Writing or even thinking about Zhangjiajie always makes me so incredibly emotional. This place has magical healing vibes. Whenever I’m in need of going to my “happy place” to get through a rough day, moment or event this is where I go. THIS is my happy place.
We stayed in the sweetest little place! To be honest, it looked like the Chinese version of a log cabin. As soon as you walked in you were greeted by the sweetest golden retriever! The lobby was open and dimly lit with a communal place to have tea. The stairs to the rooms were very wide. Not very Chinese like in my opinion due to mostly everything being small and compact. When you waked into the room, it seemed as if you were in a fancy 5 star resort in the Swiss Alps. The ceilings were vaulted and the vibe was unexplainably calming, charming and peaceful. There was a small balcony that was attached to the room where we would sit and reward ourselves with an after hike beer each night. The balcony was facing the most beautifully unique mountains! The view was breathtaking.
The name of the hotel was No. 106 Guihua Road Inn. It cost us roughly $98 for three nights! That’s roughly $32 a night! Crazy, I know! This $32 a night hotel is my happy place.
Even as I’m writing this, my eyes fill with tears. It’s extremely hard for me to put into words what this trip did for me. Maybe it’s the breathtaking scenery, the way I pushed my body to new heights, the emotional healing that took place or maybe it’s because this was the time I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life taking on all of life’s adventures with the man that I only called my boyfriend at this time.
Prior to this trip, I knew I loved him but I didn’t necessarily know what I wanted to do with that love. I was right in the middle of a divorce all while recovering from an extremely abusive short lived fling.
I know, it’s a lot. Believe me. The weight of all these emotions always hit me when I think about Zhangjiajie. Damn those healing vibes though!
The landscapes in Zhangjiajie are breathtaking. It’s one of those views that humble you down to your core.
Tianmen Mountain
Day 1: We spent the day exploring the cliffs Tiamen Mountain and admiring the view from the glass bridge. Max is deathly afraid of heights. It took a bit of encouragement on my end to get him to agree to the glass bridge. In fact, he didn’t agree at all. I went ahead and purchased his ticket without him knowing. I knew he would give it a try if it was already paid for. And, just as I expected, he refused to waste the money I had already spent on the ticket and braved the glass bridge with me!
We took the 999 stairs down to get the best view of Tianmen Cave. This seems to be a going theme in China, stairs. There are always stairs and many of them!
To get back down to our starting point we had to take a 28 person van down, what was strategically named, 99 Bends. I’m not certain if there were 99 bends, but what I can tell you is, on more than one occasion, I was getting right with the lord. I thought FOR SURE we were going off the cliffs. With every turn the whole van creaked and squeaked as if, at any point, it would break in half while simultaneously sending us all to our impeding dooms down the cliffs.
Avatar Hallelujah Mountains
Day 2: We started day two with an elevator ride on the worlds longest free hanging outdoor elevator called the Bailong Elevator. While it was a fun experience, it was a very quick ride which was great seeing how we were squashed inside this tiny box, shoulder to shoulder with what seemed to be 500 locals.
After the short sardine like elevator ride, we started our hike to Yuanjiajie scenic area followed by “Ecstacy Terrace.” Someone should make a book on the hilarious translations in Asia. They are more, often than not, extremely funny and inappropriate. This one is rated G, but they get way worse!
We were excited to find what we had been hiking an hour to see! The natural bridge! We had seen this natural bridge online and man did it look spectacular! It was a bridge that was a naturally grown into these huge mountains. But, you see, here is the problem with picture perfect photos all over the internet and everyone’s Instagram. While the natural bridge was pretty cool, it was by no means as stunning as the picture portrayed. It took all of 3.3 second to walk across. To be honest, had we known we would have spent our time elsewhere. Do yourself a favor and skip this part. It was pretty disappointing. The only redeeming factor was everywhere you walked you were surrounded by the “Avatar Hallelujah Mountains.” There aren’t enough adjectives to describe that magnitude of these mountains. They were HUGE and not like any mountains I had ever seen in my life! They had a very slim, jagged and scattered appearance. Breathtaking!
We then hiked to the “Golden Whip Stream.” Now- I had never seen a wild monkey in my life. Max had, but I hadn’t. This was a brand new, even if terrifying, experience for me. At one point I made an absolute fool of myself, surprise surprise.
Picture this- Max and I hadn’t been dating for a long time. We were basically just getting to know each other. We were getting to know how each one travels, their behaviors to certain situations and all that ‘beginning of a relationship’ jazz.
So- here I am trying my hardest to not show that these monkeys are sending shivers down every inch of my spine. Every time I walked past one, my whole body would clinch up as if I am walking bare foot on gravel. Slow and steadily, I’d walk past each monkey. At one point, I’m walking past one, trying not to make eye contact like you do when you see someone you went to high school with at your local grocery store. Then, all of a sudden it made a beeline towards me. This monkey was holding its little monkey arms up like a toddler begging to be swooped up by its mother.
I bet you can guess what happened next. Yes, I freaked. I screamed. I ran. This place was so tranquil and quite. I’m sure I was heard a mile away.
Max of course came to my rescue all while trying to refrain from laughing. He assured me I was ok then told me to look behind me. There was a girl walking directly behind me feeding the monkeys along the trail. The monkey wasn’t even walking to me, it was walking to her. Embarrassed isn’t even the proper emotion. I was mortified.
But, in true Max fashion, he brushed it off and somehow made me almost immediately forget how I had just possibly summed all the spirits of the mountains with my blood curdling screams. He’s good like that. He’s always making me feel comfortable and calm. It’s part of his super cool, laid back, nothing bothers me vibe. It’s refreshingly comfortable.
