Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

In October 2016 we made a trip with a few friends from Malaysia to central China to visit the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park which is famous for the wonderful sandstone mountain peaks. This area was the inspiration for James Cameron’s world of Pandora in the famous movie Avatar. Also in Zhangjiajie we visited the famous glass bridge across the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, the beautiful Huanglong Cave and the peaceful Baofeng Lake. In the town of Zhangjiajie we visited Xibu Ancient Street which is a popular tourist area of bars, restaurants, shops and cultural events.


From Zhangjiajie we drove to Changsha, visiting Tangerine Island, before taking a flight from Changsha to Xiamen. 


From Xiamen we did a very interesting day trip out to the fascinating Tulou Hakka Village which is a property of 46 buildings constructed between the 15th and 20th centuries. Some of the large multi-storey round buildings could house up to 800 people.


We then took a 2 day trip up to Wuyishan by fast bullet train to experience the Tianyou Peak-Taoyuan Cave Scenic Zone. The first day we took a very pleasant walk along the river under the Tianyou Peak watching all the bamboo rafts floating past in the river. In the evening in Wuyishan we attended the incredible and colourful Impressions Dahongpao Show which was set up in a gigantic tea house at the side of the river with a unique rotating stage. Before leaving Wuyishan we did an exciting bamboo raft trip down the river and then visited the famous Dahongpao Rock Tea Plantation in the Wuyi Mountains just outside Wuyishan where we sampled some of the world famous tea.


Back in Xiamen on our final day we took a ferry out to Gulangyu island and explored this interesting island which had a few beach areas and some wonderful old architecture with large expensive mansions.


This book has detailed maps, photographs and videos highlighting these interesting locations we visited in China and should inspire you to visit these locations and hopefully help in the planning of your trip.