Zhangjiajie (张家界) The Avatar's City

1:42 AM

Sorry for the delayed post guys :( because China (where I currently study at) recently increased their firewall to block foreign website, I hope this post could guide you guys and give inspiration.
Firstly, you may be asked why i said this city is avatar's city? because this is the city that has a mountain that used for made avatar movie i will show you later, so this city is named 张家界,湖南(zhang  jia jiehu nan province) i went to this city in my winter break for 1 week, joining the home stay program which held by my university club. Why I join this program? Because it’s cut down the price for my trip! :D, It took about 8 hours journey with 2 hours by plane from my beloved university city ( Ning bo ) to 长沙(Chang sha) and 6 more hours to Zhang Jia Jie by long distance bus….. What a long journey isn't it? At my first day there I cannot do anything else except sleep and eat. So let’s skip to the second day.

Day 2:


土家castle



We went to 土家族风情园(tu jia zhu feng qing yuantu jia Scenery Park, at the first we planned to go to the Tian Zi Mountain, however due to bad weather the lower part of the cable car is closed, tu jia itself is a local Chinese tribe in zhang jia jie. In this castle area, you can see the tu jia architecture and a very short performance of tu jia culture, there are also a show which held in the night. The show is to perform some magical attraction such as a man walking on the burning charcoal with his barefoot.  Unfortunately, I came there in the morning so I couldn’t see that creepy performance. After we spent our half day in the castle we went to my friend restaurant, enjoyed the local food in.
                                                


Here in zhang jia jie, most of the food is served like that with a very big wok and soup inside, they called it 三下锅 san xia guo, also they have a chilli served with a mini rice (小米) Im not sure the name of that chilli but it has a unique taste and it’s not very spicy after all.



Day 3:
The day we waiting for! We finally arrived at the zhang jia jie national park! A heaven for travel photographer in this area you should find a place to live because you cannot finish the journey for 1 day.


This is tower where at the bottom of the tower you can take bus in to the national park. The ticket in that time is 82RMB including the bus, this ticket is valid for 4 days and you are unable to change the owner as they have fingerprint scanner to bind you with the ticket.




天子山(tian zi shan) arrived! The mountain where the avatar (not the last air bender but the blue one) live.Yeaps, the mountains are not floating like in the movie….. But! The scenery they offer is very spectacular! Even though it’s quite disappointing since I went there in the winter but I cannot find any snow there. There are 2 ways to go up to the top of the mountain, by taking stairs or…… take the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world! it’s called 百龙bai long (very recommended!). and of course you must pay for that spectacular thing. I choose the second option as the price is not that very expensive and it’s uphill stairs for 1070 feet(330m) high! Up there, some of the scenery spots are using a plank road with a freaking thin hedge, for those who afraid of high I suggest you all not to come here because I think this place will probably ruin your whole day :D




Here is some sweetener for couple who come here… a tons love locks! You can buy it for around 20RMB then locks you love on top of the mountain! How sweet isn’t it? I hope someone special for me would like to go here again with me  :p

As the time ran very fast there……(for me) we decided to going back, for you who doesn’t like to use your legs too much the elevator is a very good companion for you, for you who are fearless the downstairs will be your best friend for next  2 hours approximately to arrive at the place where you can take bus to the entrance.



Don’t worry!  If you guys wanna take the stairs, you won’t run out of energy as long as you have your money with you. Hence, Say thanks to our beloved Uncle MC Donald! They have Mc’D even on top of the mountain!? I wonder how come that store gets up there. After we fulfilled our belly desire we choose the stairs as our best friend, and this is the man who also being our travel journey.

Day4:


the water is very clear!

 
We arrived at 黄龙洞(huang long dong yellow dragon cave in English, zhang jia jie did not stop to give its beautiful impression to us, so from the entrance you can feel the very refreshing air and atmosphere, and I feel like I wanna stay here for the rest of my life (Just kidding i prefer big city with fast internet).in order to enjoy the village atmosphere no fee will be charged, however if you want to enter the cave where a bunch of stalactites are sleeping, you must buy the ticket in the front gate before entering the village area.





water route

This is the view inside the cave, so the journey inside the cave will divided into many different parts. First you will walk about 10-15 minutes than they will provide you with a boat to go deeper inside the cave where more stalactites are located i cannot provide the picture of the stalactites as it is very dark inside, the real journey will just begin there we walk for approximately 1-2.5 hours in that part also there is a labyrinth part which is optional, you need to pay around 15 RMB to enjoy the labyrinth, the labyrinth won’t make you lost it’s only a narrow route with a low ceiling I think it’s not a big problem for Asian people :D, after we finish the labyrinth we walked again for more 15 minutes to feel the fresh air again.


In the night we enjoy the tu jia tribes magic and dance performance inside this building, which located near Pullman hotel we got a free ticket to enjoy that stunning performance as my friend’s dad have a connection with the ticket seller, I think it’s expensive for those who should buy the ticket its around 100rmb or 200rmb. Just right after we watch the performance we headed back to the city centre where my host family live.

Day5:



We back to our first plan 天子山 (tian zi shan) the most popular mountain in Zhang Jia Jie, Local people said, in particular season where the weather is clear you can see the mountain from the city. On our fifth day all part of cable car are open. There are 2 ways to go to the top of the mountain, by car directly to the second part of cable car station or by taking the cable car all the way from city to the top of the mountain which is recommended route. The price for the cable car is 104RMB for round trip. This is the view from the cable car, if you guys wonder how they planted the cableway tower on the steep mountain you guys have a same problem with me:D

the entrance of the glass planking route


there is a place where the planks are made by glasses, you need to pay around 10-15rmb to pass this route, i dunno why they ask all people here to wear a red wrap for your shoes, may be for lucky symbol or just to prevent our shoes scratching the glasses. 





my friend posed on the glasses made bridge

A view from somewhere in Tian Zi Shan, and if you didn’t afraid of high place you should try this little bridge made by glasses, and without any support below. i think this one is more creepy than the glass plank :(.

Day6:


so clear so nice

We went to the little river located in Zhang Jia jie National park, there are a lot of old man chilling around in this area because of the air and the water are very clear and clean, they said in the summer a lot of people swim in this river.

bad bad monkey

Also you can easily meet monkey in this forest, my tips for you guys are to finish your food or they will follow you till you give your food to them sounds creepy right?

a boat that we rode

smiling to the sun

after we took a walk along the river side we went to the lake that located in the middle of the mountain (what the heck going on earth?) the sunset was very nice in that time so exquisite even a thousand words cannot describe it.


Day 7:



Well, it’s my last day in zhang jia jie, so we went home in the morning, no sightseeing anymore just a very long journey. In my conclusion zhang jia jie is a very nice place to go if you like mountain this place is a heaven for you, oh yaa! I forgot you won’t lose your mobile phone signal at all the scenery spots here as they have transmitter tower planted there cool right?? 

next blog i will try to put some guide about sights to see, where to stay and the price estimation.
feel free to give me comment or suggestion, i will appreciate it so much
Stay tunned!! :)

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2 comments

type here! i will glad to read it from you