China Trip - Climbing to Gate of Heaven

We finished our trip at Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon quite late and we had only one afternoon to get to Tianmen Mountain.

Tianmen Mountain is located near Zhangjiajie City and it is famous for the hole below its peak. That hole is the gate of heaven. This mountain is the highest mountain in this area. To reach the mountain, we took the longest cable car ride for about 40 minutes with the inclination of the cable car up to 37 degree.

Our tour guide Bruce told us that the queue for the cable car could reach a few hours due to the peak season. Therefore, we decided to skip lunch and went straight to the cable car terminal to queue. Bruce helped us to buy some McDonalds so that we could eat while queueing. He also helped us to buy the ticket that cost RMB 258 (~SGD 55)

The cable car terminal at Zhangjiajie City

The queue started at the tent outside the terminal building

The view of the city from the cable car

The city was replaced with greenery

With an addition of pretty emerald green lake

And Tianmen Cave was suddenly in view  

We reached Tianmen Mountain at the last stop of the cable car

40-minute journey with that kind of view, nobody would ever complain. We were full of the sight of the beauty. But the real beauty waited for us at the mountain itself.

We were supposed to walk to one side of the mountain to enjoy the scenery and experience the glass walking at the end of the walkway. After that, we were to come back to the cable car terminal to take cable chair to the summit. The last itinerary was to visit Tianmen Cave.

Our walk by the cliff began!

The view of the walkway

We were supposed to experience glass walking at the end there

The magnificent view

Endless mountains

The beautiful sky

99 turns

However, when we reached the end of the walkway, we found that the glass walkway was closed for maintenance. Fortunately we were having a good tour guide so he told us that there was another glass walkway at the other side of the mountain. It was further and the walk there had more ups and downs.

Discussion time!

Without further ado, we walked fast to the said glass walkway. We did not want to waste the time. We wanted to come back and experience the rest of the attractions there.

Marching started!

Walking down! Walking up! Walking straight! Walking fast!

But still, we stopped for a while to admire the scenery

ALMOST THERE

We wasted no time, Bruce helped us to buy the ticket which cost RMB 5 (~SGD 1) and we proceeded to the glass platform.

Start walking without fear

It's so ecstatic it felt like flying!

Can you see the Tianmen Cave down there?

We are flying~~~~

It was already late when we rushed back to the cable car terminal. Instead of going up to the summit, we chose to visit the gate of heaven a.k.a Tianmen Cave. We took the cable car to the middle station, rushed down, and boarded the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus took about 15 minutes to reach the Tianmen Cave by touring the 99 turns. We kept praying for the sun not to set before we reached there.

And God showed His love to us. When we reached there, we still had chance to admire the gate to the heaven and take some pictures. There were staircases leading to the front of the cave but we had no time to climb.

Finally! The gate of heaven!

Our remembrance. Our happy moments.

We only had about 10 minutes to take photos. It was getting dark.

We then went back to the cable car middle station by the shuttle bus and we queued again to go back to Zhangjiajie City. When we reached the lower station, it was completely dark. Bruce then brought us to a local restaurant at the city before sending us back to the hotel.

Three fruitful days were spent at Zhangjiajie. The next day was waiting for us so that we could continue our journey to another part of China.

Love is in the air,
Little Feet

Next Post - Our Fate to Meet with Bruce Tian