Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

I am absolutely tuckered out mate!
Couldn’t walk another step even if I was twins!

I just got home from a wonderful adventure getting lost here and finding myself over there in the Wulingyuan Mountains. Right now I’m kicking back in a little café I found just off Zhangjiajie’s main road with a well earned beer relaxing my weary legs and checking out the girls as they shop their way past me. Those that see me stop for a second, say 'Hellow’ and continue about their journey with a giggle and a delightful smile.

Yep I’m thinking I’m going home real soon…NOT!
Anyhow let’s get to the blog, lots to write about and such little battery time left.

I figured that as I was more than a little confused when I came here and found it almost impossible to find someone who could clearly explain how it all worked I thought I’d do my best to make it easy for anyone who was searching for information on the Wulingyuan Nature Park.

So I will simply take you the reader through what I got up to each day and give a little information on buses and a short run down on each part of the park and for those who don’t really care, scroll down and check out the photos.

Today In Short

I made my way along the Golden Whip Stream to the Suoxiyu Area and then bused it to the Yuanjiajie Area where I caught one of the world’s largest elevators to walk a freaky plank walkway where I got to check out the awesome ‘Pillar of Heaven’ that is so identical to James Cameron’s ‘Hallelujah Mountain’ that not even I am silly enough to believe his idea came from Huangshan in Anhui Province. I then bused it up to the Tianzi Mountain Area where I grabbed a room in a small local house for the night.

For those who are coming with me for the adventure, go grab a coffee or a cold beer and for everyone else….begin scrolling.

The Wulingyuan Nature Reserve

Due to its position between the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Dongting Lake, Wulingyuan boasts thousands of strange-shaped peaks and rocks, hidden valleys, wandering waters and limestone caves. If you are going to visit make sure you put aside two days for your adventure and if you are thinking of doing it in one day then you will be paying the same price as those who do stay overnight in a sixty Yuan guesthouse.

So why not relax and take your time!

Small guesthouses can be found in the Tianzi Mountain Scenic Area and where I stayed there was a group of about five or six of them so simply grab a bus and get off at the ‘Arranging Battles Platform and head back a little or if you end up at the Helong Park Bus Station there is sure to be a tout or two awaiting your arrival.

Buses to and from Zhangjiajie City

Wednesday morning I left my main travel pack at my hotel, packed my tiny day pack with a few things and around nine in the morning I headed down to the bus station on Huilong Lu. After about five minutes I figured out (by the fact that everyone pointed in that direction) that the buses to the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park Gate (the South Gate) could be found just to the right as you walk into the bus stations busy driveway.

Each trip costs 10 Yuan and the journey takes around fifty minutes.

Entrance Prices & Park Gates

There are four entrances to the Wullingyuan Scenic Area.

The East Gate (Wulingyuan) ticket office is five kilometers from Suoxiyu County, the West Gate (Yangjiajie) ticket office), the South gate (Zhangjiajie) ticket office is fifty kilometers from the city center and the North Gate (Tianzi Mountain) ticket office

Admission price is 248 Yuan and even though it sounds expensive and will have the extreme budget Backpacker throwing their arms in the air while saying, SheezusKwiste I can’t afford that, I can’t believe they want so much for a flippin park ticket!’, the actual ticket not only lasts for two days but it also includes all buses to and from all sites you wish to see and it also includes the entrance fee for the Yellow Dragon Cave.

The park is huge and is made up of several Scenic Spots that at one stage I believe were all separate so you will need to use the free buses as it is impossible to walk between some of the scenic areas and sites.

Zhangjiajie Scenic Spot

I began my day at the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park which is located in the southwest of Wulingyuan where I found pavilions, bridges, caves and several small waterfalls. Like most I chose to slowly make my way along side ‘Golden Whip Stream’ which after looking at the map I believe is named after Golden Whip Rock   The stream is around six kilometers long, it joins Lute stream in the west and Suoxi Stream in the east and the small adventure takes from an hour to two hours depending on how many photos you take and how many people stop you to ask you where you are from.

After which in my case, to be told that there are many sheep in Australia.

On the way not only can you be entertained by several beautiful girls from Tujia who will sing traditional folk songs to any tourist who is willing to pay but and you can also be entertained by the Chinese who are feeding the monkeys right beside the ‘Do Not Feed the Monkey’ signs.

Suoxiyu Nature Reserve

Today I passed through the Suoxiyu Scenic Spot as I visited the Yellow Dragon Cave on Tomorrow’s Adventure. Today I chose to take a journey up the ‘Bailong Elevator’ instead of grabbing a boat and floating on the lake or heading beneath the earth and checking out the Yellow Dragon Cave.

Suoxiyu Nature Reserve is adjacent to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park and has many places of interest such as the Bao Feng Gorges, Bao Feng Lake and the Bao Feng Waterfall. Another popular destination is the Yellow Dragon Cave which is a system of limestone caves that includes an underground stream, a waterfall, ninety-six passageways and thousands of stalagmites and stalactites.

For those who want information on the cave you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s entry. .

