Experiencing the Earthly Paradise of Zhangjiajie: A Dreamlike Journey
Many people who return from tour groups say Zhangjiajie is stunning and a must-visit. This time I gathered four fellow travelers to see just how special it is, and also to visit the legendary Fenghuang Old Town, China's most beautiful small town. Zhangjiajie is in western Hunan Province, in the Xiangxi region. Hunan has produced many remarkable people—Shen Congwen, Xiong Xiling, Mao Zedong...
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
Many people who come back from tour groups say Zhangjiajie is extremely beautiful and a must-visit. This time I gathered 4 fellow travelers to go see just how ordinary it really is, and also to visit the legendary most beautiful small town in China—Fenghuang Ancient Town.
Zhangjiajie is located in western Hunan Province, in the Xiangxi region. Hunan is a land of outstanding people, producing quite a few remarkable figures: Shen Congwen, Xiong Xiling, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu Rongji, Peng Dehuai, Lei Feng, He Long, and many more. The Xiangxi region was the last area in China to be liberated. There's a saying that poor mountains and treacherous waters breed unruly people—as late as the 1950s there were still bandits and mountain outlaws here. You've all seen "Tales of Suppressing Bandits in Wulong Mountain," right? That's about this very region.
We took the 19:58 train from Guangzhou and arrived in Zhangjiajie at 10 the next morning. This time we didn't join a tour group; instead we contacted a local travel agency's guide, who arranged for a guide to pick us up in advance. When we exited the station, we saw Sister Huang (Tujia people call young women "Amei") standing at the exit holding a sign with our names on it. Under her leadership, at 10:30 we boarded the tour bus heading to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. For the next 3 days, we would be playing in this park. When we say traveling to Zhangjiajie, this is mainly where you go, and we joined Sister Huang's three-day, two-night all-inclusive package (470 yuan per person: tickets, 5 main meals and 2 breakfasts, 2 nights' accommodation, 3 days of guide service). It saved us all worries—from then on we just needed to enjoy ourselves!
The park ticket is 248 yuan, valid for only two days. But that didn't matter to us, because we could stay on the mountain and play as many days as we liked. Tour groups can only stay outside the park, because now, to protect the scenic area, all the regular hotels on the mountain have been torn down.
First we toured Golden Whip Stream—this is a natural oxygen bar! Having stayed in Guangzhou so long, I was truly thirsty for fresh air. Let me take a couple of deep breaths first—it's free anyway. Along the way, we viewed attractions on the cliffs beside us: Guanyin Presenting a Child, Golden Whip Rock, Wenxing Rock, Purple Grass Pool, Meeting After a Thousand Miles, Zhu Bajie Taking a Wife ("Journey to the West" was filmed here), and more—all quite good. Just let your imagination run wild!
Actually, I was more interested in the fresh air and what Sister Huang told us. Sister Huang explained that Zhangjiajie is mainly characterized by quartz sandstone peak forests and gorge landforms, with 3,000 strange peaks and 800 strange waters. The gorges stretch over 1,000 kilometers, containing many rare animals and precious medicinal herbs. I couldn't help asking: how do they gather herbs from such high cliffs? Sister Huang said the mountain people climb to the highest point of the cliff, tie ropes around trees, then hang themselves down slowly to gather herbs. For a cliff of over 300 meters, it takes the herb-gatherers generally 1 to 2 hours to climb to the top. And they only dare go up the mountain to gather herbs in winter, because Zhangjiajie has too many venomous snakes—they have to wait for them to hibernate first. Once at the top, the mountain people don't dare enter the gorges. Inside the gorges there are bears, pangolins, leopards, wild boars, tigers (because tigers used to come out and attack people, the locals poisoned quite a few with a poison called "Three-Step Fall"; now only very few remain in the gorges). So the interior of the gorges is still an undeveloped paradise—by all means, don't develop it...
