Zhangjiajie: Home of the Avatar

Welcome to the land of the Avatar!  So on my birthday weekend, (it happened that we had our last vacation opening that week) we decided to hit up some mountains that were supposed to have been filmed in the movie Avatar.  We celebrated by watching the movie, well half of it, before we made the dreaded 14 hour train ride there.  Like any other train ride, it was horrible but it is amazing how much more tolerable I have become to them.  

Our first stop was Tianmen Mountain.  We supposedly took the longest tram in China or something like that, but it was a good 10-15 minute ride up the mountain.  

At the top we got to walk the dreaded glass staircase.  It was fun, but not as scary as some made it out to be...and I blame the smog…you couldn’t see much!

If you squint, you can see the staircase on the side.

Ok, it may have been a little scary. :P

It was super cold, but it was a good time! 

After we finished at the top, we made our way to the middle of the mountain.  Here was the eye of the cave, and a whopping 999 stairs to the top of it.  Did we climb them all?  Why of course we did!

We got a little hot on the way up :P

 That pretty much ended our adventure at Tianmen Mountain.  So we headed back to our hostel with shin splints, and hungry tummies.  :p  The next day we got to see the Grand Canyon...China style of course!  This was my favorite day, just because it was super beautiful and peaceful down there.  

We got to walk down so many more stairs! 

Too pretty not to stop and take it all in. 

We also got to take a marble slide down the canyon.  It was fun, and maybe hurt a little bit!

:)

We had to wear gloves and these weird butt covers...we thought it was funny. 

The best part of the trip were the waterfalls!  I loved them so much!  We had fun with Johanna's umbrella, and rocked some poses.  

I see a crazy person in the background :P

LOVE this picture!

Of course your not in China if someone doesn't ask you to take a picture...Usually I avoid the pictures, but I must say that this one is one of my favorites.  

The rest of our day ended with calm lakes, caves, and a boat ride!  

The last day Anna, Kaytie and Emily went to Zhangjiajie National Park to see the actual Avatar Mountains.  Since I didn't have the budget for it, and it was cold I decided to stay at the hostel with Johanna and watch movies.  :)  I heard they had a good time though.  

I stole some of their pics :)

Happy Avataring!!  :)