www.instagram.com/timandglo September 2, 2014 To see a map of the TianMen Mountain Park and a cable car schedule, skip to 12:53. We spent most our last day in TianMen Mountain (TianMenShan) Park, which is a 30 minute cable car ride from downtown ZhangJiaJie City. But first we started the day by walking to WangQiaoTai, which is just behind ZhongTian International Youth Hostel. We visited WangQiaoTai each of the three days we were in WuLingYuan, and we got the best view on this day! It was soooo amazing! On a clear day, you can see all the way to bottom of the valley at the mountains’ base, and the depth is overwhelming and awe inspiring. Because it was clear, we decided to take a bus back to TianZiShan (where were the day before when we saw nothing because it was too foggy). It was so worth the risk of time loss because we saw the mountain peaks poking through the clouds. GORGEOUS. Our last stop in Wulingyuang was a five minute walk from YangJiaJie. We wanted to photograph and film the rice fields nestled in a valley with the mountain background. Again, it was stunning. We took the cable car from Yangjiajie. The cable car ride was not disappointing. If you have the time, then there’s a hike that follows the cable car route, but we were told it takes 3-4 hours. The next step was to get back to ZhangJiaJie City, which was a little complicated. From the cable car station we took a free shuttle bus to a transition station where we had to walk along a wooden path for almost 15 minutes. We then took another bus, which made a pit stop at the HuangShiZhai cable car station then proceeded to the SenLin Park Entrance (which we also visited the day before). We then walked to the bus station outside the park and paid 10 RMB each for the bus to ZhangJiaJie City. The bus goes all the way to the bus station, but we got off a bit early at the TianMenShan cable car station. FYI: TianMenShan has a free baggage check service. We took advantage of it by leaving our backpacks there. The cable car takes an epic 30 minutes and offer amazing views! At the top of the mountain we headed straight to the Glass Walkway. After you pay a separate 5 RMB fee and put a pair of booties over your shoes there’s nothing left to do but be brave and walk the glass walkway 1500 m at the top of the mountain!! It was a thrilling experience. We were short on time, so we didn’t explore any more of the mountain. Instead we took the cable car to the midway station and boarded another bus (which took a very windy road!) to the 999 steps. There were a couple delays because of thunder, lightning, and heavy rain, but the fog cleared up just enough for us to get a glorious view steps and caves. Then they vanished…consumed by fog! We waited an hour hoping for another clearing but decided to leave when the rain started up again. You could easily spend a whole day on TianMen Mountain. We wish we had more time! For dinner we went across the street to Vide Hotel, which as a Korean restaurant. We didn’t realize until we got there that it’s actually a North Korean restaurant! The bibimbap was delicious. The servers perform during dinner, which makes for an overall interesting dining experience. Our first visit to Hunan Province was beyond wonderful! We hope we get to visit again soon! Thank you for watching!! :)

• published: 22 Sep 2014
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