10th November: Zhangjiajie, China
I’ve got a new translation app on my phone, which is astonishingly good. The hotel owner helped me to install it and was very surprised that I had the various pre-requisites. It was worth the effort of the time spent in Qatar bypassing the app store (and its warnings) to do hard manual installs. You speak into this app in either English or Chinese and it immediately and accurately translates verbally. We tested this out right away and found it very easy to get breakfast of millet porridge and bananas and some takeaway lunch of rice-filled dumplings.
I’m still coming to terms with what we actually did today. I’d ruled out ever coming to Zhangjiajie (officially Wulingyuan Scenic Area) because it’s both expensive and looked outlandishly scary for someone with a fear of heights. Well, I spent most of the day in a simultaneous state of fear and awe, but we actually did it! I’ll try to explain.
After getting our snacks, we walked down to the park entrance and scanned our passports and faces. As ever in China, the passport was the ticket. Pre-booking meant we’d saved a bit of money, but it was still £50 each for a 3-day pass. This is way over our usual budget but there just isn’t anywhere else in the world like this. Once we were in, everything all day was face recognition. This included your allotment of toilet roll every time you went in!
We joined the queue, which wasn’t too bad by Chinese 5A attraction standards (another planning success!) and hopped on our first bus. Our tickets include unlimited transport and, as you’ll see, this isn’t just buses. We ascended many hairpins up past a tall dam to our chosen entrance. As soon as we walked off, a troop of 8 monkeys came from all directions. One leapt at someone’s bag and another hung from the ceiling.
Before I was really aware of where we were, we were boarding a lift inside the base of the mountain. I thought we’d go up a bit first but suddenly realised that this was actually the (in)famous Baidong Elevator itself. This double decker glass lift travels 326 metres upwards, the second half of which is on the outside of the mountain! It’s the world’s tallest outdoor lift, is glazed on three sides, and I’d thought it completely bonkers when I’d seen photos and videos. Well, here we were, speeding upwards in the dark. Suddenly, everyone got excited, and I made myself look. The views were incredible and, from the very back, not actually that scary. I couldn’t see down, and the journey passed mercifully quickly. We were back on solid(ish) ground. The alternative walk to reach the top takes around 3 hours, so 90 seconds of clenching and sweating was perhaps worth it! I still can’t believe I actually did it.
The light wasn’t the best from this side as most peaks were to the south, into the late morning sun. Still, seeing peaks hundreds of metres tall from above barely felt real. This was only accentuated by being at the top without having put any real effort in. We moved on quickly to try to get away from the tour groups. Our route now meant we had to walk across a bridge between two mountains, with a drop of seemingly at least 300 metres. I looked at my feet and pretended it was a perfectly normal walk, until the middle where there were gaps to see down!! No going back, we were across. From here, we had the prime view of what is now called ‘Hallelujah Mountain’, after mountains of the same name in Avatar which it itself inspired.
The drop to the valley floor was mind-bending. Dozens of needle peaks rose, with trees hanging from every ledge. This quartz sandstone landscape has formed due to millions of years of physical erosion, primarily through freeze-thaw and action by the plants which cling to the rocks. This makes it quite different from the karst landscapes found more widely across southeast Asia and beyond. The height and density of the pillars here are also far more impressive than other sandstone landscapes around the world. Another unique feature is that, due to the height and subtropical location, the vegetation changes from the bottom to top of the pillars.
To get from location to location there are somehow buses at the top, along with restaurants and a whole tourist village. After the next bus, it was time for me to confront my fears again. A round trip on a cable car! I began with my eyes closed but couldn’t help but take a look once more. Peaks rose all around us and it felt as if we truly were in Avatar, flying between floating mountains.
By late afternoon, the light was gorgeous. We’re extremely lucky to have sunny 22C weather for our three days here. It rained all of last week until yesterday and is forecast to start again the day after we leave. It even snowed at this time last year! Looking from Yunqing Rock and the many nearby platforms, we even found some tranquillity away from the crowds to breathe in the scene.
We had to take one final cable car back down. This was way scarier, so I had to keep my eyes closed for most of it! Eventually though, we were down and I could start processing exactly where we’d been. Still two days of this to go! Once back in town, we found a few lovely vegetable dishes to complement all of the rice we’d already snacked on throughout today. A lovely cucumber salad with garlic and soy balanced perfectly with some silken tofu, pickled radish, and fresh pak choi. Delicious! It’s so nice to enjoy food again and begin to feel its benefits.
