Avatar floating mountains. Zhangjiajie Park or Avatar Mountains - China. Entrance fees

You know, this is so strange - I never got around to watching the movie “Avatar”, but I titled the post quite in the spirit of the times and trends! Yes, James Cameron borrowed a number of panoramic scenes for his famous blockbuster from here. Well, God bless him, James. A visit to the wonderful Janjiadze National Park in the Chinese province of Hunan became for me another link in the chain of collecting fantastically beautiful karst landscapes South-East Asia. It seems that nowhere in the world except in Asia will you find these huge rocks sticking vertically out of the water (as in), or in China, but a little further south, in an equally wonderful place, or in the southern part of Thailand, south of Phuket, there Where was "" filmed? This visit of mine to China is very short and its purpose is completely different - to ride a train from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar and further to Russia. I’ve always dreamed of riding the Trans-Siberian from end to end, but I definitely can’t stand 6 days in a carriage (I’m not such a fan railways, How periskop ), so I’ll limit myself to its most exotic part, the Trans-Mongolian. But that will be in three days, but for now let’s return to the world of “Avatar” -

Let's just say that Dzhandzyadze is one of the least known to mass foreign tourism national parks China. Why do I emphasize that it is foreign? Yes, because locals Chinese tourists There is darkness in the park, there are so many of them that you will spend a considerable part of the trip in queues. But yes, I didn’t meet any Europeans during all three days in the park. Unfortunately, queues are a cost for huge and highly overpopulated countries like China and India. In the latter, by the way, there are even more people, because with the same population, the territory is three times smaller.

All major national parks in China are well equipped and extremely easy and convenient to travel to. Here you will find efficient and frequent bus, funicular and cable car services to any more or less interesting point, there will be toilets at every turn, “Information” booths (however, if you don’t know Chinese, they are of little use to you, everything there will be in Chinese, and the staff in 99% of cases will not speak a word of English). Dzhandzyadze Park begins with a huge gate and tower, where ticket offices, turnstiles and behind them - boarding free buses plying this large (about 30 by 60 kilometers in size) national park -

Above I talked about free buses, sorry, in truth, they can only be called free conditionally. A ticket to the park costs an ungodly 250 yuan ($45), a ticket is valid for 3 days, but is NOT included in the price cable cars inside the park, there is a funicular and a whole series of buses going to the most picturesque parts of the park. For orientation, I’ll mention that the Bailong Sky lift, which takes you almost 400 meters up, from where the same view from the movie “Avatar” opens, costs 150 yuan round trip ($25), and the cable car to Mount Tiamen (the most The longest cable car in the world, its length is 7,455 meters) will cost 252 yuan ($40) in both directions. The caves and secondary cable cars cost a little less, but in total, if you want to see all the most interesting things, the park will cost you about $200 just for tickets. It’s definitely worth it, although such hellish expenses are jarring, to be honest.

China is one of those countries for which it is advisable to carefully prepare for a trip and remember that you will face a difficult language barrier and difficulties with communication (almost all social media and even in LiveJournal I am forced to go through complex paths, from using auxiliary programs like Freegate to asking friends to publish even this post remotely) and a slightly different understanding of the world and life in comparison with the Chinese. Nothing critical, but if this is your first trip to China, nothing will be too easy for you. Everywhere you will strain all your intellect to solve small and large problems. How can I explain this clearly? Place earplugs in your ears and a gag in your mouth. Now imagine that everything around you is in an unreadable language, and the usual Google translator is blocked. Of course, I’m exaggerating, but this is approximately the situation. But it’s even interesting, believe me!

Very rare English-speaking Chinese sometimes ask, how do you travel here without knowing the language and not being able to even read the name of the station where you are going? How-how... yes, just like that, in the guidebook all the names of the cities are duplicated in Chinese. You turn to your neighbor and show him a hieroglyph with your finger, saying, is this city now? He nods, yes, now. Thank you, I mean “sese.” Station names, of course, are written only in Chinese. It's more difficult with food. The menu is unreadable, so if you don’t clearly know the name of the dish you want, look for a cafe where there are pictures of the dishes, otherwise they will bring you something other than what you ordered.

