Day 6 : Tianzhi Mountain - He Long Park - Yuanjiajie - Bai Long Elevator

Before we went ahead to enjoy the sights of the afternoon, we dumped our bags at the hotel first. We were staying at Emperor International Hotel. This five-star hotel was really large as it had two blocks of buildings, name A & B. The room looked nice, and was large and spacious. The beds were large ... and hard. But most importantly, I was really comfy staying here for 2 nights.

Emperor Hotel 

MH's job was to plan our visits in such a way that we did not have to inconvenience ourselves queuing up at various scenic sites. The queues could be scary, in which people had to wait for up to 4 hours sometimes. Hence, we were glad that we only waited for minutes on most occasions.

MH also knew all the best spots for photography. The problem was, all the tour guides knew. And so all the photograpy spots were packed with people. Lol.

We went back to the Park entrance that afternoon after lunch. The entry passes - which was valid for 3 days - and thumbs were scanned, and then we jumped into the bus again .... and this time, our destination was the Tianzi cable car station. We queued a bit ... and after a while, we got into a cable car.

It was going to bring us up to Tianzi Mountain Natural Resource Reserve, one of the four parks at Wulingyuan Scenic Area. The trip up in the cable car took only about six and a half minutes.

Going up ... 

Passing a sandstone structure on the way up ...  

Impressive-looking rocks like these all over, on the left and right ... 

View from the top of the Tianzi Cable Car Station

When we reached here, we walked a distance to the shuttle bus station. We were going to He Long Park, which was about 5 minutes away. He Long was a decorated military leader, native to Hunan. At the park, there was a bronze statue of him, built in his memory. But a short walk down the viewing deck was the view of the stone peak forest. We could see a large valley with walled cliffs, and sandstone pillars of all shapes and sizes rising from the ground. It felt like looking a a giant painting!

The sea of sandstone pillars as seen from He Long Park ... 

Saw this cute little macaque monkey at the trail .... but it could get aggressive when provoked. I saw it lashing out at one of the tourists. 

By this time, the weather had turned cool and there was a slight drizzle.  We decided that  we would move to the next scenic area at Yuanjiajie. To get there, we had to take another shuttle bus. At the pick-up point, there were long queues and we waited for some ten minutes to get into a bus. 

Now, this was a winding and uncomfortable ride ..... imagine being in a packed and poorly-ventilated bus for half an hour while it went round and round. It got me dizzy and I near vomitted! 

Yuanjiajie was part of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, meaning that we had traveled from the top of the mountain on the North to another part of the mountain in the West. No wonder it was a such a long drive! An attraction here was the Natural Bridge.

First Natural Bridge, all covered by vegetation now 

This bridge joined 2 mountain peaks. This bridge spanned  50m , was 2m wide and 5m thick. It rose to 400m above the valley, making it one of the highest natural bridges in the world. The bridge formed because of erosion, causing the lower rocks to collapsed.

The numerous padlocks at this area

Visitors could buy padlocks here and then make wishes for all things good, by padlocking them onto the rails.

I quite enjoyed the walk here along the trail at Yuanjiajie. The weather was quite cool by this time ..... and it made the walk so pleasant, even though we had to walk up and down the steps. The trail provided a fantastic view of the sandstone formations, with viewing platforms at many places too. 

Pillars of all shapes looming above the ground ... 

Now, Avatar was a blockbuster released in 2009, 

 These stone mountains gave James Cameron the inspiration for Pandora for the movie Avatar.

Many people, after having watched the epic movie "Avatar", came here to see the "Hallelujah Mountains".

 Hallelujah Mountains ... 

At the entrance of Yuanjiajie trail were a lot of stalls .... and we bought some snacks there.

 Pancakes on skewers

This pancake has the texture of a bread or bao ... and the flavour of fermented yeast. It was like eating a pan-fried huat kueh. It was not too sweet, and was crispy on the outside ... quite nice to chew on. 

We had to board the shuttle bus again, and this time, we were heading to the Bai Long Elevator. We were going to take the outdoor elevator down the cliff. Well, as the lift climbed down, one was supposed to be able to catch the fantastic view outside. 

Unfortunately, it was a dread for us .... 

1) There was a snaking queue ... and we stood in line for near 45 minutes. Our legs were sore from walking, and there was no place to sit, no place to even lean. When I could no longer take it, I sat cross-legged on the ground. 

2) I think it was only right to have some space between you and the people crowding around here. But over here ... everyone seemed to be brushing against you, pushing you. The crowd was not even moving, and they thought that a bit of pushing could get everyone ahead. It was quite annoying.

3) By the time we got into the elevator, it was already dark outside. We could not make out anything.

4) Only the people who got into the elevator first could get the view ... cause they would be standing in right in front of the glass panels. The others would see nothing at all. We happened to be the last few people entering the lift which could fit 50. We saw nothing but people's heads and faces. :P

At the bottom of the station, we needed to board another bus to exit the grounds. I was tired after a long day .... I could not wait to go back and rest.