Zhangjiajie is located in the northwestern part of the Hunan Province. The WuLingYuan Scenic Area is located here and it is considered to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My main observation of Zhangjiajie, they have a slightly different dialect/version of Mandarin. I was only able to understand the gist of what the people were saying...aka 1/3.
Our first stop: Tianmen Mountain (天门山)
This is located in Tianmen Mountain National Park. The cable car we took to the top of the mountain is dubbed as "the longest cableway of high mountains in the world." Also located in the Mountain National Park is the Tianmenshan Temple, cliff paths encircling the mountian, as well as a stairway to the Tianmen Mountain "Doorway to Heaven." However, since it rained when we went, we were not able to see the "natural bridge"or the glass floor on the mountain. We did manage to see the door, but we did not have enough time to head down and actually walk up to the door.
The view from the cableway. It is definitely a long ride, but the ride takes you above the clouds and it is absolutely breathtaking.
The cableway heading straight into the fog.
Tianmen Mountain Doorway to Heaven located at the bottom of this picture.
Hunan cuisine in a little hole in the wall restaurant. Sondre is pro at finding restaurants to eat at in any and every location we go to!
Day 2: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is part of the much larger Wulingyuan scenic area; thereby, making the national park a UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This park was also the inspiration for the movie, Avatar's, Pandora.
The National Park also boasts a variety of animals; one of them is the Rhesus Monkey. Tip: if you offer them food, they might attack you.
Hiking up the mountain in pouring rain and fog, but we managed.
If I remember correctly, we were somewhere near the Avatar Hallelujah Mountains at this point. However, due to thick fog, we were unable to experience the single most famous attraction in Zhangjiajie, which are the Hallelujah Mountains.
The fog seemed to clear at all the right times, except at the Hallelujah Mountains.
(somewhat) Pandora!
Located inside the park is the Bailong (Hundred Dragons) elevator, which is an outdoor glass elevator built on the side of a huge cliff in the Wulingyuan Area of the park. It is claimed to be the world's highest and heaviest outdoor elevator, at 330 meters high.
再见 Pandora, and 再见 to some of our group, as we parted ways: three of us heading towards Xi'an, and the other four headed back to Shanghai.
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