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“Is this not a busy day then?” I asked my tour guide Phoenix while standing on Tianzi Mountain surrounded by thousands of Chinese tourists all trying to catch a glimpse of the strange avatar-like sandstone pillars.
“No,” she said. “This is just a normal day.”
Only a few hours earlier on my first morning she had assured me today would not be crowded. I guess her definition of a busy day clearly differed from mine…
There were still some places in China I had never been to. One of them was Zhangjiajie in China’s Hunan province. Often referred to as the “Avatar mountains,” supposedly because the floating mountains in the movie Avatar were inspired by this area.
Tianzi Mountain
After a two-hour flight from Shanghai, I arrived in Wulingyuan the night before. The bus picked us up at 8 AM. Everyone had to bring their passport because the ticket system now works with facial recognition and passport scanning. Although convenient, I rather leave my passport in the safety box. And apparently two American tourists in my group thought the same, because they had forgotten their passports.
Which meant close to an hour delay at the entrance while more and more people kept arriving behind us.
Not ideal.
After finally entering the park, we moved from place to place by bus. Every stop revealed another version of the same landscape, although the scale kept increasing.
When we reached Tianzi Mountain, I finally got the view I had imagined before coming here. A huge valley filled with strange sandstone pillars disappearing into the distance. It really did feel like another world. Unlike the more flowing mountain scenery in Guilin or Huangshan, these pillars rose almost unnaturally straight from the ground.
And for a while I forgot about the many crowds behind me.
Charming Xiangxi Performance
At night I went to a performance recommended by my tour guide. The show was called Charming Xiangxi and it was actually very cool. Impressive stage sets, lighting, music and acrobats, all following ancient Chinese storylines and local traditions.
The environment helped too, with rivers and mountains surrounding the theater area. It gave the whole evening a slightly magical feeling.
Scary Glass Bridge & Bungee Jumpers
The next morning we faced something that could probably nerve wreck anyone scared of heights. After around one hour on the bus and a cable car ride up, we arrived at what is supposedly the highest glass bridge in the world, located inside the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon.
I must admit it affected me too.
Looking hundreds of meters down into the valley below felt slightly terrifying. So from time to time I found myself carefully moving toward the edges instead of looking directly beneath my feet.
Then suddenly we noticed a platform underneath the bridge and saw someone making a bungee jump into the canyon below. I guess people have different anxiety levels.
24 Escalators to Heaven or Disneyland?
After several more bus rides we arrived at the famous Tianmen Mountain. The mountain is instantly recognizable because of the bizarre-looking arch near the top, known as Heaven’s Gate.
Apparently a Frenchman once climbed the mountain without ropes back in 2009. Take that bungee jumpers, I thought 😉
Our group, including me, was quite happy to take the cable car instead. After that came no fewer than 24 escalators built directly into the mountain itself.
Along the way many overly excited Chinese tourists tried to high-five us while passing us on the downward escalators. And at the 2000-meter summit?
Thousands of tourists and a Burger King. Only in China.
At times it honestly felt more like Disneyland than a mountain park. Luckily some of the cliff-edge walkways were still very beautiful. As a reflection I would say Zhangjiajie does have really unique nature. But I preferred my trips to Guilin, Chongzuo or Yunnan more as it would be more spread out and not so focused on one single mountain with many people. Still it is worth the visit, just don’t mind the crowds ;).
