Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
The main attraction in Zhangjiajie did not disappoint! Coming from New Zealand I didn't expect to be blown away by the views, but I can honestly say this was the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's completely different from any scenery I've seen before, and it's one of those places that photos do no justice to at all - you really have to be there and see it to take in all of the beauty. My two favourite peaks were Tianzi Mountain and Tianbo Mansion.
The climb up Tianzi Mountain was quite strenuous especially as we were planning on taking it easy that day and just exploring some of the low lying areas. By mistake however, we started climbing one of the tallest peaks in the park! We kept thinking we had to almost be at the top because we were seeing Chinese people coming down wearing beautiful clothes without a trace of sweat on their faces. We should have questioned though how there were all of these people coming down, and barely any going up. When we reached the top we realised the peak was also accessible by cable car and most of those people we had seen walking down, were only doing the descent after taking the cable car up. It was definitely worth the climb though and each lookout point we got to on the way seemed increasingly more beautiful than the last. When we reached the bottom again we got on a bus to go back to the hostel in Wulingyuan and a man asked us if the water was cold, we were so confused until we realised we were so soaked in sweat he thought we'd been swimming in the river!
Tianbo Mansion is on the other side of the park and from there the views were even more spectacular because you could get a 360° view. It was quite difficult to get to this lookout point as it wasn't a normal climb like Tianzi Mountain. There were rocks to squeeze between, ladders to climb and paths very close to the edges.
Although those were my top two walks and viewpoints, the other tracks didn't disapoint either. When climbing the Shadao Channel we came across a big black and yellow snake sliding across the path! Safe to say it sped us up and the second half of the climb went a lot quicker. On a cuter wildlife note, there were lots of little monkeys throughout the whole park scuttling around!
Another point of interest was the Bailong Elevator - I tried to avoid using any of these gimmicks while in the park but after climbing the Shadao Channel we found we didn't have enough time to leave the park by closing time unless we took the elevator. It actually turned out to be quite an exciting ride and the view was yet again quite breathtaking. It's an elevator built into the side of one of the mountains which runs down into the actual mountain - they claim it's the world's highest elevator but in China most things I've seen seem to have some kind of title so who knows if that's actually the case haha.
Tianmen Shan
I spent my last night in Zhangjiajie city so I could go up Tianmen Mountain early the next morning. Another title elert here - the cable car up the mountain is supposedly the longest in the world. I opted to take the bus up the mountain and cable car down. The bus ride itself was quite spectacular, you travel up a rode known as the Road of 99 Bends and it certainly was windy!
When you reach the top of the mountain you're immediately faced with the Stairway to Heaven which is a staircase of 999 steps leading up to a huge hole in the rock called Tianmen Cave (also the highest hole of it's sort in the world - because it's China and everything needs a title). If you then continue up on the escalator which is built into the mountain (!!!), you come to the actual peak where most of the cliff-hanging walkways and the glass walkways are. The views from the cliff-hanging walkways were amazing because it was as if you were really wthin the view, not like you were standing at a viewpoint like usual but as if you were floating there. The glass-walkway was a fun gimmick but nothing special, the view was much more interesting over the sides than down upon tree tops
Overall Tianmen Shan was worth the visit but after the 3 days at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park it was very underwheming. The crowds were intense and there were so many gimmicks that took away from the actual beauty of the area. Although there were also crowds and gimmicks at the National Park, it was much easier to avoid them - many of the walking tracks were empty as most Chinese touirsts seem to find the cable cars more attractive and you can get around without using the elevator or passing by too many touristy shops if you plan the day out well.
