China 21: Avatar-Mountains, we are coming! [EN/GER]

in travelfeed •  6 years ago 

After having been introduced to the art of tea in Chengdu, after discovering wonderful culinary delicacies and seeing giant pandas and red pandas, we say goodbye to the city of millions!
Our next destination is the Zhanjiajie National Park.
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The National Park is located in Hunan Province, Zhangjiajie Town is approximately 400 kilometres from the larger city of Changsha.
The area is known for its curious rock formations, often reminiscent of the landscape in James Cameron Avatar and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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We arrive in the morning by train from Changsha to Zhangjiajie and from there, we take a bus to Wulingyuan, where our hotel is located for the next two nights.
One thing we can tell you: The train ride can be quite annoying. We were in a hardsleeper. Since we travelled at night and have hardly slept, we arrive tired and exhausted in our hotel.
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A hardsleeper in a K-train: Little space, noisy and no privacy

Nevertheless, the hardsleeper ride is also an experience and that is simply part of a real adventurous China tour!
When we arrive at the hostel, we drop our backpacks and start looking for something to eat. Unfortunately, we catch a bad restaurant with unmotivated staff and questionable hygiene conditions. Well, that's the first (and will be the last) time that we have a bad eating experience in China. We’ll survive ;-)
The next morning, the alarm rings at 5:40. Let’s head off to the first hike in the Avatar-Mountains!
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Our host gives us a map of the park and explains how we should explore the park. So, let's go!
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At the park entrance at 06:15 o'clock, there are already many hysterical Chinese tourists queuing up. As soon as the gates open, everyone goes crazy: Tourists storm to the ticket counters and start screaming.
Once again, we are surprised by the Chinese tourists - we never thought that so much will be going on at this time in the morning!
First, we take the bus to the Elevator, fortunately there is hardly anything going on there.
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Unfortunately, we did not take a picture of the elevator but only have the ticket

With 330 meters in height, the elevator is the world's highest natural elevator. Actually, it is a really cool experience and the view while driving is spectacular. But the adventure is over within 2 minutes when you reach the top.
So, we can recommend it, but it was not our absolute highlight.
When arriving at the top, we especially enjoy the few tourists on the first mountain platform.
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The panorama is breath-taking

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From there, we walk to the next highlight: the so-called Avatar shooting site.
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Partly, it is actually very quiet and we even have some viewing platforms for ourselves.
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The following mountain pillars are particularly impressive and indeed strongly reminiscent of the landscape in Avatar:
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But before we show you more pictures, let's have a nice breakfast-break.
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Not wanting to miss our beloved European styled-breakfast, we had bought some pastry in the morning in a bakery (you can’t find much bakeries in China, so we were happy!).
Mhh, that's delicious!

Later, we will continue with more pictures and breath-taking views - look forward to more!

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German (same post)

Endlich ins Avatar-Gebirge!

Nachdem wir in Chengdu in die Kunst des Tees eingewiesen wurden, wunderbare kulinarische Köstlichkeiten entdeckt haben und obendrauf noch Pandabären und Rote Pandas gesehen haben, heißt es nun: Abschied nehmen von der Millionenstadt!
Unser nächstes Reiseziel ist der Zhanjiajie-Nationalpark.
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Der Nationalpark liegt in der Provinz Hunan, die Stadt Zhangjiajie liegt etwa 400 Kilometer von der größeren Stadt Changsha entfernt.
Das Areal ist bekannt für seine kuriosen Felsformationen, die oft an die Landschaft in James Cameron Avatar erinnern und ist Teil des UNESCO-Weltkulturerbes.
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Wir kommen morgens mit dem Zug von Changsha nach Zhangjiajie und fahren von dort aus mit einem Bus nach Wulingyuan, wo sich unser Hotel für die nächsten zwei Nächte befindet.

Eins können wir euch sagen: Die Zugfahrt kann relativ ätzend werden. Wir waren in einem Hardsleeper. Da wir in der Nacht gereist sind und kaum geschlafen haben, kommen wir auch übermüdet und erschöpft in unserem Hotel an.
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Ein Hardsleeper in einem K-Zug: Wenig Platz, laut und keine Privatsphäre

Trotzdem: Die Hardsleeper-Fahrt war auch ein Erlebnis und das gehört einfach zu einer China-Rundreise dazu!
Im Hostel angekommen, legen wir unsere Rucksäcke ab und machen uns auf die Suche nach etwas zu Essen. Leider erwischen wir ein schlechtes Restaurant mit motivierendem Personal und fraglichen Hygiene-Bedingungen. Nun, das ist das erste (und wird auch das letzte Mal bleiben), dass wir in China eine schlechte Erfahrung mit dem Essen gemacht haben. Schwamm drüber! ;-)

