Tianmen Mountain (Chinese: 天門山; pinyin: Tiānmén Shān) is a mountain located within Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie, in the northwestern part of Hunan Province, China.
A cablecar was constructed in 2005[1] by the French company Poma from nearby Zhangjiajie railway station to the top of the mountain. Tianmen Mountain Cableway is claimed in tourist publications as the "longest passenger cableway of high mountains in the world", with 98 cars and a total length of 7,455 m (24,459 ft) and ascent of 1,279 m (4,196 ft) The highest gradient is 37 degrees. Tourists can walk on kilometres of paths built onto the cliff face at the top of the mountain, including sections with glass floors. An 11 km (7 mi) road with 99 bends also reaches the top of the mountain and takes visitors to Tianmen cave, a natural hole in the mountain of a height of 131.5 m (431.4 ft).[2]
My Dear Great Ones,
If you are afraid of heights, roller coaster like bus rides, crowds, and long line ups then Tianmen mountain is not for you. Yet, if you don't mind the above, Tianmen mountain is indeed an amazing place. Basically your time on the mountain runs like this: First you have have to head to the middle of the city, Zhangjiajie, where there is a cable car/bus terminus to get you onto the mountain. You will have two options:
A. Ride the cablecar up and go down by bus.
B. Ride bus up and take the cablecar down.
We took option B which I recommend cause it is always better to do it the hard way first and save the easy way for last. So the first part of the journey up Tianmen mountain is WAIT for a bus. Then when you finally get on that it will take you through the city up to the base of the mountain, where you get off and once again WAIT for another bus. When you finally get onto that you are about to embark on the scariest, gut wrenching, vomit inducing, bus ride of your life. The bus will take you onto Tongtian Avenue one of the craziest roads in the world featuring 99 turns to get you up the mountain. What makes it even worse is the lack of Canadian standard guard rails to give you a touch of peace. Small cement blocks, painted with yellow and black stripes, like they have on this road, are not guard rails to keep you from slipping into a thousand foot abyss. Our bus driver was a character. He yelled something in Chinese at the start of our mad journey and then revved up the engine and we were on our way. On a rain slicked road no less. After the first turn, when I nearly slid off my seat onto the lap of the passenger next to me across the aisle, I realized what the bus driver had yelled: "Put on your seatbelts!" Got it. One thing I learned after that journey: the sound of a girls' scream, and I heard them 99 times on that trip, sound exactly the same in Chinese as in English and Filipino. And that would be my wife. After this harrowing journey we finally alighted, rubber kneed and a little nauseous at Tianmen cave and I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.....
My Dear Great Ones,
If you are afraid of heights, roller coaster like bus rides, crowds, and long line ups then Tianmen mountain is not for you. Yet, if you don't mind the above, Tianmen mountain is indeed an amazing place. Basically your time on the mountain runs like this: First you have have to head to the middle of the city, Zhangjiajie, where there is a cable car/bus terminus to get you onto the mountain. You will have two options:
A. Ride the cablecar up and go down by bus.
B. Ride bus up and take the cablecar down.
We took option B which I recommend cause it is always better to do it the hard way first and save the easy way for last. So the first part of the journey up Tianmen mountain is WAIT for a bus. Then when you finally get on that it will take you through the city up to the base of the mountain, where you get off and once again WAIT for another bus. When you finally get onto that you are about to embark on the scariest, gut wrenching, vomit inducing, bus ride of your life. The bus will take you onto Tongtian Avenue one of the craziest roads in the world featuring 99 turns to get you up the mountain. What makes it even worse is the lack of Canadian standard guard rails to give you a touch of peace. Small cement blocks, painted with yellow and black stripes, like they have on this road, are not guard rails to keep you from slipping into a thousand foot abyss. Our bus driver was a character. He yelled something in Chinese at the start of our mad journey and then revved up the engine and we were on our way. On a rain slicked road no less. After the first turn, when I nearly slid off my seat onto the lap of the passenger next to me across the aisle, I realized what the bus driver had yelled: "Put on your seatbelts!" Got it. One thing I learned after that journey: the sound of a girls' scream, and I heard them 99 times on that trip, sound exactly the same in Chinese as in English and Filipino. And that would be my wife. After this harrowing journey we finally alighted, rubber kneed and a little nauseous at Tianmen cave and I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.....
Chinglish. Love it.
Tongtian Avenue. Not for the faint of heart. What a road.
Crazy.
Mhmm.
The steps are so steep. And with the rain they were slick. Not fun.
For the final stage to get to the actual top of Tianmen mountain you had to take a series of escalators in a tunnel bored right into the mountain. Crazy.
On a glass, cliff hanging pathway. Just a few people...
Still finding time to smile.
And down we went off the mountain on a cable car. There was soft piped in music to calm our fears.
There is that road again!!
The cable car took us off the mountain, over some farmer's fields and into the city over houses, roads, train tracks, and businesses. Surreal.
All in all Tianmen mountain is a bucket list worthy experience. Amazing.
Have a great week.
Love adios and ping on!
Dirk
