I was really looking forward to my trip in Zhangjiajie, and I’m still glad I went, though it wasn’t at all what I expected.
I took the ditie (subway) to the airport on Thursday, and I had a two-and-a-half hour flight to Zhangjiajie airport. I was so nervous when we were landing and all I could see out the window was pitch black. Zhangjiajie is what Wikipedia calls a “prefecture-level” city with a population just shy of 1.5 million, so compared to Beijing, this is the middle of frigging nowhere.
The cab ride to the hotel was ¥300, which I’m not surprised with because the cab ride was very, very long, but I still think that the taxi company scammed me. Given that I was by myself in a foreign country, I was thinking the whole way, “Oh my effing god, what if he was driving somewhere to sell me into sex trafficking or something?” Luckily, we were able to find the hotel, and my room had a decent view and a Western-style toilet, so that was good.
On Friday, I went to the National Forest Park, which was within walking distance of the hotel. One thing, though: NO ONE MENTIONED THE WILD MONKEYS. Those little guys were EVERYWHERE, and I was so worried I’d get attacked. I was able to climb up one part of the National Forest Park as well as visit Huang Shi Zhai (Yellow Stone Village) for the gorgeous views. The scenery was so beautiful that I nearly cried when I was taking photos.
At the time I was in Hunan, I didn’t realize how far south I actually was. The weather wasn’t too hot, but it was very, very humid (to give you an idea: I washed out my pair of socks on Thursday night; by the time I packed up Sunday morning, they still weren’t dry) so I was drenched in sweat when I was in the parks. As far as food goes, as sad as this sounds, I didn’t eat that much when I was there because I just wasn’t hungry. (Hunan food is supposed to be very, very spicy, and since I don’t care for spicy that much, maybe my body was subconsciously dodging a bullet?)
Check out Part II for the rest of my trip!
Ashley Neumeister
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<div><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237);">I am a rising senior at Tulane University, studying Anthropology and Asian Studies with a Russian minor. In my spare time, I enjoy writing dark supernatural fantasy novels as well as science fiction. I am also a hopeless geek, so if you're into LORD OF THE RINGS, FIREFLY, STAR WARS, or RATCHET & CLANK, feel free to talk with me about it!</span></div>