By the way, Golden Whip Stream has golden whip fish, and macaques often appear. These "Great Sages" aren't afraid of people, but they don't hurt anyone either—you can feed them. In Zhangjiajie, the monkeys have a natural enemy called the flying tiger, which looks like a bat and lives on the cliffs. When hungry, it glides down, aims its sharp mouth at the monkey's head, pierces in, and sucks out the monkey's brain—terrifying, right? They sometimes even bite through the herb-gatherers' ropes, causing them to fall to their deaths from the cliffs. Chilling, this animal!
After touring Golden Whip Stream for about 2 hours, at the end is a place called Water Surrounding Four Gates, famous far and wide, with countless related stories and legends. In the eyes of feng shui masters, it's an even more precious site! The so-called Four Gates Surrounded by Water means that four streams—Golden Whip Stream, Suo Stream, Dragon Tail Stream, and Mandarin Duck Stream—all flow together here. According to feng shui lore, these four streams are four city gates, and this place is sure to produce a Son of Heaven. Setting feng shui aside, a place where 4 streams flow simultaneously is already a geographical highlight. Unfortunately, there are too many shops here and it's too commercialized, seriously affecting photo quality—you can only photograph the distant mountains and such.
After taking photos, we headed up to Yuanjiajie. We took the Bailong Elevator up. That elevator is quite thrilling, but it costs extra—not included in the quoted price, seems like fifty-six yuan.
After reaching the mountaintop, we first settled in at "Uncle Huang's Family Inn," run by Sister Huang's cousin. After lunch, we began touring Yuanjiajie. Yuanjiajie is a scenic area within Zhangjiajie, and the Back Garden is an attraction within Yuanjiajie—putting it that way might make it clearer.
Touring Yuanjiajie is mainly about enjoying the gorge scenery from above. Attractions include "Enchanting Terrace," "Number One Bridge Under Heaven," and others. "Number One Bridge Under Heaven" is a natural stone bridge formed by the mountain itself, spanning across the gorge. From a distance it looks very precarious—it's a signature attraction, and you must walk across it. But the other bridge we visited the next day was even more thrilling by far—but that's a story for later. Along the way there are many attractions, all named by people based on the shapes of the mountains. Again, just let your imagination run wild.
The biggest impression is how truly steep and precipitous it is here. Walking along the path, beside you are cliffs of several hundred meters. Some viewing platforms are even built on suspended rocks—you step on them very carefully, feeling quite uneasy inside, fully experiencing the sensation of "trembling with fear, as if on the brink of an abyss, as if treading on thin ice." But this is absolutely where the fun lies!
Also, if you look carefully at the ground beneath your feet, you'll often find patterns of marine organisms—haha, those are fossils! This place was an ocean floor in ancient times!! For example, the attraction called Turtle King Gazing at the Moon (or Divine Turtle Gazing at the Sun, I can't remember exactly -_-b)—according to Sister Huang, it's a sea turtle fossil. Sounds quite amazing.
In the evening we came out of the Back Garden and returned to the inn to rest. The conditions here are quite good—private bathroom, color TV, hot water shower, all available.
At night we played cards. My skeleton ace plus two 2s ran into someone's straight flush. Had I known, I would have played them separately—I was too impulsive. Also, deep in the night a weasel came to steal chickens and was killed by the shop's little dog. I heard the little dog had just been dumped recently, so the weasel probably died miserably... Oh right, I forgot to mention this part has nothing to do with travel—you can skip it.
The next two days were the essence of this Zhangjiajie trip!!
In the morning we arrived at Tianzi Mountain and entered a route with no tour groups. Along the way there were only the 5 of us. We saw abandoned shops, toilets, and caterpillars everywhere on the ground and trees (because there are many monkeys here, and monkeys raid birds' nests and eat bird eggs, so there are few birds and thus many caterpillars—but the monkeys in this section are afraid of people, so we didn't see any). Sister Huang even carried a tree branch, twirling it in front of her as she walked, to brush away spider webs across the path.
On the third day, we entered another major scenic area of Zhangjiajie: Yangjiajie.
First we went up to Wulong Village. Legend has it that part of Li Zicheng's treasure is hidden in this village. Characters from "Tales of Suppressing Bandits in Wulong Mountain" like Chuan Shan Bao and One-Eyed Dragon were real people, and they all stayed here. Marshal He Long did too.