Baofeng Hu & Tianzi Mountain
Day 3: Day three in Zhangjiajie started out with a relaxing boat ride in Baofeng Hu, one the most unique jade color waters we had ever seen. Some pictures give the illusion that a place is better than in reality. But, not this place. The pictures don’t give this place the proper credit. It’s one of those, you gotta be there type places to get the whole visual experience to really appreciate it. The color of the water is the most unique deep jade color. As we went along our boat ride, there were locals set up on small rafts along the way singing old Chinese folk songs. Although we didn’t have one clue what they were singing about, by the reactions of the other passengers it seemed these folk songs were full of fun and laughter. It was one of those moments where you laugh when they laugh kind thing. It seemed like the right thing to do.
After our extremely calming boat ride, we went back to the national park and we took a short nature walk through what was called “The 10 Mile Gallery.” We looked to the left, we looked to the right. We were completely surrounded by these beautiful “Hallelujah Mountains.” What a magnificent site! What a humbling site! It felt as if you were in a snow globe of sorts, minus the snow… You know what I mean! You felt completely and utterly encompassed by these mountains!
Ready for an a embarrassing story? Because, you know I’ve got one.
As I said before, this was the trip where I knew beyond any and all doubts that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man, the one with whom I only called my boyfriend at this time.
At this time in our relationship we hadn’t taken many pictures together yet. As we were walking there was a moment where I decided that I wanted to take one of those “follow me” pictures in this picturesque setting! You know- the girl is walking, she reaches her hand back ever so gracefully in a “follow me” kinda way while holding the dudes hand perfectly. She’s facing forward and the picture is taken from behind. Her hair is always on point and their arms always seem to be in the proper position. Yea, that one…
I was SO nervous to ask. Would he think I was stupid? Would he think it’s a silly request? Would he even want to take a picture with me? Does he even know what a follow me picture is?
Finally, after rehearsing how I would request this picture in my head, for at least half a mile, I finally just blurted out, “Can we take a follow me picture?”
As anticipated, he had no clue what I was talking about. After playing a short game of charades and giving some verbal clues he got the point!
After a few attempts, he gave me the phone to have a look at the pictures. Mind you, it was very hot…
In my head, we would capture the beautiful mountains in the background. My messy bun would be the perfect ratio of messy to fixed. My arms and hands would be reaching back ever so gracefully to capture a super cute moment!
WRONG! I had copious amounts of sweat dripping down the back of my neck. So much, in fact, that my hair had become loose at the bottom and was now seemingly permanently attached to the back of my neck as if some swamp monster had taken up permanent residence there. I HAD PIT STANES ON MY SHIRT from where I had been sweating so much AND apparently I had forgotten to shave my underarms that day.
After I glanced at the pictures I pretended to like the picture in an effort not to point out the obvious. I was pretty embarrassed. I opted for a suffer in silence kinda attitude for the next 10 minutes, trying to crawl out from under the imaginary rock I had just shoved myself under.
After roughly 30 minutes we stopped at a food vendor area along the way. Food! There is ALWAYS food in China. It’s like the snack capital of the world. The variety of foods they sell on the side of the street or a mountain always blow my mind! They can have a full blows five course meal options under three different tents in the middle of nowhere!
Had I known what was to come next, I would have NEVER ate anything!
Oh Tianzi Mountain…
Max and I have a love hate relationship with this mountain. When we started our journey up, we only had one thing in mind, to be eye to eye with the tops of these amazing mountains! Little did we know, we were in for an excruciating “hike.” Now- I say “hike” because as I have mentioned before China is FULL OF STAIRS! This Mountain “hike” was nothing but stairs! STAIRS, STAIRS and MORE STAIRS!
As we were approaching the climb, there was an older man taking a rest on a bench. He was probably pushing 65 or so. Covered in sweat, walking stick slung on the floor and red faced. As we passed him, he mentioned something about how long the hike was. While making quick small talk we found out that he was from New York. Cool! Another foreigner, I thought. Little did I know, this man would be my motivation to get up the mountain.
After our quick conversation, Max and I started our journey up! Roughly 20 minutes into the hike I started to rethink my decision. I was already feeling extremely exhausted. I had no idea how long the hike would be. No concept of even how far we needed to trek! I stopped and looked at Max, with shame, and told him I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. Once again, in true Max fashion he HEARD me and said if I was feeling to tired we could go back down. He followed it up with a very powerful BUT….
“But… If you want to continue I’m here and we can do it together. We can take as many breaks as you need. We can take it slow. No need to worry.”
With his support along with thinking about the older gentleman who had just made the trek, I made the decision to push on. If he can do it, I can do it, I thought!
As you get higher up the mountain, there are local men with these chariot looking chairs attached to two sticks who would hassle you to pay them, in return they would carry you up the mountain. Don’t you think for one second that I didn’t contemplate taking them up on their many offers! I was prime real estate! At times, I’d barley be able to catch my breath enough to muster up a “No, thank you.” Most of the time, they just got a head shake out of me. Max was a freakin’ rock star the whole time. Encouraging me, taking pictures, and telling me how proud of me he was!
Many times along the way, I questioned my sanity, my will to live and whether or not I would actually physically make it up the mountain.
2.5 hours, 2,900 stairs, over 180 floors later WE MADE IT TO THE TOP! Of course there were food and drink vendors at the top. Most of which were selling local beer and produce. Well played China, well played. We promptly rewarded ourselves with a beer and a cucumber!
After our long hike and a victory treat, it was late and cold at the top of this mountain. We opted to take the cable car back down to the bottom of the mountain where we had started and head back to our adorable hotel for another victory beer on our balcony!
-Kendall
