Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie National Park

Ctourus -- 7-day Tour of Zhangjiajie, Hunan, China 

Day 5 - Wulingyuan of Zhangjiajie, November 10, 2017

After visiting the Tianmen Mountain Park area the day before, we would be moving over to the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie National Park today.

Exterior of Ziyu Hotel in Zhangjiajie where we stayed the night before as we left the hotel in the morning.

Street scene outside of the hotel.

On our way to Wulingyuan.

Toll booths of Zhangjiajie.

Arriving our first stop at Wulingyuan--Jun Sheng Sand and Stone Painting Institute. 

I remember we visited another location of the same establishment in Zhangjiajie on our last trip so this was not a surprise for us. This was just a short stop and I don't even think they expect us to do any shopping here anyway.

These paintings using stones, sand, and other natural materials were truly amazing!

And, of course, they were quite expensive.

This one represents the beauty of Zhangjiajie quite well.

Waiting for our bus outside the building as we were leaving.

Unique buildings.

Next stop, tea shopping!

Royal Tea Shop

A statue of Lu Yu, the Tea Saint.

Tea was served and we were told that steaming our eyes with that tea will help relieve any discomfort of the eyes. We were kept in there for close to two hours, until purchases were done.

Lunch was served here at this restaurant.

The entrance of Wulingyuan (Yuanjiajie) part of the park was right in town.

After our guide purchased the tickets we were led to take the shuttle bus inside the park.

We got off at the Gold Whip Stream stop (Jin Bien Brook金鞭溪) for a few photos. Unfortunately we did not have a chance to walk further down the stream like our last time here.

Beautiful mountains all around.

Ah Mei, the assistant guide and photographer for this part of the tour, she was a pleasant addition on our tour. At the end of the tour she presented us with printed photo books and a video of our trip here for those who wanted to purchase. 

Our next stop was the World's Highest Outdoor Elevator (Hundred-Dragon Heavenly Ladder百龍天梯). This elevator will take us from the bottom of the mountain to the top in about one minute. 

Bai Long Tien Ti

Getting in line for the ride up.

Inside the elevator. The glass panels were kind of dirty making it hard to see clearly from the inside.

One more shot from inside of the elevator as we were going up.

Now we were much closer to the amazing sights of the rock formations.

I believe this was the rock shown in 'Avatar', the Hallelujah rock.

Weather was not perfect but certainly better than our last time here.

(from my iphone)

Back down to the bottom after another ride on the elevator.

As we were leaving the park on the shuttle, I happened to snap a photo of the dam on Suoxi Lake with my iphone.

Jin Xiu FengHuang International Hotel (International Splendid East) 錦綉東都大酒店

We then checked into the hotel where we would spend the next two nights in Wulingyuan. Quite convenient in town.

I believe we had dinner at the hotel that evening before going out for a show that we had to pay extra for ($80 USD) which is called Zhangjiajie Charm Xiangxi, a show about local culture and history.

Waiting to enter the auditorium.

It was quite an interesting show with plenty of dancing and acting. I especially enjoyed the part about the 'walking-dead' of Xiangxi 湘西趕屍. After the show indoor, they also had another show outside which was more of a fun show with audience participation. A good way to end the evening.