Not too long ago I was in an area of China where I was expecting to come
across a dragon or some huge monster.
This past weekend I was able to get to a different location but this
time it was possible to run into something not from Earth. This place is known as Zhangjiajie. It is a little ways down south to get there
but luckily I had three days off this last week. The reason for the extra day off is because
of a holiday known as Tomb Sweeping Day which is simply a day to show respect
to ancestors. With this extra day I was
able to make a further trip away from where I live.
After an overnight train and two
buses later I ended up in a smaller town called Wulingyuan. This was my destination because it is one of
the entrances to Zhangjiajie National Park.
This particular park is known as China’s first national park and is a
giant expanse of some interesting scenery.
This park is located in Hunan providence which is two providences south
of Shandong providence where I live.
Since it is further south it does have a different type of climate. The park is located in a subtropical climate
and it was actually cooler down there than up north where I live. Now this could be the combination of the
higher elevation in the mountains and the rainy weather. The park itself is broken up into five scenic
areas called Huangshizhai, Golden Whip Stream, Yaozizhai, Yuanjiajie, and
Yangjiajie. Before talking about the park
itself I want to describe my first day’s activities up in Wulingyuan.
Wulingyuan is actually
a part of Wulingyuan scenic area which according to zhangjiajietourism.us
consists of three parts: Zhangjiajie National Park, Suoxiyu Nature Reserve, and
Tianzi Mountain Natural Reserve. With
the two days I had down there I spent most of my time seeing these parts and
that is because I thought this would be the best route to see the most. After arriving in Wulingyuan I headed
directly to Huang Long Dong. This
translates to Yellow Dragon Cave which is a typical Karst cave, an area of
irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, underground
streams, and caverns. It is the biggest
cave I have been in. There was a lot of colors inside but some of that was due
to the addition of lights. It was neat
to see the different shapes of the limestone that has been created. Plus taking the boat through the cave for a
little bit was neat. After the long day
of travelling and not arriving till later in the afternoon by the time I
finished the cave it was close to six at night.
This meant no visiting Zhangjiajie park that day. After finding some accommodation and eating
dinner I went to bed to rest up for the early start the next day.
The next day I was at
the ticket office shortly after it opened at seven o’clock. My original plan was to do Tianzi Mountain
firth then go to Yuanjiajie. It didn’t
work out that way and that is because after seeing where the free shuttle
busses could go that wasn’t an option.
These shuttle buses take you to the start of a trailhead and usually at
the end of that particular area there could be another bus to take you
somewhere else. This is nice for the
size of this particular park but unfortunately China has made a lot of places
too touristy by adding steps, busses, cable cars, and other random unnecessary
things taking away from the natural scenery.
Anyway, so I ended up going first to Bailong elevator, hoping at the end
of this there would be a bus to Tianzi Mountain. This particular elevator is built onto the
side of a huge cliff and does claim to be the tallest glass elevator. Going up this elevator you get to look out
and see the mountains. This is where I
could slowly start to see where I could run into some extra-terrestrials. Once at the top of this elevator the view was
neat and with the rainy and cloudy conditions it did add a unique feeling.
The bus after the
Bailong area took me to the Yuanjiajie area.
At this point in the day it was raining and thee was a lot of fog
floating around. The fog did add an
interesting trait as if I wasn’t on Earth anymore but the fog did also abstract
the view. One neat thing was standing on
a viewing platform and only seeing fog and then all of a sudden with help from
the wind the fog was cleared to reveal the Karst mountains. The fog didn’t stay gone for long and within
a minute the view was gone. So going
along this area there are quite a few viewing platforms with a some sort of
view, unfortunately the weather at this time wasn’t the greatest. Some of the names of the more well known
views in this area includes Back Garden, Mihun Stage, and First Bridge under
the Sun.
After making it to the
end of this area the next bus took me to Tianzi Mountain which is the original
destination I wanted to see first. About
a forty minute bus ride later I was on top of Tianzi Mountain. Up here there were some more lookouts with
neat names such as Imperial Brushes, floral tributes by fairies, and some other
names. These look outs have these names
because without cloud or fog obstruction the mountain do look like the various
names given them. If I was thee at the
right moment the fog would somewhat disperse getting a picture opportunity and shortly
after no visibility. This area was
somewhat of a letdown because I thought these was more to see.
Next I was trying to
get to the western side of the park in order to see the Golden Whip
Stream. That was my plan of attack but
it didn’t end up happening because the shuttle buses are hard to navigate. Instead I ended up back at Yuanjiajie not
realizing that the first time I was there it was named that. I went in a different route and everything
looked a lot different, and this is because the rain had stopped and it turned
into a clear day. So without planning it
I saw you could say ‘before and after pictures’ of the same area. So I quickly went through and took some more
pictures.
I tried a different
route to try and get to the Whipping Stream, and again with no luck this time I
ended up at a place called Ten Mile Gallery.
It’s not a ten mile hike but instead only 5.8 km long. Along this path the mountains are closer
together making more range like mountains instead of individual unique
mountains sticking out. Plus towards the
end of this little route I saw some monkeys.
I have no clue what type of monkeys but they were pretty neat. The end of this there is a path up that leads
to the top of Tianzi Mountain and so I went up a little ways to the first
platform with a view. After this I had
to make my way back the same way through the Ten Mile Gallery in order to leave
the park. I ended up leaving the park
around 5:30 in the afternoon having seen pretty much everything I could reach
from the Wulingyuan entrance.
This is one place I do
hope to get back to see again and instead go in a different entrance. The chance to see the Golden Whip Stream and
a few other key spots would be neat and possibly with better weather. I was able to see the spots that make it
unique and what people picture when they hear Zhangjiajie. This is the Karst mountains with the unique
shapes. If you remember back my first
encounter with Karst mountains in China was in Yangshou where I was expecting a
dragon. This blog I have been
referencing aliens and that is because of something James Cameroon said about
Zhangjiajie. He basically said
Zhangjiajie was one area where he did get his inspiration when creating his
world for Avatar. So it easily could
have been possible that the aliens were using the fog to keep their identities
hidden.
I am currently writing this on the train heading back home. I have about eleven more hours to go but luckily I have a bed to get some sleep before work tomorrow. I plan to type this up tomorrow and sort through the pictures to post {*it took two days to get the pictures and words together}. Plus I am going to look at the weather forecast so hopefully on my next weekend (Monday and Tuesday are my typical days off) I will be hiking a famous mountain. The mountain is located in my providence and so not long to get there. Even with the rain and fog this trip it is spring time and so great weather to do some travelling, hence why I have been out of town a lot. I will write later.
