After teaching on Thursday, we went back to our apartment to quickly pack up our bags and then headed to the train station. We took a bus from our apartment, and somehow we ended up with the only slow bus driver in all of China. We realized we were going to be late, so instead of switching to another bus like we normally would have, we decided to take a taxi. We got 3 different taxis to take us to the train station, and showed them the time on our tickets so they knew how much of a hurry we were in. Our driver looked at us like we were crazy, but he drove as fast as he could! We got to the train station, ran inside, went through security as fast as we could, and ran up the stairs to the platform. The train was about 5 minutes late, and we made it with time to spare! Except... not all of us made it. Christina and Shawna were in the last taxi, and apparently they pulled up right as the train left the station. Fortunately it was only a short train ride to Guangzhou, and we met up with them at the train station there.
Then we took the metro to the other train station to catch the 13-hour train to Zhangjiajie. 13 hours is a long time... but we played a few games of Mini Uno, chatted, and slept a lot, so it went by fast.
We got to our hostel without too much trouble, changed our clothes, and headed to Zhangjiajie National Park! The mountains there are SO beautiful. They call them the Avatar mountains, because James Cameron modeled the landscape for his movie after them.
See the resemblance?
We spent the rest of the day in the upper part of the park, looking at the views and such. Then we decided to hike down the mountain.
Here's the thing. The Chinese do not understand the concept of a hike. A hike in China just means going up and down a ridiculous amount of stairs. So we hiked down the mountain, and I've never gone down so many stairs in my life. Occasionally we would hit a set of stairs going up, and I've never been so excited to go up stairs before, just to get some variation. I may have gone a little crazy up there on that mountain.
We finally got down and caught a bus back. I crawled into my top bunk to relax for a bit... and woke up an hour later. So I found some food, took a shower, and went back to sleep.
The next morning we went to Tianmen Mountain. We rode a gondola up to the mountain... and the views were amazing! I took some beautiful photos of the landscape. When we got to the top we walked on a glass walkway along the edge of the mountain, which was so awesome, and only a little bit terrifying. Then we walked around the mountain on a ledge for a while.
This is when disaster struck. Christina decided it would be a good idea to take a picture with our feet dangling over the ledge. We were in a hurry, so I stuck my camera in my pocket and joined them. Mckenna was taking the picture, but she wanted to be in it too, so I quickly stood up to go trade places with her. As I was standing, I felt my camera slip out of my pocket. I thought it be a short drop to the ledge where I was sitting, but I was wrong. We all watched as my camera tumbled in slow motion over the side of the ledge. We were really high up, so I had a lot of time to stand and watch it. We all stared in silence as it fell. Then it hit a rock and shattered. And now I'm camera-less.
Which is why this blog has no pictures that aren't from Google Images. Sorry!
So we mourned the camera for a minute, then we kept walking. I had some kettle corn for lunch (there weren't a lot of options...) Then we went to a really cool Buddhist temple. There were huge statues and paintings and even a couple of real Buddhist monks! We weren't there for very long, but it was very cool to experience a religion so different from mine.
Then we headed to the Stairway to Heaven!
999 steps up to the top. The view from the top wasn't spectacular, but sometimes you do things just so you can say you did them. And I did it! And it felt awesome.
The next day we went back to Zhangjiajie to explore the bottom part of the park. It was pretty cold and rainy that day, but we still got to do awesome things, like feeding wild monkeys!
Then we had to get back on the train and go back home. This time we took a sleeper train, which is definitely my new favorite way to travel. We sat on the beds and talked for a while, and made friends with one of the Spanish guys that we were near. Then we went to sleep and didn't wake up until we were in
Guangzhou again! It was great. A short speed train and a couple of buses later, I was back in the tiny bedroom I call home!
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