SATURDAY 4TH APRIL 2015
which closes are after 6 and so you must go to the front of the station nd get a bus back down to the city. failed to get a warm shower :( and borrowed an extra duvet from the top bunk as there is still only Rosie and I in the room. but its cold! and sooo wet
as they say in China. "drenched like duck/chicken" xiang luotangji yiyang 像落汤鸡一样
Saturday 5th April ZHANGJIAJIE 张家界 Tianzi Shan天子山
The warning about the monkeys are in fact, not to be taken lightly (I laughed when i first read the signs)
we thankfully got to a pit stop with a restaurant half way up one of the main stair climbs (full of trees and monkey families on the climb) just as a particularly heavy down pour begin. [ the climb is tiring to say the least, you need to be prepared and a bit fit, not a walk in the park but there are expensive sedans that will carry you, however the price is often approximated by weight, so the slimmer you are the cheaper i guess, also if you arent a foreigner, they all believe we are super rich...they clearly dont understand my student life of no money!) , I practiced some chinese with the locals, and made some happy by allowing photos (they are obsessed with foreigners (waiguoren 外国人）, still often a rarity i guess, especially fair hair blondes with greenblue eyes i guess) they actually invited us to join them for food! we declined however and continued on as the rained eased., climbing upwards and onwards past the "Back garden" & "enchanting" seeing some beautiful pillars at times, as it was often difficult to see due to the heavy rains and mist, and of course the higher you go up, you begin to also be in the clouds!
we really only saw a glimpses of the famous "Heavenly Pillar" (aka James Cameron's Avatar HALLELUJAH MOUNTAIN" +Avatar
we could see, and walked over "THE GREATEST NATURAL BRIDGE" Which was in fact a small natural bridge most likely caused by erosion over the millions of years (Rosie study GeoSciences) we barely realized we had as with the trees and the weather (unable to see the area below us due to cloud and mist) as its sort of part of the mountain route path. the small "island mountain" is enclosed with safety barricades (its one huge deathly sheer drop) and has been turned into a love lock pillar, you can buy and engrave locks for it there.longevity (love) lock mountain at least 80% of it was covered, with locks hanging off locks! with a "love" statue as centre piece. +Love Lock Wedding
we continued back around and crossed a suspending ropebridge, not for the weak hearted, especially whne all you can see below is the nothingness of mist! the main famous pillar area's viewing point is an area where you can get a photo of you riding one of the Avatar mounts and they photoshop it to perfection. heavily raining with lots of cloud and mist coverage it was pointless at that time, however peope were sill getting it to say they had been there. stupid really.
natural bridge
Monday 6th April [Easter Monday] Zhangjiajie Tianmen mountain
we left with the 2 girls sharing our room for tianmen famous for its glass bridge, both chinese students from Guangdong in the South of China near Hongkong. it was raining already at half 8. the journey to the mountain is done via cable car, apparently the longest in the world with a journey time of 30 mins, to a height of over 1500m. paying a student entrance in of 158RMB including 3rmb for insurance. we waited downstairs and then up in the queue for the cable car, it was ridiculous! only 8 per car at a time. the view up was lovely, the mountainous area surrounding us and the town disappearing the higher we went and the further we got. there was a huge beautiful waterfall, a stunning sight to behold. unfortunately the rain got worse and then we disappeared above the clouds and into the mist, unable to see anything, on past the mid way stop and near the top stop. we got out and could barely see anything. going to the west and looking at the villa, we could barely see 3 ft in front of us, unable to make out people nearby or where to go, it was crazy, i felt like i was in the horror movie "the mist" or "silent hill" we decided to go right first hoping that by the time we were round to the East we would be able to see the sights below on the glass bridge. we could see nothing of the sights as we walked around. looking down was all white, it was eery and confusing to behold. not to mention freezing and very wet! the odd names of areas continued, just like at Zhangjiajie, there was an area called "love between the rocks and trees" I really dont know where they come up with some of these names?!
we were able to sort of see the Tianmen temple area, barely even though it was large and colourful, dripping wet and bitterly cold we could at least see the temple inside, but again the outside was deep thick hazy mist. round at the East side we still could not see anything nearly an our on, see like we were floating in the middle of nowhere when on the bridges. on the suspended bridge we walked across with a biting wind that shook the bridge! to actually use the glass bridge you have to pay an extra 5rmb, and put on shoe coverings which were sodden due to the rain. we saw nothing but the white beneath us. bit pointless i guess. we queued up again and got the cable car to the mid section grabbing a seat in the free and nicely heated bus to the "gate" driving up the famous "99 bends" as we were below the clouds now we could actually see the surroundings, the beautiful green mountain landscapes, the waterfalls, all in views from either side with the bends curving to show all. with a small lake area far below. after 1 minute we arrived. again barely able to see as the clouds had come back, covering the sight and hiding the tops of the 999 steps to the summit. as time was running short we decided against walking it, however the clouds shifted and we were able to view some of the sights and surrounding waterfalls below. and one point we were even able to see the cave hole at the top, to huge cheers from the crowd gathered at the bottom. though this didnt last long for only a few photos. e headed back down thankfully the rain had ceased but we were still cold and freezing. the queue was ridiculous, we waited outside on the stairs for a while. inside some young chinese kids were playing beside the queue, playing some sort of grotesque "lets spit on each other" game. thankfully they stopped. time was short, so we bunked the queue slightly as the chinese girls had a train to catch at 5 and Rosie and myself around 6. it worked and we were able to head back down sooner than if we had waited patiently. rushed back to the hostel before saying our farewells to each other and heading to the train station.
