2008 Autumn/Winter Zhangjiajie & Fenghuang Travelogue (Part 1)
2008-12-06 Day 1: China Eastern MU5369, a 20:10 flight, arrived at 22:10, on time. Zhangjiajie's Hehua Airport is small—you can turn around and be outside. Since we arrived at night, unfortunately we couldn't see the world-amazing Tianmen Cave with our own eyes. Phone...
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.
2008-12-06 Day1
China Eastern MU5369, a 20:10 flight, arrived at 22:10. The flight was on time. Zhangjiajie's Hehua Airport is not big—you can turn around and be outside the terminal. Since we arrived at night, unfortunately we couldn't see the world-amazing Tianmen Cave with our own eyes. I called Chen Dao, whom we had contacted in advance at the hostel, and who knew—haha, he was right behind me! You can see how mini this airport is! We arrived smoothly at Rujia and stayed in the only hotel of these days with the best conditions but the lowest usage rate! By then it was already past 11 p.m. My boyfriend and I were full of energy and unwilling to obediently sleep in the hotel, so we decided to go out and find food. We found a restaurant by the roadside that looked good and ordered porridge and a fish. The taste felt average—super salty and super spicy, probably because we're used to eating light food! Still, Zhangjiajie's night scene is quite lively. Maybe because the roads are relatively narrow, there was even a traffic jam so late at night!
2008-12-07 Day2
Originally I planned to go out in the morning to find breakfast, but when I opened my eyes it was already 7:30. Heavens! The alarm clock had gone on strike and didn't ring! Ah! We had agreed with Chen Dao that he would pick us up at 8 to go up the mountain! So we quickly got everything done and had breakfast downstairs at Rujia's restaurant, 12 yuan per person. After all, Rujia is a national chain hotel, so the breakfast food had no local flavor and was mainly light. After picking up another family of three traveling with us at the bus station, we chartered a small car and headed to Zhangjiajie Tianzi Mountain ticket station after 40 minutes. The fare was 13 yuan per person for 5 people.
We bought tickets, 248, including 3 yuan insurance. They can be used for two days, but for us that was useless because we wouldn't come out until the third day after entering, haha—we wanted to get our money's worth! Right.
Back to the point: after swiping the card and fingerprint to enter, we saw the eco-friendly buses. At first I always thought the so-called eco-friendly bus was an electric cart; in fact, it turned out to be just an ordinary medium-sized bus. Later I learned that locals understand "eco-friendly bus" to mean any vehicle that burns gasoline! So that's how it is! We used the scenic area restroom for the first time—of course it's free inside the scenic area—but I was really somewhat disappointed with the public facilities in Zhangjiajie Scenic Area!
This scenic area is really big. The eco-friendly bus wound around the mountain roads for at least a quarter of an hour. Guide Chen signaled our group of five to get off, and after following him on foot for about 5 minutes, we saw it. We put down our luggage! Rested for a moment!
The weather was uncooperative; the rain kept dripping nonstop, so the itinerary could only be slightly adjusted. But after I got back, I studied it and found that Guide Chen still dutifully took us to basically all the wonderful scenic spots!
We walked to Daguantai, a absolutely beautiful place to watch sunrise and sunset! After going down more than five hundred steps, we successively came to Tianzi Peak, Immortal Bridge, Tianzi Seat, and One Step Difficult. Along the way were rare tree species. Because travel agencies don't include this route, it remains relatively primitive. What's worth mentioning here is Immortal Bridge. Legend says a beautiful fairy is pressed beneath Immortal Bridge. Due to the weather, there was heavy rain and fog. From our angle, Immortal Bridge seemed immersed in fairy mist, appearing and disappearing, extremely beautiful! Then we came to One Step Difficult! Originally I didn't have a fear of heights, but perhaps because I had read online about that old teacher who slipped, I was especially terrified. Actually, it has been reinforced and is already very safe. According to Guide Chen, back then there were no safety steel bars like now, and one could only rely on a running start to leap over the gap between two peaks! Thinking about it was terrifying to me. Everyone had crossed, leaving only me. No choice—I braced myself... didn't dare look down, for below was a clearly visible bottomless abyss!
After lunch, the sky unexpectedly cleared, and even a bit of sun came out! We were so lucky. According to Guide Chen, the rain had been falling for almost 2 weeks, and many guides on the mountain had gone to the city to rest! I had long heard that Zhangjiajie is most beautiful after rain clears. Seeing it once is better than hearing about it a hundred times—it was indeed intoxicating.
