Zhangjiajie China (November 27th 2016)

We finally arrived in Zhangjiajie at about 2am on November 24th. Exactly the time of day you don't want to arrive in a strange new city.

We took a taxi to the hostel where we planned to stay. The problem was once we arrived we couldn't get into the office of the building. We could get into the cold hallway of the building but not into the office. We stood there in the dark, shivering and knocking on the door for about 20 minutes.

It was cold and here we were left with the decision of either camping out in the chilly hallway of the hostel or trying to walk back to a hotel we had seen during the taxi ride there. It was a bit of a long shot since most hotels in China are not licensed to accept foreign travelers.  We finally opted to take our chances on the hotel. We made our way back to the Kaili International Hotel. Needless to say, we were relieved when the desk clerk started using her cell phone translater to go through the formalities of registering a hotel room in China. We stayed at this upscale hotel for one night and then moved into the Zhangjiajie City HI Hostel the next day.

We basically rested for a day and managed to find some warmer clothes. Our rooms had not been very well heated or insulated lately so we figured we'd better take action.

By the next day we were ready to head out and take on some more. This day we went to Tianmen Mountain which is basically on the outskirts of Zhangjiajie City. Tianmen translates into Gate of Heaven and it is famous for having a hole that goes through the rock near the peak. Although the stairway to heaven was closed due to the ice this day we were able to gaze up and get some partial views through the gate.

The cable car, which is the longest in Asia, is 7 km long and took about 30 minutes to take us up to the snowy mountain top. 

The weather was overcast and because we were well above the clouds visibility was limited. 

 At the top everything was snow covered but we made our way around the icy trails the best we could.

Early on Saturday we took a bus from the main bus station to the entrance of Zhangjiajie National Park. What a difference a day makes... Same basic area, maybe about 20 kilometers from where we were yesterday and yet a totally different climate.

We had two days of hiking here in what must certainly be one of the most remarkable landscapes in the world. This huge collection of stone pinnacles rises straight up from the subtropical forests high into the sky. 

It is where the inspiration came from for the floating mountains on Pandora in the movie Avatar.

The park covers 264 square km and we managed to survive the three hour slog up close to 4000 steps. Our tiny hostel was about 1050m from the bottom. 

This quiet little spot located up in the mountains was operated by two old ladies who spoke to us in Chinese the whole time. They cooked for us and we sat with them at the table. The four of us ate as we huddled under the comforter style tablecloth. This table - leg warmer works well as long as you dont forget what's happening under the table and put your foot too close to the fire pit.

The best part about this rustic little hostel was the path out back that led to an incredible lookout.  We took our morning coffee out there to enjoy the stunning view again in the morning.

The next day we got an early start on our hike back down. We took a different route back and didn't manage to get too lost for too long. 

The funniest part of our trip back to Zhangjiajie City was when we were walking along the road and were unable to find the bus stop. We weren't sure if we had missed it somehow or the sign was simply missing. Anyway we were relieved when a bus driver stopped and motioned for us to jump on in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.

In a couple of hours we were safe and sound  back in the City.