The first checkpoint in the village is called the Gate of Cards. The terrain is so strategically located that in the era of broadswords and spears, just 10-odd men guarding it could hold off thousands of troops. With such a natural stronghold, no wonder the bandits were so hard to suppress.
After passing the Gate of Cards and crossing the even more precipitous Three Passes, we finally arrived at Wulong Village. But there isn't much to see here—the bandit stories posted inside the houses are quite interesting though.
At the end of Wulong Village is what I consider the best scenic spot in Yangjiajie! Tianbo Mansion!
To get to Tianbo Mansion, you first cross a wooden bridge—again suspended over 300-plus meters, spanning a distance of 10-odd meters. And this time it swayed and wobbled as we walked, giving us another taste of heart-pounding excitement. At the end of the wooden bridge is an 80-degree iron ladder—quite hard to climb while holding a camera.
Finally we reached Tianbo Mansion—what a sudden opening! Naturally formed walls on all four sides.
Over at Tianbo Mansion, two tourists were calling to their companions on the opposite side to come see such a beautiful sight. The ones on the other side said it was too dangerous and absolutely refused to come over. I felt it was such a pity—coming to Zhangjiajie, if you're timid you can't experience the true essence.
At Tianbo Mansion, Sister Huang told us some interesting things. She said Tianbo Mansion can sometimes be even more beautiful—when a sea of clouds phenomenon similar to Huangshan's occurs, a layer of thick mist spreads flat across the mountainside, looking like a vast white sea with a few mountain peaks jutting out, and the rolling mist like the waves of the sea. She made us so enchanted! But this all depends on luck. Sister Huang comes here almost every few days and has only seen it a few times.
Sister Huang also said it would have been better if we'd come a bit later. In winter, Zhangjiajie's snow scenery is completely different—the leaves have fallen, the grass is covered with a layer of snow, a vast expanse of white. Looking down from the mountaintop, you can occasionally see groups of wild boars running at the bottom of the mountain. In winter when there are fewer tourists, the locals take up their hunting rifles and go with the group to hunt wild boars. Oh, what a wonderful life—I'm so envious! Zhangjiajie doesn't close the mountain in winter. Let's see if there's a chance to come in winter.
Reluctantly we left Tianbo Mansion and returned to the shop at Wulong Village for a meal. They have fried Golden Whip Stream fish here—worth a try. Also I must mention that the oolong tea at this shop is very good. It's picked from the nearby mountain. The shop only needs a small packet for a whole year—just a tiny bit makes a pot. My fellow traveler couldn't resist and asked for a small bag (which of course had to be paid for).
After the meal, we took a bus to the Tianzi Mountain cable car, then rode the cable car down the mountain, exited from Wulingyuan, and ended our pleasant Zhangjiajie trip.
To sum up this Zhangjiajie trip, there are a few points worth noting:
1: One Step Hard to Walk, Immortal Bridge, Emperor's Seat, Tianbo Mansion, God Hall Bay, Point General Terrace — all classics, don't miss them.
2: He Long Park — too crowded, didn't feel much.
3: Mengdong River rafting is known as the number one rafting in the world, and Huanglong Cave is the largest karst cave in Asia. They are famous far and wide. It's a pity we didn't go this time; we'll make it up next time.
4: Even if you go in summer, bring long-sleeved clothes and a raincoat. It's cold on the mountain, with fog and rain.
5: The most important point: if you are young, do not join a tour group. The scenic spots visited by tour groups are all very safe and comfortable ones, like He Long Park, Ten-Mile Gallery, Huangshizhai, Baofeng Lake, and so on. We've already experienced He Long Park. According to Sister Huang, Huangshizhai is a spot packed with crowds, but the scenery is quite poor. The reason it's hyped so much is because of the commercial promotion by the cable car company. And Baofeng Lake is just a semi-artificial reservoir with little of interest. But don't explore on your own either — hire a local guide. If you're lucky enough to meet someone like Sister Huang, she'll tell you many, many stories and legends, adding a lot of fun to your trip. For places like One Step Hard to Walk and God Hall Bay, if you don't hear the background stories, you won't really appreciate them.