The Grand Canyon that Keeps on Giving: Zhangjiajie, Hunan, Day Three

On our third day in Hunan we travelled to the Grand Canyon of Zhangjiajie and the Glass bridge that is suspended over it. This is about an hour bus journey from where we were staying and was not included in our National Forrest Park ticket. We decided to check out of our hostel in the valley and move to a hostel closer to the airport and Tianmen mountain for the last two days of our trip. The hostel staff allowed us to leave our luggage with them while we were out for the day as we weren’t relocating until the evening and also allowed me to put my DSLR camera behind the check in desk as you aren’t allowed cameras on the Glass Bridge (honestly I cannot recommend this hostel enough if you are visiting Zhangjiajie, they are super helpful and friendly and they have a dog… what more could you ask for?).

 

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous for this particular day, I have a slight fear of heights and the idea of walking over a bridge entirely made of glass was giving me a bit of worry. We allowed ourselves half a day for the bridge and canyon combined, as we had a trip to Baofeng lake planned for the afternoon. If you can I would recommend giving yourself a full day for this experience as there is a lot to pack in! When arriving at the bridge make sure to enter within your allocated time slot that you were given when booking your ticket, the tickets are split into different entry times throughout the day to control the flow of people that pass over the bridge at a time. We were told that it was easy enough to change your time slot once you arrived at the entrance but we were rushed through the barriers in order to get through our gate at the right time, so I am not sure how true this actually is, in any case better safe than sorry. Once you are in, however, you can spend as much time on the bridge as you feel necessary, we ended up on there for an hour!!

Although named “the Glass Bridge” the reality is only sections of the bridge are glass. The rest is solid metal and I have to say I was kind of glad of this considering my fear of heights. It took me a little while to get used to but eventually, with the help of Justin, Mat and Karin, I managed to ease my way onto one of the glass sections of the bridge. Everything about standing that high up and being able to see teeny tiny people directly underneath your feet feels completely wrong, but it was an absolutely incredible experience at the same time! As is the norm in China we were stopped by multiple Chinese tourists and asked for our photographs, the boys’ gymnastics drew in quite a crowd, and of course we obliged, even stopping to have a chat with one of the guys who seemed just as excited to be talking to us as he was to be on the glass bridge.

 

While the bridge is the main attraction of Zhangjiajie’s Grand Canyon, it is far from all it has to offer. Once off the bridge you make the long descent down into the canyon itself. About half way down there is the option to take an elevator the rest of the way, since we were on a time limit we decided to take this option (really a missed opportunity for a glass elevator if you ask me). From the canyon floor the bridge looks ridiculously high up! The silhouettes of the people walking across the glass sections appear to be no larger than ants and the stark contrast of their black outlines against the overcast sky was staggering.

This is where the true natural beauty of the Canyon begins to reveal itself. First with a waterfall that has burst it’s way through the side of the canyon wall appearing, as if from nowhere, about half way from the top. From this point every corner we turned revealed another surprise; from turquoise blue water to a zip line over the river and an ornate stone bridge to “Smuggler’s Cave”, all finally leading to a boat ride out of the canyon itself. This really is a full day out and somehow we managed to squeeze it all into half a day!

 

Baofeng lake was formed when the faults leading into the area were sealed up with concrete and the water level was allowed to rise. It is about 72 meters deep on average and covers around 15 hectares. It looks like a scene straight out of “Jurassic Park”; the water is an unbelievable shade of blue and the sand stone quartz pillars that Zhangjiajie is famous for tower above the lake, making it a walled off paradise on a good day. Even though it was overcast when we visited, the emerald green/turquoise water was still enough to take your breath away! The best way to see the lake is by taking a tour boat that lasts around 30 minutes, just don’t expect to understand anything unless you are fluent in Mandarin. Really though it was enough to just sit back and take in the beauty of the scenery, and the occasional Chinese folk singer who appeared from wooden huts on the lake as the boat drifted past…

Check out the Vlog from the this day here: https://youtu.be/aAgK7bx4Tp0

Trip Info:

• Zhangjiajie 1982 Chujian International Youth Hostel: 135 yuan (£15 for 3 nights) http://www.booking.com/Share-ayycez 
• Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon and Glass Bridge: 297 yuan (about £34) tickets are provided on a time slot basis and you must enter within your allocated time, no entry after 4:20pm.
• Zip line through the valley: 30 yuan per person (about £3)
• Baofeng lake: 98 yuan (about £9)
• Zhanjiajie National Forest park ticket: 248 yuan (about £27.60) allows entry to the park for 4 days.
• Local Bus: 10 yuan each way (about £1 per ticket)