5 April 2015 –
It's been raining allllllll night long. I mean, I do love listening to the rain and thunder BUT in this one instance I'd appreciate if it would STOP! Today is our last day in ZJJ and then it's back to the Big City for us.
Looks like we're going to attempt seeing Tianmen Mountain today. I've seen photos of it.
Before we check out this hotel I'd like to show you this amusing window in our room. This window is closed….but do you see the gaps of light coming in on the side? I know it might be difficult to see in the photo but the window panel is considerably smaller than the actual opening. It's so much smaller that it creates quite a draft. Other than that it's a very nice room. 😉
Chris said that the line to get on the cable car (to head up to Tianmen Mountain) would be a 30 minute wait….or wait, maybe a 1-hour wait….or …maybe a nearly TWO HOUR wait. Egads. I think all four of us nearly lost it while waiting for that cable car ride. And to make matters worse…people kept trying to take photos of us and touch Ava. AAAARRRRGH!!!! She IS NOT A DOLL!
Finally! Finally! We're heading up to Tianmen Mountain on a 30 minute cable car
The cable car ride didn't start out very interesting as the start of the ride is across the city of Zhangjiajie (not super interesting). Then finally up, up, UP we go! Up a very steep mountain.
This mountain is set up in a weird way – there is a half-way point on the cable-car ride where you can get off, get on a bus, ride on this winding road (the understatement of the year!!!!), get a little sea-sick along the way, and head to the giant hole in the rock that they call Tianmen Mountain. *I really, really hope to see this giant hole in the rock!*
Those are some pretty dramatic mountains and impressive waterfalls:
We skipped the half-way point and we got off at the top.
Oh.
Wow.
Do you think we're going to see anything? Doesn't look like we're going to see ANYTHING today except fog…deep…deep…fog:
I bet on a clear day the photo below would be more dramatic (in that a walk way is attached to a side of a cliff!):
I find something so ethereal about this tree in the fog:
Sooooooooooo…….
There's this walkway made of glass that you can pay a few RMB, put on special booties, and WAIT IN ANOTHER FREAKING LINE to walk on this walkway. Ummm…we are so NOT INTERESTED in waiting in another stinking line. Plus, you can't see anything anyway because of the deep fog. So we kept walking. Then we bumped into this short walkway that looks like a finger sticking out from the cliff. No waiting. And it's made of glass too. How cool is that?!?
The bridge…where oh where we'll end up at? Is it the Bridge of Eternal Doom….or the Bridge of Faith:
Truer words have never been uttered: "Never pick up wild fruits to avoid poisoning". Uh…yeah, right. I think perhaps it would have made a little more sense to mention NOT eating those "wild fruits". Generally speaking you don't get poisoning from PICKING them. ;-)
Up at the top of the mountain there is a monastery…which is only a few years old (the old one was torn down and a new one built).
We walked around the monastery and saw a few new Buddha statues:
Check out the mist blowing into the open door:
We're waiting in line….again.
We scurried along the rest of the trail and completed the loop as quickly as we could. I was really glad we brought our hats with us. I even brought my gloves with me. It was cold enough on the mountain top to warrant wearing them!
We're trying to decide if we should stop half-way at attempt seeing the hole in the rock or head back down the mountain.
While we're waiting check out this sign, "He who fails to climb on Huangshizai need not have come to Zhangjiajie." Uh, whaaaat???? That's not exactly a heartwarming, endearing advertisement. I can't even guess what they're trying to say. Thanks….but I think it's time to get out here and leave!
We decided that we'd had enough of waiting in lines. Chris said we'd have to wait in line waiting for the bus, and more waiting for the cable car to head back down the mountain. Mind you, I was looking forward to walking up the 999 steps to get up to the hole. (didn't I mention that? oops.) Or, you probably can stand in another long line and take the escalator up to the top to see the hole in the rock. Yes, I said ESCALATOR. Can you believe that??? What has this world come to that they have escalators on mountains????? They're even working on building another escalator that will connect the top of the mountain (where we were) directly to the hole on the rock!!!! TWO ESCALATORS. Somehow that just seems like a sin against nature. I know, I know, I know…it does allow people who would perhaps otherwise not be able to due to health reasons to enjoy these views but aren't people just getting too darn lazy?????
Well….in the end we decided that since our chances of seeing anything of the hole in the rock were slim to none we wanted to head all the way back down the mountain.
We spent the remaining hours while waiting for our 9:50pm flight comfortably (and warmly, I might add) in a nearby hotel. Not as much fun as hiking but we're okay with our decision.
Here's Chris:
Check out this funky, weird, bizarre twist of the Apple logo on the bus transporting us from the airport terminal to our airplane:
Uh huh. I bet that's authentic and genuine. Don't you agree?
Guess what? I'm sure you won't be surprised but our flight was delayed. And delayed. That's okay. However, it doesn't look like the girls will be going to school on Monday.
On the flight to Beijing I got to sit next to a very interesting and energetic young lady who teaches English at a university in Dalian (she's American). She and her friend also were on Tianmen mountain and they heard from a friend that there was ZERO visibility at the hole on the rock. I'm glad we didn't bother heading there!