Zhangjiajie Bailong Elevator (aka Shuiraosimen Sightseeing Elevator)

The glass elevators run up a cliff face in the north of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Wulingyuan. Designed and operated by Bailong Elevator Company the structure consists of a one hundred and fifty four meter deep underground shaft and a one hundred and seventy two meter aboveground derrick.

Three double-story glass elevators run abreast up the side of the cliff to a plateau near Shuiraosimen, one of the key scenic spots in the park. It takes about two minutes to complete the journey from the base of the cliff to the top. Each elevator can carry fifty people per trip, with a total daily capacity of about eighteen thousand people.

Yuanjiajie Scenic Area

This my friends, was the absolute highlight of my days adventure!

Located in the northwest part of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area is a naturally formed platform mountain surrounded by higher summits which are divided by deep valleys. Added to this scene is an array of amazing lesser peaks and grotesque rocks. Each one stands in the valley and possesses its own peculiar shape. The foremost attractions in this area include: Back Garden, breathtaking Mihun Stage, Qiankun Pillar (lit. the Pillar of Heaven and Earth, some say the pillar is the prototype of the "Hallelujah Mountains" in James Cameron's film Avatar), Goat Village, and the First Bridge in the World.

At the small bus stop I met two delightful students from Changsha who along with me had no idea what the elevator actually was. Don’t get me wrong, their English was almost as good as mine and we all knew what an elevator was but none of us could figure out what an elevator would be doing in the middle of such an extraordinary environment.

We then came to the conclusion that there was a misprint on the park map.

When we got off the bus we all looked above us and there wasn’t a cable car to be seen anywhere. What we did find was a ticket office that was selling tickets for a ride in an elevator. After once again looking around us all we could see were many freaky looking mountains that towered above us. As we had nowhere else to go we handed over our money and walked through the ‘Entrance’ gate. Soon we were shown to an actual elevator door and after tens of others were crammed in behind us we then rose thirty something floors through the middle of one of the freaky mountains.

We were then ushered into a second elevator but this one had a glass back/front to it.

Several seconds and thirty or forty floors later light filled our cabin and the forty or fifty people in the elevator all at once said ‘Oi Yor, which is usually kind of like us saying WOW but in this case I’m sure it was more like one of those moments where ‘we’ use a couple of F words in our description after seeing something amazing!

Admittedly I did and I can honestly tell you that it was truly ‘F’arking amazing!

At the top we were greeted by many AVATAR posters and as we had all seen the movie we then went about asking why the posters where here and just like the elevator ride we were all amazed that one of the mountains several minutes away was used in the film. Over the next several minutes I was introduced to how different the two girls I was with actually were. The quiet one was much more like me, we found a sign post, read it and then wanted to continue. The more outspoken of the two was more like a ‘white glove sign post girl’ as she wouldn’t use sign posts.

At every turn she had to ask at least three people which was the way to ‘such and such’.

Quiet girl and I simply stood by the sign and after Outspoken Girl had gone about her business she came over to us, took charge and said ‘it is this way’. Quiet Girl and I always looked at each other, smiled and thought ‘yep, that’s exactly what we and the other thousand people around us thought when we saw this freaking sign that has both English and Chinese and an arrow pointing that way that has been here for a dozen years!

When travelling with other people you sometimes have to just kick back and observe!
Never the less, she had both of us in hysterics every few minutes so it was well worth it!

For those who want to head to the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area simply grab one of the shuttle buses that stop just across from the tourist stands (just up from the beautiful stone bridge) at the Suoxiyu Scenic Area. I’m not sure where the buses at the bus station go but I do know they are for a longer journey so grab one of the small shuttle buses as they will take you around the corner to the Bailing Elevator (see above). If you don’t want to wait for the bus then walk across the stone bridge (checking out awesome camel hill on the way), walk to the roundabout and then head left passing the one way arrow on the road pointing towards you and you will soon come to the elevator.

For those who plan to visit the Tianzishan Area before hand simply grab a free bus.

AVATAR the Movie

"Avatar" has sold 1.841 billion U.S. dollars worth of tickets worldwide, making it the biggest international release of all time. It has also become China's most popular movie ever by making around 80 million U.S. dollars here. James Cameron, director of Avatar, told the Beijing premiere of Avatar that the alien mountain, where the science fiction took place, came from east China's Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province.

Cameron's claim was soon challenged by many who said the Hallelujah Mountain was almost identical to South Sky Pillar Mountain in Zhangjiajie. According to one report, the main "Hallelujah Mountain" in the movie is modeled after the South Pillar of the Heaven, on which a major cameraman for the movie spent four days shooting photos.

A Wonderful Sleep Upon Pillars In The Sky

To end my amazing day Quiet Girl, Out Spoken Girl and I grabbed a bus to the Helong Park Bus Station in the Tianzi Mountain Area where I was told that small and cheap guesthouses could be found. Thankfully as it was getting late there were several touts waiting at the bus station, once we had agreed on a price we boarded a bus back the way I had came for a short distance and after a wonderfully cold shower we all sat for a huge and delicious meal of rice, home grown vegetables and chicken.

We sat watching the sun go down over the Arranging Battles Platform with several cold and much deserved beers

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Daglo Abortions
The album was ‘Feed Us Fetus’
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