Travels with Kathryn

First question: have you seen Avatar? If not, please go watch it and then come back to this post.

In the interim, I will mention again how delightful my hotel is. I am staying within the Zhangjiajie National Park and its lovely. I was also most impressed with breakfast, although I did not manage to say quickly enough that I did not want coffee – however, I did manage to explain that yes, I did want my noodles spicy.

Right, now that everyone has watched Avatar – I can begin. It may interest some of you to know that I have actually been to Pandora. I have even linked (via an avatar) to a Na’vi and ridden a banshee. Fine. This was in Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Steph, but I wanted to create the mood.

I was due to be picked up at 9am by my guide, but evidently a call to the hotel was made that they would need to drive me down the windy road (to be fair its very steep and there have been some land slides partially blocking sections) which they did – did I mention how great this hotel is? Anyway, at the bottom I was transferred over to my guide (like a parcel) and evidently arrangements were made for me to be collected later today. So, note reference to a guide – having done some last minute research on the train, guides were strongly recommended unless you could speak/read Mandarin because once in the park you are reliant on shuttle buses/other forms of transportation which would be “challenge” to navigate on your own. I have therefore TMaP’d and hence engaged the services of Lulu plus driver and off we went…

For most Westerners, the reason they come to Zhangjiajie National Park is because this is the place that inspired the world of Pandora in the film Avatar. It is also beautiful, so even without that, its always been very much on the tourist trail. Zhangjiajie National Park is part of Wulingyuan, and this is China’s first national park created in 1982 (China being a little late to that party) and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. It is famous for its quartzite-sanstone pillars which are a result of many years of physical erosion through expanding ice in the winter, and the plants that grown on them – it is very moist here (the climate, the people, me…). Wulingyan is 153.5 m2 and has more than 3,000 of these pillars, with many over 200m in height.

I really can not describe how amazing the scenery is and have taken many millions of photos, which in no way capture it, but a small selection I will include here. I will, therefore, try to waffle on about what I actually saw and general observations. For example, I am in a National Park, and you would think that would require hiking? Well, not really, as this is China, and for such small people, they seem reluctant to walk anyway. In fact, there would have been some hiking opportunities, which I was very much onboard with, but due to the recent flooding, many of the routes are blocked.

After taking our first shuttle bus from the main entrance, we took a cable car up the Tianzi Mountain (which means Heaven Son Mountain or Emperor Mountain). The highest pillar is Kunlun Peak with an elevation of 1,262.5m and the whole mountain(s) take up around 67km2.

The top of the montain also includes the tomb of Marshal He Long – I had to go away and look into him as it seemed of great interest to the Chinese tourists. He was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and as a “Marshal” he was one of the 10 vetren generals of the army and a key compatriot of Chairman Mao rising to “vice premier”. During the Cultural Revolution, he was killed whilst under arrest. The reason for his tomb being here (other than the fact that he was from Huan) is because Mao “rehabilitated” him in 1974 and even now has a sports staduim named after him. Also, given the fanciness of his tomb (including a long bronze statue with horse) the rehabilitation has gones pretty far!

Anyway, whilst there were quite a few people nowhere near what I had expected and it was easy enough to find a quiet spot to take many photos:

Now we would have then “hiked” down the mountain to the next stop the Ten Mile Gallery, but as the path has been blocked post flooding it was back down the mountain via cable car and then by shuttle bus. So, here there was a walking option, but I was persuaded to take the monorail – mostly because it was animal shapped and I do love an animal shaped vehicle opportunity.

I was very happy just looking at the mountains, but some of them have been given names and there were various attempts to get me to see a hand, or 3 sisters, or an old man. I eventually just said “oh yes, I see it now”.

Also, at the end of the gallery there is the “monkey garden” as Zhangjiajie is known for its wild macaque monkeys and we do like a monkey. I possibly should have taken my monkey to meet the monkeys, but he may have been a little intimidated…

Back on another shuttle bus to the Golden Whip Stream which is so named as it fows from Golden Whip Rock – however, again, the path is blocked so you can only walk about 1km down the stream and the water is too high to make any of the crossing points safe. I am sure this would have been amazing in better weather – its hot and sticky, but there is a light drizzling…

Our final stop of today (well, Zhangjiajie stop) was to take the Bailong Elevator (which means “hundred dragons sky lift”) up the (now renamed) Avatar Hallelujah Mountain – now who says the Chinese haven’t embraced capitalisim? This is the world’s tallest outdoor lift ascending 326m. I was very proud of my elbowing skills to make it to the front of the lift (politeness knows no place in Chinese tourist sites) on both my ascent and decent. Now, the descent was only required as, again, the bus/hiking route down the mountain has been blocked. Whilst it’s a little frustrating, I am just relieved that I managed a relatively dry day today as I had expected far worse (and worse is forecast for tomorrow, unfortunately).

After all that awe-inspiring nature, it was time for some lunch – the local specialities of this area are hot pot and smoked pork. Hot pot here is not really a 1-person dish, so I opted for the smoked pork with a side of greenery. Well, it was absolutely delicious, and I even have some leftovers (which they insisted I take with me) for dinner.

Our final stop of the day was to sample some local teas. I am starting to get well versed in this, and when I am offered another tea visit on another tour, I will be confident to decline. However, there is a local “berry” tea of this area which I have purchased some to take home (and enjoy in my teapot) as its really very odd – the first few sips are bitter, but then you get a sweet taste in the back of your mouth which stays with you for hours. Most interesting. Also, and perhaps more importantly, Tujia people have used it for over 600 years, believing it to be a longevity vine or immortal grass so I am sure it will work wonders…

Anyway, as you may have gathered, I have been writing this in my room post another bath (well, there was one and it had a view and everything). Soon, it may be time for dinner (as mentioned above) and retiring to bed before another packed day of being out in the nature tomorrow. Today was absolutely incredible – I am still doing my: I am so privileged to be here and see this. Maybe next time when I come back, I will actually do some hiking! I also intend to stay in this hotel, only for far longer…