Getting ahead of the hordes - Days 1 and 2

 

阿凡达!

Anyone who has spent time in China would probably agree that only the masochistic or the insane would travel domestically during a major Chinese holiday period. With hundreds of millions of people on the move during these times, virtually all the famous sightseeing spots and travel destinations in the country disappear under a horde of visitors. It's easy to find videos online showing the crowds; even Chinese like to post videos of the chaos on their social media forums. The best course of action during periods like the Lunar New Year is to leave the country - just be sure to avoid destinations like South Korea and Vietnam where LNY is also a major holiday, and don't be surprised to find yourself among Chinese tour groups depending on where you go (although Japan might be a good choice these days if that's something you wish to avoid). 

We have our own travel plans for the upcoming 春节 break (the first day of the Year of the Horse falls on the 17th of February), but this year we did something a little different. I arranged to take the first week in February off from work, and my wife organized a seven-day, six-night itinerary that took us to two of China's most popular sightseeing spots, Zhangjiajie 张家界 and Fenghuang 凤凰. The gamble to beat the crowds while simultaneously seeing more of our host nation paid off thanks to her hard work and impeccable timing. So sit back with a Tsingtao Beer and watch the Winter Olympics on TV, but in between the events please have a look at some of the things Shu-E and I did on this domestic excursion.

We kicked off our trip with a roughly two-hour flight from Guangzhou 广州 to Zhangjiajie on the last day of January. My wife was initially seated next to a young girl traveling solo. Apparently she was never told not to talk to strangers because the little chatterbox immediately proceeded to strike up a conversation with Shu-E, at one point even introducing herself in English. Unfortunately she started feeling airsick, so a flight attendant ended up moving her to closer to one of the rear lavatories: 

We were met at the airport by a driver who took us to our first night's accommodation. The Guyu Yuanfang B&B 古屿远方 ("Guyu Wonderland") is a high-end eco village resort located in the Yongding district 永定区 of Zhangjiajie City 张家界市. The resort's manager would tell me during dinner that evening the peak season for the resort runs from May to November, which would explain why things were very quiet during the one night we stayed there. I neglected to take any photos of our luxurious-looking room, but we did go out for a quick stroll soon after checking-in:

The outside temperature felt much colder than the 9°C/48°F reading being given out by my phone's weather app, and our room in fact felt chilly throughout our brief stay, despite the underfloor heating:

Because I had stupidly forgottten to bring a power bank with me, a necessity due to the incredible number of photos and videos Shu-E likes to take whenever we travel to anywhere remotely scenic, we had to make a quick trip into town for a late light lunch and some electronics shopping. The neighborhood we found ourselves in was the kind of gritty urban environment that is home to most Chinese, far removed from the glitzy futuristic cityscapes beloved by foreign YouTubers. Which made the local elementary school all the more distinctive in its exterior architecture: 

Back at the eco-village, where the occasional old residence co-exists with the more luxurious surroundings:

The building where we had our meals. Seeing the outdoor pool made me wish we had arrived during a warmer time of the year:

While my wife rested in the room I took a stroll along an elevated walkway overlooking some terraced fields:

For dinner that evening we enjoyed several locally-sourced dishes, commencing with this chicken soup specialty. We were the only diners there for the meal, as well as at breakfast the following morning, although there were a couple of cars parked outside the front desk reception building, indicating the presence of a few other guests:

Outside our room:

In addition to the two meals, our stay also included travel from and to the local airport. However, as our next destination was to another part of Zhangjiajie City, Shu-E negotiated a ride following checkout on Sunday morning to our next accommodations in the Wulingyuan District 武陵源区, a 40-minute drive from Guyu Wonderland. Our new hotel (the Wulingyuan location of the national Atour Hotel chain) was only a twenty-minute walk from the east gate entrance of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park 张家界国家森林公园, though my wife insisted we take a Didi in order to "conserve our strength". The temperature was 8°C/46°F as we arrived at the park entrance:

Zhangjiajie is quite simply a geological wonderland. Part of the wider Zhangjiajie UNESCO Global Geopark, the 217.2 square kilometer/83.9 squaure mile Wulingyuan Core Scenic Area is home to over 3000 quartz-sandstone pinnacles (a third of which are over 200 meters/656 feet tall) that emerge from the forest below, a sight found nowhere else on the planet. The verdant valleys served as the inspiration for the scenery in Avatar. 