But I digress. Let's return to Dzhandzyadze. This is a small town located right at the entrance to the park. From any hotel in the town it takes at most 10-15 minutes to walk to the entrance to the park. Sometimes this town is confused with another, hefty city with the same exact name, but 35 kilometers to the east. So, you will arrive in big Dzhandzyadze by train (or fly) and then from there you will travel 35 km to the park of the same name. I arrived here by plane from Beijing. A bus ride from the airport to the city costs about 10 yuan ($1.8), then from the big Dzhandzyadze bus station you take another bus for 7 yuan ($1.2) to small Dzhandzyadze, the one next to the park. You can take a taxi directly from the airport, the price after a long bargaining is about 120-140 yuan ($27-32), but this option is optimal only if there are several of you and you are in a hurry.

The park is wonderful, beautiful, unique, fantastic! I could list many more epithets, but even a thousand words cannot express this creation of nature -

There is also a funny elevator in the park, which you get into from the depths of the tunnel, and then take off almost 400 meters up -

The elevator will take you exactly to where all these panoramas from the film are.

The downside is the fact that you are not the only one who will find Dzhanjadze wonderful. But also to the thousands of Chinese who visit this place every day. There will be queues everywhere: for buses, for the cable car, for the cable cars, even just on the trail where you intend to do the trek. Have time to take photos quickly before someone pushes you under the elbow. Not on purpose, no, but there are simply a lot of people and they are jostling, especially at the observation decks. Accept this fact and try not to be distracted from contemplating nature -

Avatar wings, if I'm not mistaken -

Some valuable tips:

1. Don't overestimate your strength. Trekking is a good thing for health, but even the healthiest person runs the risk of completely hurting his knees if he first climbs up 4 thousand steps and then goes down about the same amount by another route. Remember what trouble happened last year during the conquest of the sacred Chinese city, which is not far from Xi'an, and do not repeat my mistake. Sometimes it makes more sense to take the cable car up at least one way and walk down.

2. Chinese parks are not a cheap pleasure, the price list is higher. Therefore, figure out in advance what you need to invest in and what is not necessary. For example, there are three cable cars in Janjiadze, but the coolest view will be from Mount Yuanjiajie, where the Bailong elevator will take you. All other landscapes will be similar to this one, only slightly less impressive. I don't recommend spending money on tourist train“Ten Mile Gallery”, because firstly there are not 10 miles but only one and a half, and secondly you can easily cover this picturesque route in an hour on foot. Choose the best, because after paying another 40-50 dollars for the next cable car, you will understand that you have already seen all this two hours ago. But what I strongly recommend is an absolutely free trek through the Golden Whip gorge, you will find it on the maps and in the guidebook.

3. Accept that you won’t see the entire park. This takes 10-12 days. Only if you go to China specifically to visit the park, but most likely this is not your option and the park will only be part of the route around the country. Therefore, most likely you will have 2-3 days left and you will have to think in advance what to see.

That's all for now, I think! With greetings from the small working-class town of Jishou, which is about 150 kilometers south of Dzhandzyadze. I arrived here by train today at lunchtime and there is nothing to see in this town. But it is convenient as a base for visiting the beautiful places of Dehang and Fenguang. Google these names and appreciate the beauty. I haven't gotten there yet, I'm just going by bus from Jishu tomorrow.

p.s. And why did I say that there is nothing to see in Jishu? The most interesting city, the center of the tobacco industry, according to Wikipedia. I don’t know what about tobacco, but the chimneys of the metallurgical plant smoke black smoke with such force that I remember my native Urals.

