Zhangjiajie – China’s Avatar Mountains

With Comments In Bold And Italic By Dave

With comments by (Dave in bold in parenthesis)

After a terrible visibility day at Tianmenshan we were really pleading with mother nature to work with us a little bit (C’mon Ma N!). And on our way to Zhangjiajie she finally seemed to have cooperated.

On our way to the mountain, we approached at least 3 people at the bus station trying to figure out where to go. It was then that one of the “miracles” of China took over. Everyone grabbed our ticket, discussed among themselves, and communally ushered us into the right direction. It’s offensive and heartwarming at the same time (much like China itself).

After a mini van ride where, as usual, we were the only foreigners on board, we finally got to the park, purchased our incredibly expensive 240 rmb ($40) tickets, and were on our way.

The ticket is valid for 3 days, an optimal amount of time to explore the park (if you have the time). We planned to spend (not 1, but) 2 nights in a hostel on the summit – meaning we’d (I’d) have to carry our bags all day on the first and last day (we did leave one bag back at the hostel in the city thankfully) but since Dave couldn’t be without a computer for more than 8 hours we brought the netbook with us (how else am I going to keep myself occupied ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN).

The sun was starting to peak through the clouds and the heavy fog from the previous day’s excursion seemed to have lifted. Sheila, a part time employee at our hostel in the city (part time angel sent from Heaven to guide us), outlined our entire 3 day route for us!

A pleasant slow paced 3 hour stroll through the Golden Whip Stream at ground level ensued.

80 photos of adorable monkeys and we finally reached the end of ground level Zhangjiajie.

As seems to be common in the national parks and mountains in China, these sites are incredibly commercialized.

We wouldn’t need to hike up to the top of the peaks, instead we would take a bus to the glass elevator which would shoot us up to the top in less than a minute. All for a small price of course (Glass/rocket elevator = tots worth it).

Glass elevators in the middle of a national park? I know, I was surprised too (I saw it coming).

With all the pushing and shoving (mainly from Vicky) I made sure to get my face as close to the glass as possible – I wanted to have the best view.

50 seconds whizzed by and we were at the top. Not a drop of sweat wasted.

From the top it’s another bus to the Avatar Mountain view points – essentially pathways winding around opening up to amazing views of the unique and extraordinary scenery.

Truly unreal. I can see what James Cameron was thinking (yet unfortunately you did not make millions). You can just imagine these things floating in the air.

And the Avatar aspect is definitely played up. With photo points where you can perch yourself on top of one of the mythical birds, or posters plastered all over with the faces of the main characters, even the Chinese know these as the Avatar mountains.

I just gazed at them in awe. Trying to run my eyes over every inch of these structures I couldn’t believe that nature could work in such fascinating ways.

It’s going to sound corny, but these are truly the moments that make every bit of travel worth it and incredibly rewarding (it’s true…that was corny).

Now for the hard part – finding the hostel.

With our Chinese map in hand we started asking for directions and eventually were on the right bus and shown where to get off (China Miracle). From there we followed a road seemingly leading to nowhere until we reached what looked like a small run down village (i.e nowhere). A few turns here and there, some bickering between Dave and I, and we landed at the Baije hostel (the sister hostel of the one we stayed at in the city below).

Little did we know our room would be bone-chillingly cold. Somehow these rooms absorb none of the sunshine from the warm days and stay cold, sun or not. Not knowing we could have rented an electric blanket, we wore all our layers and just shivered non stop for the entire night (it really was quite miserable).

What’s for dinner? We were led to a cooking room across from the hostel where we could only communicate by pointing to the ingredients we wanted in our meal. The guy at the hostel spoke a few key words “pork, tomato, egg, soup” etc so we were able to get by.

As for the chef himself? This was a man who was never seen without a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

The kind of man who…

• Doesn’t even ash, just lets that cigarette burn and burn until the ash falls off on its own.
• You imagine wearing a dirty undershirt and going unshaven for 5-6 days at a time.
• You see kill a chicken with his bare hands and a sharp knife, all the while with a cigarette lodged between his lips.

