12th November: Zhangjiajie, China to Shenzhen, China
Our final day in Zhangjiajie began with a chilled start. Breakfast consisted of my new favourite – millet porridge – some oranges and another fruit we’ve been keen to try. Ever since Xi’An we’ve seen fluorescent orange plums (we think) for sale. Unfortunately, these turned out to have a very strong floral flavour and we couldn’t manage more than a couple of bites. No fruit or snacks are quite the flavour you expect in China!
We had a few hours to spare before our late afternoon train, so decided to hop on the bus and walk a valley we’d not yet been to. The so called ‘10-mile gallery’ actually had a hilarious/annoying cartoon monorail, which we had to walk alongside. Ignoring this though, the views were ethereal. The weather today was more overcast, and the landscape took on a whole different personality. Each peak was isolated from the background by the haze. Many of the pillars have exceptionally descriptive names, such as ‘two tortoises gazing on stream’ or ‘old man picking herbs’, and the origin of each is often visible if you squint a bit.
After a couple of hours, we caught the return bus back to Wulingyuan. The crowds were sparse today, so there was no queuing. One issue in town is pavement parking, which seems to be a growing problem the world over. It infuriates me that people claim public space as storage for private possessions, preventing safe passage in the meantime. Perhaps one solution would be for cities to randomly cut cars in half, exactly down the pavement line. I don’t think anyone would risk it then!
Lunch options were a bit limited, but we did find a place that made a tofu and cabbage soup, a delicious slightly spicy aubergine and bean dish, and rice. We also had some grated fried potato, but this was raw and tasteless.
A few snacks acquired for the road, we jumped in a DiDi for Zhangjiajie West Station. This rural station still has 12 platforms and a sizable concourse with row after row of giant massage chairs! Darkness was descending as we left for the provincial capital, Changsha, but there was still enough light to make out a final few northern Hunan peaks before heading south. After getting off to transfer at Changsha, we were momentarily panicked when our onward train wasn’t on the departure boards. After a few minutes, we realised that we had to go to a different part of this big old station. There it was. Phew! I went off in search of food and got completely lost as, just on this side of the station, there were 4 waiting rooms on 2 floors, plus a central concourse space. I was relieved to first find vegetable baos and then also find my way back to Kaja with them. At 20:45, we boarded our sleeper train bound for Shenzhen and our route to the border with Hong Kong!
