials carved into a lock. It is on the banister on the highest natural bridge in the world.

2nd Day Cable Car
Cable Car up Huang Shi Zhai

2nd Day Cable Car
Cable Car up Huang Shi Zhai

Comments

[Kay Curtis]

Amazing
These pics are breathtaking. Not too sure about the cable cars. ha ha You are both looking good and healthy. Safe travels. Take care.

[Barb Grisdale]

Stunning scenery
And so it is. So many different vistas. Cable cars and elevator look pretty exciting--glad to see stairs. Maybe you weren't. Thanks for all these pics. It is great to have an insider's view. B.

[andrew]

THANK YOU
Hi, Thanks for the lovelly pics. Certainly gives me some idea of what to expect. I plan to visit sometime end Oct 2008, can you make any recommendations of which places to visit? Do you recommend I bring alongwarm clothing? Andrew

[Chris Oquist]

Great post. I spent two weeks in China last month, including a few days in Zhangjiajie and Wulingyuan, and your post was a great reminder of how incredible it is. Definitely agree with this: "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." We had that experience over and over again.. Sorry you had bad luck with a cab from the airport. We hopped in one of the shuttle buses to Zhangjiajie City hotels and once there, found a CITS and were able to negotiate a van to the village for about 100RNB. Tough finding a hostel there that took foreigners though. I did a small write up of our trip to Zhangjiajie on my photo blog - www.aperculture.com, would love to hear what you think.