In the afternoon, we were to visit Yuanjiajie Scenic Area. The scenic spots here include the No. 1 Bridge under Heaven, Five Women on Expedition, Lianxin Bridge, Divine Turtle Asking Heaven, and Mihun Terrace. Sitting on the eco-friendly bus and looking out the window, the karst landform after the rain was especially beautiful. All the peaks looked as if they had been washed with water, so clean and refreshing, so green it broke your heart! Once again it showed the advantage of having a guide: from the entrance of Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, we walked through all the scenic spots, up and down quite a lot, and collected plenty of beautiful scenery. At the last spot, the guide took us along a path and in less than 5 minutes we were back at the entrance, then directly took the eco-friendly bus back, saving us a lot of unnecessary walking!
Evenings were rather painful. After dinner, around 6 o'clock, we got ready to shower and go to bed. At night on the mountain, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, there was no entertainment, and the weather was cold. But even so, we didn't regret staying on the mountain. Because according to the guide, by next year the government's re-planning would mean no one could stay on the mountain; everyone, including the residents here, would be relocated down the mountain. Of course, tourists, no matter how much MONEY you have, would no longer be able to breathe Zhangjiajie's night air! Of course, for these local residents who live off the mountain, this is not a good thing! In the future they can only work as guides; businesses like arranging accommodation will be gone.
2008-12-08 Day3
The morning itinerary was Wulong Village. Along the way were sights such as Golden Rooster Crowing at Dawn, Echo Wall, Three Passes, One Step Difficult, Who Dares Not Bow, One-Line Sky, and Tianbo Mansion. It turned out Tianbo Mansion is a viewing platform; before that I thought it was a complex of buildings. But the view from this platform is absolutely superb, and you can faintly see the wall structure of the karst landform!
Travel agencies don't include this route, so there weren't many people, the air was very good, and the scenery was beautiful! The walk didn't feel tiring at all, perhaps because of the previous Huangshan experience! I highly recommend the place near where you take the eco-friendly bus out of Yuanjiajie that sells wild chestnuts, 8 yuan per jin, steaming hot, super good! The ones bought later were not authentic; I could never buy such delicious chestnuts again.
Lunch, then out the door, eco-friendly bus. In the afternoon we were going to Shentang Bay, Jiangjiang Terrace, and Fairy Scattering Flowers.
Tianzi Pavilion, West Sea—the scenery was very beautiful, but there were so many travel agency groups that it affected our enthusiasm somewhat! I don't know why there were so many middle-aged and elderly Koreans, and their manners weren't very good either, talking loudly... What was even more annoying was that I saw a red handkerchief printed with a Zhangjiajie map. It was very distinctive, and I planned to buy it. Only after asking did I learn that it was specially designed for Koreans, with no Chinese characters. I was angry! As a Chinese person, on Chinese territory, sigh! Speechless! Is China's consumption level not up to standard? Very depressing!
2008-12-09 Day4
Today we had to carry our luggage and go directly down the mountain. Guide Chen led us to start today's itinerary. Because of the rain, our route was different from others—we did it in reverse—but this saved effort and money, and we didn't need to take the cableway or sky ladder. The Luanchuan Slope was also downhill stairs, really much easier, and we had more leisure to enjoy the scenery along the way! First we went to Back Garden. Back Garden is also a scenic spot worth recommending; there were no travel agency crowds, so you could quietly enjoy the view and take photos! After going down more than 3,000 steps of the Luanchuan Slope, the beautiful Golden Whip Stream came into view! After seeing mountain scenery for several days, suddenly seeing stream water felt really refreshing—green mountains and clear waters, completely relaxing! The stream was so clear you could see the bottom! Walking along Golden Whip Stream, several macaques blocked our view! "Ah! Who told humans to buy up all our kiwi fruit to eat? No choice, we have to beg along the stream!" Haha! That's me dubbing for these macaques! I hurriedly checked my pocket and found a few Northeast jujubes left. I had just fed one macaque! Then the old monkey king came, and all the monkeys scattered! Watching from afar, not daring to approach, they yielded all the delicious food to the monkey king. These monkeys were not afraid of strangers at all! Their close contact with humans seemed so natural, showing how beautiful the ecology here is! Finally I threw a winter jujube to a monkey in the distance, but the monkey didn't dare catch it and ran off in a flash; it still fell into the old monkey king's mouth!
In the afternoon, because lunch had taken until rather late, we took the mini train through Ten-Mile Gallery. This was also the first time in these three days that we used a means of transportation inside the scenic area other than the eco-friendly bus! 33 yuan per person round trip.
Going to Zhangjiajie in early December, the weather is still not bad. Later, by the end of December, it gets very cold. The guide said it would snow by then. I suggest bringing a flashlight and gloves; in some places, girls who love beauty still need to use both hands and feet.
For Zhangjiajie, I strongly suggest hiring a guide. The scenic area is too large; it's easier if someone familiar with the routes leads you around!