After a very long – although first class and comfortable (they fancy!) – 7 hour train from Guilin North, we finally arrived in our next stop of Zhangjiajie. Here we were seeking to prove the words of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – baby there ain’t no mountain high enough. You will later discover that for Zach, the mountains of Zhangjiajie were plenty high enough, thanks!
We had pre-booked a private hire taxi from the station, having chosen to stay closer to the national park rather than in the city, so this was an extra 45 mins on top of the mega journey. Buses and DiDis were also available but at that time of night and a big shlep of a train ride, we thought allowing some autopilot may limit any snoozy mistakes.
We arrived at a lovely little guest house, hosted by owner Rebecca, who couldn’t have been more kind and helpful. A free park map was provided as well as an explanation of the must-see things in the area. This was when we realised our first mistake… the National Forest Park is HECKIN MAHOOSIVE. You buy a ticket and it allows you access for a full 4 days to cover it. We had allowed a grand total of 1 day. Sharp as tacks us pair!
We resigned ourselves to some decision making. A mega hike of the park for the day we had allowed and then a day at Tainmen Mountain for our second day in the city. This meant we sacrificed a lot of the park and the glass bridge/gorge which is in a 3rd location. These things were bound to happen! If you want to get your money’s worth, we would advise taking 4 days in Zhangjiajie – 2 for the National Park, 1 if you want to see the glass bridge and gorge and 1 for Tainmen Mountain.
A slumber and slurp of some brothy breakfast noodles rustled up by Rebecca later, and we were ready for our day of hiking in the Zhangziajie National park!
First up, ANOTHER cableway (sorry Zach) which whizzes you up through the first siting of the precariously stacked quartz sandstone rock formations that inspired the movie, Avatar. As Zach clung to his chair, and his stomach, I looked out with my koi-like mouth gaping in wonder at such an impressive sight. It was really hard to acknowledge what we’d seen in photos was real.
Alighting the cableway brought a different vibe… a viewing area packed with Chinese tourists, a McDonalds and a Starbucks. The pathways were all man-made and shuttle buses whizzed about the place, destined for the next big viewpoint. I have to admit, I was a little disorientated and desperate for some ‘off the beaten track’ energy.
We followed a pathway that would lead us to the ‘Southern Heavenly Gate’. It was here we discovered ‘Chinese measurements’ – 10 metres for example, being much, much longer in China. An hour of nought but stairs later and we finally got to a bus stop via a couple of inquisitive macaques swinging from the trees above.
Relieved our endless downward spiral had ended, we headed to the next point via the shuttle bus – the ’10 Mile Gallery’. You can easily walk the gallery as it’s fairly flat up to a point… but like the gargantuan children we are, we were lured by the zodiac animal-shaped trams that trundled back and forth to the top. At about £3 each, we satisfied our infantile amusement and looked out at views of more quartz sandstone rock stacks that led us to a small shopping street and an area known as the ‘monkey park’.
This was a beautifully Ronsil name for a spot packed with Macaques being fed fruit by excitable visitors. Much to my amusement, one Macaque went ape-shit on a young lad who got too close. The furry little thug tried to mug said child for his jumper, as well as the mandarins he was offering. Zach was in the splash zone, getting a front row seat to this entertaining anarchy. The kid was impressively cool as a cucumber, brushing off his encounter and moving on to a (notably smaller) Macaque in the next tree.
Paying penance for our laziness, we walked back to the shuttle bus stop, happily munching on some tasty, spicy tofu and being surrounded by a flurry of colourful butterflies. Or if you are Zachary Thomas Ward, ‘day moths’, a creature to be loathed as much as their nighttime equivalent. I however, felt like a Disney princess.
The next stop through the weaving roads took us to Bailong elevator – a 326m glass elevator that whizzed you up past more mountains in a rapid 1min 32 secs, dropping Zach’s stomach even closer to his feet. This is very much the theme of the next two posts btw, so strap in lads!
A confusing shuttle bus mix-up later, and we managed to finally get to our desired location, a section called Yuanjiajie, the area where the mountains are supposed to be at their most ‘Avatar-like’ and have the best viewing points.
As it was a bit later in the day, most people were heading home and gratefully this popular section wasn’t too crowded. Our cluelessness had finally come up trumps! Viewpoint after breathetaking viewpoint gave us scenery stunning enough to inspire a whole new planet and a tale of the alien-like people who live there. I can see why James Cameron came away with such a story.
We meandered around the pristine walkways, stopping to cross the red ribbon-laden ‘No.1 bridge in the world’ and a longevity pool where you can buy a goldfish and unceremoniously toss it from fish bowl to pond in a bid for immortality. At £1 a fish, we admired the business acumen of the shop owner and wondered if she spent her evenings scooping the fish back out the pond, ready for resale and re-release the following day…
What goes up, must always come down and the glass elevator was the only exit from this section of the park, so we forked out for Zach’s final gut flip of the day. You can hike back down but it was a Chinese 3.5km and by this point, darkness was starting to fall and we’d proven ourselves to be a navigational liability enough for one day.
The journey back was made more entertaining by a young girl and her family who we’d befriended during our wanderings. Like the narrator character in a video game, she seemed to appear at every new section giving us a big wave and a ‘HELLO!’ By the time we’d shared the final elevator trip together she’d plucked up the courage to ask us where we were from. ‘England’ generated an excited response from her and her family, the like of which I’ve only seen by fans when Beyonce drops a fierce new album or when Zach is within inhaling distance from food.
A photo HAD to happen.
We’d been in many snaps with friendly Chinese folk by this point, but hadn’t thought to take pics for our own memories. We changed this on this particular occasion:
Nice to meet you little Li Jian Ji!
H&Z x
Watchouts:
- As I said, the section we covered didn’t feel very ‘off the beaten track’ if those kinds of hikes are your vibes. It’s naturally much quieter away from the viewing platforms and I imagine the other sections of the park that we didn’t see might offer a much wilder hiking experience.
- There are Maccy Ds & KFCs etc. at different points. We found this mostly amusing but it is a bit of an odd thing to get your head around with a stunning view one direction and a Happy Meal in the other.
- Once you’re in the park you can hike about for free and get the shuttle buses for free, but you have to pay extra for any other transport – Elevator, cableway, tram etc. This can be done using Alipay! Costs in the link below.
- If we went again, I would hike the ’10 Mile Gallery’ over the route we took to reach the ‘Southern Heavenly Gate’. It was cool to see but mostly it was just downward, endless stairs, with very few views and felt like we were stuck in limbo for a while!
Links:
Costs: £125.27 for 3 nights & 3 breakfasts, shuttle to the National Forest Park, free map and souvenir (& the loveliest host!)
National Park website & costs – Don’t forget your passport!
The Awkward Travellers 
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