Howdy all! Well, time for another weekly diary style update of what has been going on with me on my Japan/China/Laos trip. We start from the start of the third week, I had arrived in China and was ready to getting with the sight seeing!!

Week Three

Day 15 – Monday – Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Well, I had spent time working out the next four days. I was in Zhangjiajie, a city that had a lot of amazing nature to see around it, and the most popular was the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, famous for its beauty and the rock pillars standing hundreds of metres straight up from the forest floor, formed over millions of years by rain, wind and erosion. Well, the first two cause the third.

Tickets are valid for four days, I had four days planned out – two of which would be in the National Park. The first day I took a taxi to the East Gate. It’s a massive National Park and the gates are a long way from each other. They scan your face and your passport and your face becomes your ticket really. There are buses to take you around the park, as well as other forms of transport. This was included in my ticket whereas others may have had to pay separately.

This also included the Bailong Elevator, which goes up the mountain in 88 seconds, over 320 metres, the fastest outdoor lift on earth. From this peak the views were just gorgeous, although at the same time the crowds were just insane. So many people fighting for the views and to get their selfies in, and loads of monkeys, which can turn vicious. People naturally ignored warnings not to feed them. Here the peaks are were the inspiration for the ‘Hallelujah Mountains’ in the James Cameron film ‘Avatar’, and I’ve not seen anything like before in all my travels.

There was a lot of walking, pictures, buses through the day and it finished with an amazing cable car ride down – well to more buses to return to the gate and finish an incredible, yet hectic day.

Day 16 – Tuesday – Tour to Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and Yellow Dragon Cave

I took a tour on the Tuesday, not to the National Park but to two other brilliant locations. The first was to the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, where an impressive glass bridge crosses the canyon. This was pretty cool but I must admit – I expected to freak out and it really wasn’t scary in the way that I was expecting.

Also at the Grand Canyon was a hot air ballooning VR experience, more elevators and this slide down one side of the canyon which was extremely underwhelming and slow! The highlight here though was the zip/seat line. You are strapped into a sort of seat that zooms across the canyon the other side. I was surprised again, I was freaking out but the experience was actually just enjoyable. I guess it felt a lot safer than the zipline I had taken in Nicaragua because of the seat. It was a couple of hundred metres or more up though so much higher!

After a tasty lunch, my group went to the Yellow Dragon Cave. I love a good cave tour, and this definitely was a good one. You clamour round this massive cave system for around an hour and a half, beautifully and colourfully lit. There’s a boat ride too. There was a guide who sang to the large group our smaller tour group joined, but none of the tours were in English sadly – and this is something I learnt very quickly – communication is hard without Mandarin. Everyone does use translation apps on their phones though. I had a great day out with six others and our guide.

Day 17 – Wednesday – Return to Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

I returned to the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park via the South Gate on Wednesday. Another day of amazing sights, more of the rock pillars – so many. The weather had changed, it was much cooler although the humidity was always over 90% which is challenging. The clouds were lower, around the pillars, and although there was a bit that was hidden now, the effect I thought was quite beautiful and mystical.

I did a long walk on this day along a river which was stunning, took another cable car up to a peak, and a toy train ride up a place called ‘Ten-Mile Gallery’. I exited via the East Gate and took a bus back to Zhangjiajie. For reference it’s somewhere between 30 – 40kms away.

Day 18 – Thursday – Tianmen Mountain

Thursday was a bit of a bust to be fair. The agenda was to visit Tianmen Mountain, which is basically next to the city, there is a cable car that leaves from Zhangjiajie City and takes you up, or you do a loop, up by bus and down by cable car, which is what I chose do to.

The cloud was very low though, and thick, and so much of the day was a disappointment because there was just NO visibility. The Tianmen Cave on the mountain is this amazing sort of whole through the mountain. From below, you look up on the 999 steps to the ‘hole’. But you could not see this hole. It was just covered in cloud.

Inside the mountain they have an escalator, which I took up to this point. The stone steps were pretty slippery too and there was nothing to see so this seemed like the sensible thing to do. The escalators then continue to the peak, where again – no visibility. Up there you find loads of walking tracks, but I had to put my poncho on because it was now raining.

The highlight at the top are the glass walkways. You may have seen footage of people screaming because the sides of the mountain are basically cliffs and looking down a thousand metres is understandably terrifying. So I tried one. I looked down to see cloud. Eh – you win some, you lose some.

Day 19 – Friday – Fast Train to Kunming

Friday saw me spend a good portion of the day on the very impressive fast train to Kunming via Huaihau. Second Class proved roomy and comfortable, the train got up to 296km/h which is damned impressive, and I thought it was great. I made my way to my hotel in Kunming which is only $48AUD per night and has been awesome!

Day 20 – Saturday – Sight Seeing Kunming

On Saturday I woke exhausted, the week had caught up to me. But I still got out to see what Kunming was like – a really nice city, very different to any Chinese city I have visited before. I visited the Yuantong Temple, 1200 years of history and very beautiful. Also the marvellous Green Lake Park. The weather was cool, and Kunming has been so relaxed compared to everywhere I’ve been thus far.

I also saw a monument to Nie Er, who composed the Chinese National Anthem, a bird market and the former residence of Ho Chi Minh. To top it off – tried a local speciality that when translated to English comes out as ‘Crossing the Bridge Noodles’ – YUM!

Day 21 – Sunday – Stone Forest

Sunday saw me take a half day trip out to Shilin, where there is another amazing natural wonder formed 270 million years ago through erosion, tectonic movement, rain, wind and earthquakes. Okay I feel like I just repeated myself there.

90 minutes away from Kunming by bus, the Shilin Stone Forest is… just that. Stones/rock that form small peaks that you can walk around, climb, done beautifully too. I don’t know what else to say just look at the pictures!! This country, and in particular Yunnan and Hunan Provinces, the nature is unique and beautiful.

I returned to Kunming to try a Chinese Buffet BBQ for dinner!

And so, that was the week that was! From here basically another day and a half in China before the train down to Laos, so looking forward to this journey too! Thanks for popping by today, take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!