After a cold and restless sleep at the terrible hostel, I awoke at 6:45am and headed out with my guide to the bus stop at the 3-way intersection 三叉路口 to catch the free tourist bus to TianCi Mountain. The first bus only starts at 7:30am so about 20 minutes was spent waiting around in the cold morning breeze. Reaching the viewing ledge at TianCi Mountain, there was fog everywhere. I kept praying for the fog to disperse and eventually I came to the conclusion that it will disperse at God's timing, not mine. But I did pray and ask God to allow me to see the beautiful rock pillars before I leave Zhangjiajie. The fog did disperse a little but not much was visible. I also came across an Italian couple, Maria and Giovanni, that joined me for the entire day.
Soon later I decided to grab brunch at the nearby Macdonalds, as a consolation for the lousy accommodations and views. As I stepped into the fast food restaurant, it started to rain heavily. The familiar burgers and hot coffee was so welcomed, especially after a cold night and having only local Chinese foods or packed biscuits for meals.
Once the rain ceased, I asked the guide to bring me to check out the places we visited yesterday in Yangjiajie since it was too foggy yesterday for anything to be seen. While waiting for the bus, there was a young lady tour guide from Hunan who was waiting with her small tour group for the bus. She could speak a little English so we chatted in a mix of English and Mandarin. My tour guide seemed kind of jealous that she chatted with me and kept trying to give me bad reports of young female non-"zhangjiajie local" tour guides, telling me that they all are scammers and that they are prostitutes or morally wayward.
By the time the tourist bus reached the Yangjiajie area, the fog had lightened up a little. About an hour of walking later, the fog started to lift and the beautiful geological formations appeared before my eyes. Amidst the pushing and shoving with the domestic tourists, we managed to visit all the major scenic viewpoints before heading to the path that led down the mountain.
Instead of taking the Cableway or BaiLong glass elevator 百龙天梯 down the mountain, I wanted to walk down the mountain to the famous Golden Whip Stream 金鞭溪 and follow the stream to the mountain entrance. The route down the stream took longer than expected and all the walking down took about 3 hours. However the initial part of the route gave me a few opportunities to view the zhangjiajie rock formations in their amazing grandeur and in peace without the domestic tourists around. There was even a group of photographers on a photography trip there to take photographs of the cloud-covered peaks in view.
The walk down was long but easy, as the steps were wide and the weather was good. In comparison to HuangShan, it was so much more comfortable to walk here. At the bottom of the ravine, there was a well-established walking path that led to the entrance. Following that took another 2 hours and by the time we were nearing the entrance, the sun had set and it was dark. Thankfully I had brought a good torch along to illuminate the path. By the time the entrance was seen, it was already 7pm and the only option back to my hostel in Wulingyuan was via private car charter.
Dinner was quickly settled in my hostel and I had the privilege of enjoying the entire 3-bed bunk room to myself as the hostel didn't have much occupants today.
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