Glass Bridge
Having explored the main parts of Zhangjiajie National Park, we move on to explore the areas slightly further away.
Specifically, this morning we go to the Grand Canyon, starting with a ride with our friendly driver whom we’ve had on-and-off for the last couple of days.
We departed at 0730 and were at the turnstiles of the Grand Canyon less than an hour later. The four of us on regular adult tickets had timeslots of 0800-1600 while E & BW on senior tickets had slots of 0830-1530.
To our great surprise, the timing was firmly enforced by the automated turnstiles and they weren’t allowed through till the clock had ticked over!
The glass bridge was unceremoniously near to where we entered. After putting on slippers over our shoes we wandered onto the glass bridge and took as many photos as possible.
Even though I’m not afraid of heights and it didn’t feel thrilling, the hype that’s been generated by this place meant that we had to make the most of opportunity.
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- Glass bridge over the Grand Canyon.
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- VIew from the glass bridge of plankwalk on the canyon cliff.
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- VIew from the glass bridge of zipline.
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- VIew from the glass bridge of zipline.
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- VIew from the glass bridge of the canyon.
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- On the glass bridge over the Grand Canyon.
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- On the glass bridge over the Grand Canyon.
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- Glass bridge over the Grand Canyon.
Zipline
From the glass bridge, we continued along the route to a short glass plankwalk (without slippers for a change), then to a building where there was some kind of multi-sensory experience cinema which we skipped.
We walked past the long queue for the zipline across the canyon. I kinda wanted to do that but we hadn’t paid for the add-on and I didn’t feel like delaying the others.
So, we continued down the cliff part-way by elevator, where there was a viewing area and after that stairs down to the bottom of the canyon.
Having a better view of the canyon, I thought it might not be that difficult to meet up with the others who weren’t keen on doing the zipline with me. We confirmed with staff that we would just meet at the bottom of the canyon after descending on opposite sides (in my case after crossing the canyon by zipline).
M decided to join me for the zipline experience so we took the elevator back up to join the queue which was quite fast-moving. Once we got to the front, the WeChat Pay required a local number, so fortunately we had cash handy.
The zipline was mildly thrilling. I’m not afraid of heights but I am afraid of speed. Somehow, the experience didn’t unnerve me at all.
Once on the other side, it was a long way down the cliff on steps. There was a paid option to ride a glass slide down to the bottom but I didn’t understand what was on offer so missed the opportunity.
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- Glass bridge as viewed from part-way down the cliff face.
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- Plank walk on the opposite cliff face with people on it.
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- My destination on the zipline is across the canyon and then a long walk to the canyon floor.
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- Waiting for my turn on the zipline.
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- My destination on the zipline is across the canyon and then a long walk to the canyon floor.
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- My destination on the zipline is across the canyon and then a long walk to the canyon floor.
Canyon walk
Once at the bottom of the canyon M and I met up with the rest over a light burger lunch. The continuation of the route was along the canyon floor which had a small river.
We paid for the boat ride on the river not knowing that the ride would be quite short. By the time we waited for the boat to move, we could have completed the route on the plankwalk by the water!
We continued the walk along the water for a while before taking another short boat ride. This time there was no option to walk.
The route then took us below a pretty rock overhang which led into a cave.
When we were finally reached the end of the route, there was a ridiculous amount of walking before we got to the pick-up area, eg. through open paved areas, shops, overhead bridge.
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- Scenic walk on the canyon floor by the river.
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- Scenic walk on the canyon floor by the river.
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- There is an overhang at the end that led to a cave.
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- Cave near the end of the canyon walk.
Huanglong Cave
Our driver picked us up around 1300 and we drove to Huanglong Cave. Again, we had to walk through a vast expanse of park in the heat before getting to the cave’s ticket counter.
We opted to do the walk through the cave without a guide. Despite having a map, we couldn’t get our bearings. We wandered through as much as we could of the vast cave system but compared to the map, it looked like we had only covered a third of it.
We saw the highest stalagmite in the cave which was insured for CNY100 million. I’m not sure how the value was determined.
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- Huanglong Cave.
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- Huanglong Cave.
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- The highest stalagmite at Huanglong Cave is insured for CNY100 million. I’m not sure how the value was determined.
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- Huanglong Cave.
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- Huanglong Cave.
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- Huanglong Cave.
But it was enough. After a while, it’s just more of the same. Even though I come from Borneo which has what was once the world’s largest cave (at Mulu National Park), Huanglong Cave is still impressive.
They do take a different approach by artificially accentuating the beauty with coloured lights and graphical light projections. At Mulu, it is just bog-standard lighting to help one see the natural beauty.
Back at Wulingyuan around 1700, we ate dinner before returning to the hotel to rest up.