This man was our only hope for a hot meal.

And to be fair, not a bad meal he did prepare (a damn good chef and an even better chain smoker).

We had a great first day in the park, and though shivering, we did eventually fall asleep, hats, gloves, jackets and all.

With days 2 and 3 we took it easy and explored the other areas of the park. All the while everyone we encountered was incredibly helpful and we never had any problems finding our way around (are we still in China?). With the extensive and frequent bus system it’s easy to get around to the various areas of the park and though the views are similar throughout there is no way not to be amazed by them.

Logistics:

We got into the Zhangjiajie train station and took bus number 6 (leaves from the parking lot) to the Baije Hostel. The bus ride should only be 10-15 minutes and you’ll see a huge plaza to your right with a giant black leopard up at the top and the A-Best Supermarket down in the basement level. Get off there, walk up the stairs on the right side and you will see signs for Baije Hostel which is up on the 4th floor of a building. At the hostel ask for Sheila the English speaking part time worker, and she will be able to help you plan your stay at the park. Ask Sheila to write down how to ask for the bus to the park and how to ask for a car to the rice terraces.

The hostel sells maps of the park for 2 yuan (only in Chinese) but still worth buying since you can use it to ask for directions.

There are minibuses that leave for the park from the bus station in the morning when they are full (we left at 8:15am) taking 45 minutes to get to the park. Take bus 6 back to the train station and across the street is the bus station.

At the park after purchasing tickets take the Golden Whip Stream route and it should take 3 hours.

From there you will see signs for the Bailong Elevator, over to the left. You will see metal partitions and wait there for the bus to the elevator. At the stop, purchase tickets (50-60 yuan) and take the elevator up.

To avoid taking the elevator there is a left fork going off of the Golden Whip Stream where you can walk up 3000 steps instead up to the top, but you will miss out on close to half of the Golden Whip Stream route.

After the elevator take the bus to the next stop – and walk along the various paths, including the Greatest Natural Bridge until another bus stop.

From there you can take the bus to the hostel (should be the next stop). Make sure to show the bus driver where you want to get off so you don’t end up on the other side of the mountain. Once you get off the bus, follow the path on the right for 5 minutes and you will reach a small village, take the first turn on your right and then another turn right. You will see Baije hostel on your left – a white 1 story building. Double rooms are 80 yuan. You will be able to order meals there, just talk to the guy at the hostel.

On the second day you can hire a car (100-120 yuan roundtrip) to the rice terraces part or just walk there from the hostel (2-3 hour walk)

For the second part of the day take the bus to the Yuanjiajie area, walk the route to the Wulong village, then to the One Step to Heaven and the Corridor in the Cliffs routes.

On the third day you could take the bus to the Tianzi mountain area and walk along the pathways there before taking the cable car down (50-60 yuan).

To avoid the cable car you could take the walking route though it is said to be 8000 steps.

After the cable car take a bus to the 10 mile gallery region (this can be skipped if you are short on time). Avoid the train here, and take the walking route which will take 1 hour there and back.

From the 10 mile gallery area take a bus down to the bottom. There catch bus number 1 to the bus station. Just ask the driver where you should get off.

From the bus station you will take a minibus back into Zhangjiajie city (50 minutes) and it will drop you off at the main bus station (walk straight and turn right to get to the train station)

We spent 3 days in the park, but everything we did could be done in two days. There are many different trails at the park but we saw the main parts.

English Map of Zhangjiajie is available here (can be confusing since it doesn’t show elevation)

There are signs in English throughout the park and as long as you have a map with Chinese characters you should have no problem asking for directions.

If you are spending the night in the park bring a light bag and be prepared to carry it for several hours both on the first and last day. The hostels are located at the top of the mountain so unless you pay a porter to carry them up for you, you will have to walk for several hours with them.