Am nächsten Morgen klingelt der Wecker um 05:40 Uhr. Auf Geht’s zur ersten Wanderung im Avatar -Gebirge!
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Unser Host gibt uns eine Karte des Parks mit und erklärt uns, wie wir am besten den Park erkunden. Also, auf geht’s!
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Am Parkeingang um 06:15 Uhr stehen allerdings schon viele hysterische chinesische Touristen Schlange. Sobald die Tore aufgehen, drehen alle durch: Alle stürmen zu den Ticketschaltern und kreischen wie verrückt.
Wieder einmal werden wir von den chinesischen Touristen überrascht – wir hätten nie gedacht, dass um diese Uhrzeit schon so viel los ist!

Wir fahren als erstes mit dem Bus zum Elevator, dort ist zum Glück kaum etwas los.
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Leider haben wir vom Elevator kein Bild gemacht, sondern haben nur die Eintrittskarte

Der Aufzug ist mit 330 Metern der höchste freistehende bzw. in der Natur stehende Aufzug auf der Welt. An sich ist er echt cool und die Aussicht während der Fahrt ist spektakulär. Der Spaß ist allerdings innerhalb von 2 Minuten vorbei.
Wir erfreuen uns vor allem über die wenigen Touristen auf der ersten Gebirgs-Plattform.
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Das Panorama ist atemberaubend

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Wir laufen von dort aus zum nächsten Highlight: der sogenannten Avatar-Shooting-Site.
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Teilweise ist es tatsächlich sehr ruhig und wir haben sogar einige Aussichtsplattformen für uns alleine.
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Folgende Berg-Pfeiler sind besonders beeindruckend und erinnert tatsächlich stark an die Landschaft in Avatar:
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Bevor wir euch jedoch weitere Bilder zeigen, machen wir erst einmal eine kleine Frühstückspause.
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Ganz im europäischen Stil hatten wir morgens in einer Bäckerei (!) ein leckeres süßes Teilchen gekauft.
Mhh, ist das lecker!

Später geht’s weiter mit noch mehr Bildern und atemberaubenden Aussichten – freut euch auf mehr!

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These are some stunning views! I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't sleep in the train but as you said, this is part of the experience :) I think I would go for a higher class as after such experience I would be grumpy for the rest of the day :D

I have never seen Avatar (Yes, I've been living under a rock :D) so I can't say if it looks like this but I will trust you :)

Another great adventure in a beautiful country! Looking forward to seeing another post from you :)

Thank you for sharing and have a great weekend!

Thanks for your comment. :) Yes, we would also book the higher class next time. Unfortunatley, during tourist-season in summer, the better classes are allready fully booked much in advance. So for this journey, we didn't get any other tickets. But as we said, it was some kind of adventure ;-)

Great scenery. Planet earth is really awesome.

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Oh yes, it is! Thanks for swinging by! :)

Wow! Sieht super aus...werde ich bei meinem nächsten China-Aufenthalt auch besuchen wollen...

Das heißt, du warst auch schon in China? Wie hat es dir gefallen und was war dein Highlight?

Ja, ich habe für ein Jahr in China gewohnt...ein spezielles Highlight kann ich so spontan nicht nennen, sind viele Dinge, an die ich mich gerne erinnere und einige davon, findest Du auch hier auf meinem Blog.

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Thanks so much and have a great day, too! :)

Breathtaking indeed.
It is funny how we give so much credit to artists' creations (like movie makers) when in fact they have only taken from what it is already out there to see, put things together, modified here and there and voila.
Of course there is merit in what they have done in creating fantastic worlds for us to drool, but posts like this one remind us how much beauty we already have in the real world.
It must feel sureal to have the chance to witness such majestic sceneries.

Thanks - you are absolutley right! And it really was wonderful to be in the middle of that majestic landscape :)

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Such kind of places always fascinates me. And, Zhanjiahie national Park is something that every traveller would love to visit. Indeed, wonderful photos.

I'm also glad that you had your favourite breakfast after that bad restaurant experience :D Thanks for sharing the trip and adding a new name in my places to visit list.

you're welcome! Thanks for commenting :) There are so many wonderful places to go to...our list is quite long!

Super Beitrag und wirklich unglaublich schöne bilder.

Danke @travelfox - freut uns! :)

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I had no idea about this place. Can't believe the Chinese tourists though as they seem so quiet when travelling abroad. I must admit I would be surprised to see anyone queuing at that time of the morning and I din't know if I could. Nice photographs and now I know where they got the landscape pictures for Avatar.

yes, we thought the same ;-) Thanks for swinging by!