China 2025 – April 22 and 24

Tianmenshan

April 22

In China terms, Zhangjiajie, with a population of 1.5 million souls, is hardly a city. Its sole function, it appears, is to provide amenities to the tourist multitudes that arrive to see the natural wonders surrounding the city. We have booked into the Hotel Metropolo for four nights, a good choice as it turns out: quite cheap, clean, a buffet breakfast thrown in, and free laundry facilities (washing machine, tumble drier and detergent). Plus the staff are friendly and obliging. Couldn’t ask for more.

This morning we are going up Zhangjiajie’s iconic mountain Tianmenshan. The number of people allowed up is strictly controlled, with hourly quotas imposed. Demand is heavy, especially for option A: the cableway that takes you from the city all the way to the top of the mountain. The other options are less popular. Options B and C take you up a another, shorter cableway to the plaza at the foot of a stairway to Heaven’s Gate, a large hole in the mountain. You can then climb the 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate or take a series of escalators (for which you pay an additional fee). When you reach the top of the stairway, you take another series of escalators (these ones don’t cost an additional fee) to the top of the mountain. We are lucky to get Option A tickets. The damp, cloudy weather is no deterrent. The cable car ride takes thirty minutes. Along the way, Heaven’s Gate comes into view, a small hole that grows in size as we draw near.

As we ascend, Zhingjiajie city shrinks below us. Then the magnificent mountain range, featuring jagged peaks, sheer rock faces, deep fissures and carpets of vegetation, takes over. The viewing areas around the summit are broadly divided into western and eastern halves. Heaven’s Gate and the stairway are below the eastern half; our option ‘A’ cable car deposits us in the western half. There is a network of paths to choose from, most of them close to the rim, some of them riveted onto sheer cliff faces. Despite the clouds and drizzle, the views are awesome. We visit a temple complex. Its remoteness and the sense of isolation are not affected by the steady flow of visitors.

The gateway to the eastern half is just outside the temple complex. We are treated to more stunning scenery. Sporadic cloud cover provides a perspective similar to Zhangjiajie national park on our second morning there. We finish the Eastern half, even though we are aware we haven’t covered everything.

Ultimately the persistent drizzle becomes a drag. We join the escalator queue for Heaven’s gate. Six long escalator rides later, we arrive at the massive hole in the mountain. We peer over the edge of the stairway. The bottom is a long, long way down. We have heard the steps are slippery when wet but decide to risk it. There are handrails to grab practically all the way down. I don’t slip or skid. My shoes’ grip is still adequate, although the soles are a bit worn from many kilometres in Australia, Japan, Singapore, Korea and here. They’ll need replacement before the next adventure. The descent is fun. At the bottom Bock says he is going to climb. He scampers up. In ten minutes he has become a speck, before vanishing altogether. Twenty minutes later he is back, triumphant. No big deal, he says. I wish I’d gone up with him.

We take a cable car back to the city and go searching for a restaurant. Most of them seem to be offering the same type of fare, chilli-laden dishes and rice. A friendly, enthusiastic waiter (or manager) convinces us to dine at his establishment. The food is good, although oil and chilli are common, monotonous features of all our dishes.

We return to our hotel. I suspect there is much of Tianmenshan that we didn’t experience today because of the weather.

April 24

A much clearer day today. A good one for going up Tianmenshan. Can we get tickets? The cableway station is a short walk from the hotel. We find out that only Option C tickets are available. This option takes us to the plaza below Heaven’s Gate, from where we will ascend to the summit up the steps and escalators and descend the same way. Unlike Option B which would have entitled us to descend via the Option A cableway. We are able to book an early afternoon slot.

Yes, I have decided to climb the 999 steps. I am apprehensive but I know I’d be ashamed of myself if I wimped out. The climb turns out to be not all that difficult. I don’t try to be a hero. I take rests before being forced to by lactic acid buildups or bursting lungs. A Chinese man keeps pace. Every so often he looks at me, smiles and nods. It is obvious to me that he is offering encouragement. At the top I recover in seconds and go looking for him to express thanks, shake his hand, but he has been swallowed up by the crowd. I had expected to feel more tired. I am proud of myself. I regard my body, its condition, its uncomplaining support of my lifestyle, what I subject it to, with gratitude. I reflect for a moment on my physical fitness goals. Even at this stage of my life I don’t ignore body shape. As it has ever been, no matter how old you are, body shape as a priority is a pathway to ill-health. At my age, it is a fool’s errand. What I’m able to do is all that matters. What I have just done is reason to feel proud. Bock, as usual, is unaffected. We ascend the escalators to the summit, where we will spend the rest of the afternoon, focusing on places we missed on the first visit. The weather is dull and a bit hazy, but there is no rain and no low clouds to obscure the views.

I am privileged to be a guest of Tianmenshan. It reveals to me earth’s true splendour. Tianmenshan is one of a community of mountains stretching into the distance, many ranges layered against each other as far as the eye can see. Looking down from paths that incredibly hug sheer cliff faces, I acquire an inkling of Tianmenshan’s immensity. Deep gorges, all richly forested, look up at me, both friendly and foreboding. You know your place on the mountain. It will not stop you from doing anything you like, and at the same time you are powerless. The mountain has no enemies, but it does no favours either. I stop. I look. My look becomes a gape which settles into a gaze. I cannot take my eyes away from the sheer, awesome majesty. The mountain is unaware of the effect it has on me and countless others. It presents in the same dispassionate way to everyone, but everyone sees something different. I know only what I see and what I feel, but I still sense a common bond with everyone around me.

We travel along familiar paths from two days ago, as well as some unfamiliar ones, like a little glass bridge stuck to the side of a cliff. We hang around until a uniformed man arrives to tell us it is time to leave. We reach the plaza below Heaven’s Gate in twilight. The light show will begin shortly.

Heaven’s Gate, the stairway, and the peaks and vegetation of which they are a part are lit up in changing hues. Colour and movement mesmerise me for close to thirty minutes. The lights of Zhangjiajie are far below us.

We walk away, take the cable car down to the city and order a bunch of skewers from the roadside vendor opposite our hotel.