Just a city without tourist attractions, namely an ordinary working district center, where tourists are an exceptional rarity and you will be photographed on phones. The people are very nice, they are sincerely happy to see you, surprised and want to communicate. But how? There's that language barrier again. I’ll tell you about the town separately, it’s worth it.

September 15 - 22, 2019
(stay in China 7 nights )

They are three meters tall, have blue skin, and have cat-like faces. Their planet is Pandora,
located several light years from Earth. Most of it is covered with jungle,
mountains hang in the air, plants glow in the dark...
To experience Pandora, you need to go to James Cameron's Avatar, which was inspired by the Wulingyuan Mountains.
To see the “flying” mountains in reality, to break out of everyday life and feel like the heroes of “Avatar” - you need to fly to China.

The program includes: panoramic routes - serpentines, various cable cars (including the longest in the world). The rocks are surrounded by routes made of stones and even glass, connected by giant bridges. The world's tallest open-air elevator was built, taking it to the top. Landscapes of unreal beauty, as if straight from the paintings of Chinese painters, became available thanks to the miracle of human genius and hard work.

Combines well with tours:

In the northwestern part of Hunan Province in China there is a concentration of unique natural sculptures. Zhangjiajie National Park, established in 1982. 480 thousand square meters of subtropical virgin forests, where at every step you can see bizarre species of plants, birds and animals, almost all of which are listed in the Red Book. The mountains are a picturesque sight: huge stone pillars above tropical forest, rugged sharp peaks, waterfalls, a giant cave system, powerful rivers, suitable for alloying.

The original inhabitants of these places live here - the national minorities Tujia, Miao and Bai, they speak their own languages and preserve their traditions and rituals. The park boasts many scenic spots.

Zhangjiajie is the oldest of China's national parks and perhaps its most remarkable. Opened in 1982, it was listed ten years later world heritage UNESCO. The park is home to more than 500 species of animals, including civets, monkeys, birds and salamanders. Rare plants such as gingko, pigeon tree, and mahogany also grow here. In addition, this area of Hunan Province is home to the Tianzishan Geopark, famous for its mountains amazing beauty and Sosiyu Park, notable primarily for the huge Huanglong Cave, the most Big hall which can accommodate ten thousand people. Since Zhangjiajie is a popular tourist area, there are excellent hotels and restaurants offering excellent cuisine. And as a souvenir, guests can purchase products by craftsmen of the local Miao, Tujia and Bo peoples, who lived in these lands for many thousands of years and developed original crafts, the secrets of which were passed on from generation to generation.

The highest free-moving elevator in the world, Bailong, is also located here. The two-story elevator cabin accommodates 50 people. It takes visitors to observation deck, located at an altitude of 360 m. The complex includes 3 such elevators with a lifting capacity of 3750 kg each. The walls of the elevator are transparent, so strong-willed passengers, along with a small dose of adrenaline, can enjoy contemplating the mountain landscapes that open to them.

Another attraction of the park is a natural 40-meter stone arch. The local mountain slopes are riddled with caves. The interiors are decorated with impressive stalactites, and the largest cave reaches an astonishing 142 meters in height. The abundance of bright neon lamps adds a wonderful play of light and shadows.

They tried to give each rock a name, for example this one - chicken:

The city of Zhangjiajie is located in the northwestern part of the Chinese province of Hunan. Its population is approximately one and a half million people. Near the city there is the Wulingyuan district, on whose territory there is an open national park Zhangjiajie has an unusually diverse flora and fauna. The city has its own airport, which receives flights from all major cities China. In addition to the ethnic Chinese (Han), the Zhangjiajie region is also home to the Miao, Tujia and Bo peoples, who have their own original culture.

Main plot: rocks, forest and river,

but it can be shot in different ways.

There are a lot of snakes here, but people love them.

You can get here by bus,

go up on the cable car,

and where there is none, a couple of strong guys are at your service,

After all, you can’t build elevators everywhere.

It has its own language, its own songs.

Mountain tea is grown here,

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