Our explorations began with a shuttle ride (privately-owned vehicles are banned inside the park) to the Ten-Mile Gallery 十里画廊. A short walk along the trail gave us our first views (and photo ops) of the unique scenery: 

A cute animial-themed monorail was an option but Shu-E preferred to walk. During this day and the ones following she would average around 20,000 steps a day, a remarkable feat for someone who at times thinks crossing the street on foot constitutes a trek:

It was here we also caught our first glimpse of the park's resident monkeys, the first of many we would see during our visit:

The first of the many videos taken by my wife:

Rather than walk three hours or so to reach the top of Tianzi Shan 天子山 mountain, or even the much shorter route to the terminus of the monorail and then riding one of the  很可爱 trains back, Shu-E (having taken a sufficient number of photos, videos and selfies) suggested turning around and returning to the bus stop, which we did. From there we took a shuttle to the Bailong Elevator 百龙天梯. More stunning scenery, as well as monkeys looking for handouts, greeted us as we alighted from the bus:

We took the cliff-side elevator (see photo above) for the 335-meter/1099-foot lift to Yuanjiajie 袁家界, an area of 1200 hectares/2965 acres at an average altitude of 1074 meters/328 feet . The appropriately named Fascinating Terrace 迷魂台 lookout provided for some spectacular views of the rock stacks, the result of ancient sea rock pillars formed by the collapse of the coast and the subsequent erosion of the waves:

It was here we also broke for lunch before returning to the scenery:

The following section was dubbed the "Avatar Mountians" for obvious reasons:

Here being China many of the rock formations have been given names, such as the "Stone Pillar Supporting Heaven" 乾坤柱:

By this point it was starting to get late in the afteroon (remember, we started relatively late in the morning), so we made our way over to another shuttle bus stop. This would be the only time we had to stand in a longish line, though even then our wait time was mercifully short thanks to the frequency of buses. The presence of the snaking wait lines at the bus stops in the park suggested that visiting Zhangjiajie during national holidays must be an exhaustive experience (see the video at the end of this post for an idea of what such conditions can be like). And even during the quieter times like when we were there, it was still an occasional free-for-all to get on a shuttle. Despite the remarkable economic growth of recent decades, it still isn't easy at times being Chinese. 

For our visit, however, the park's transportation system was efficient and well-organized (not something that can often be said about conditions in China). We rode two buses in all to reach the Tianzi Mountain Cableway 天子山索道. The trees at the top of the mountain (which we could have reached via the earlier-mentioned Ten-Mile Gallery trail) were still dusted from a recent snowfall:

The scenery naturally was impressive as the gondola made its way down the mountain:

A closer view of one of the pillars:

Back in our hotel room. Instead of a Gideon's Bible there was a book of poems by Beat Generation poet Gary Snyder (translated into Mandarin, of course). Fun fact: Snyder was a professor in the writing program at UC Davis during the time I was a student there. I didn't take any of his classes, but two of my roommates (both English majors) were his students. I did, however, go to hear Hunter S. Thompson give a slurred lecture on campus one evening:

That evening I demanded a break from Chinese food so the two of us ended up at a restaurant/bar called Grimm 格林酒馆餐厅 (though Google Translate renders the name as the more pleasant-sounding "Green Tavern Restaurant"). There I tucked into a Australian grass-fed steak, though my wife ordered the better beer. What the hell was I thinking when I asked for the Tuborg?:

"China is a very peaceful country. Peace worl":

Heading back to the hotel after dinner:

It's difficult to see in the photo but the next night Shu-E would enjoy a massage at the establishment on the lower right. Our hotel is also off the to the right out of frame, but almost directly across the road from where I snapped this pic:

Speaking of the Atour Hotel, this is the indicator button for the sixth floor (actually the fifth, as the hotel lacked a fourth floor). "Sweating" and "Home" are obvious references to the gym and guestrooms, respectively, that were on that floor. "Xiang Zhao" means to "invite each other", which presumably indicates the restaurant where we had breakfast. The only other facility on the floor was the laundry room. Seeing as we didn't wash any of our clothes during our stay, we apparently remained in the secular world. I regret now not knowing what would have happened had we decided to clean our socks and underwear:

They had better weather but we spent much less time queueing. Points to us:

To be continued...