Hunan Day 5 - TienMen Mountain 天門山, Furong Ancient Town and Phoenix Town

Goodbye Pullman Zhangjiajie it has been a wonderful stay in Wulingyuan and I hope to be back to see changes in the near future. Our next destination was about 32km away south to a mountain top.

Today we will be braving the coolest day of our entire tour and we were warned to wear thick clothing. expecting a temperature below 0° C. The queue at the station was super relax as we were making our way to Tienmen Mountain 天門山 at the cable station. It is actually located near Zhangjiajie Railway Station.

Tianmen Mountain is found within Tianmen Mountain National Park, Zhangjiajie, northwestern part of Hunan Province, China.  

The cableway was constructed in 2005 by a French company called Poma. This was our ascend to the top. It is about 7km ride and taking 30 minutes to reach to top.

A pictorial map of Tienmen Mountain.

Enjoying the spectacular view, the most beautiful mountains in the world. By the way Tienmen Mountain literally means "Heaven's Door Mountain".

Tianmen Mountain Cableway is the "longest passenger cableway of high mountains in the world", with 98 cars and a total length of 7,455m and ascent of 1,279m. The steepest gradient is 37° which near the to peak. 

The winding road of 11 km with 99 bends as an alternate way to go up to the top of the mountain.

The view at the top with snow and ice covering everywhere. Indeed a lovely time and place for snow photography.

It was cold but we were prepared and ready to explore Heaven's Door.

Little Duck giving us a commentary and more as we moved on with the places.

Everyone of us were happy and enjoying the beauty of its cold atmosphere.

We had to walk slowly and has to be careful certain parts of the walk way is very slippery.

The balustrade walk way really looks dangerous when viewed from a distance.

Laying down at the new glass skywalk known as the "Walk of faith ". Appparently this was built and opened sometime in April 2015.

Another shot of the glass walk way, feeling like floating in mid air with astonishing views. A little bit scary though. 

The end of the cliff adventure at the exit point.

I am glad to be in this place experiencing the winter atmosphere, the snow and icy coating on the surfaces and plants. A wonderland indeed.

The temperature of the day as shown in the cable car building. Wow it went as low as -5°C.

Leo gave an ice spike for me for another fun pose.

It was time to descend and say bye bye to Tienmen Mountain. It was a great experience and worth doing it during winter time. You get to be away from the chaotic and noisy crowd, no queue and relaxing. 

The sign of our lunch place.

Within the proximity of Yong Ding, Zhangjiajie and a short bus ride from the Cable car station we were at this restaurant called Wu Long Shan Zhai for lunch.

Today we were travelling southwards of Hunan and after 90km of bus ride we reached Furongzhen 芙蓉镇 similar to the Chinese name for Seremban, Malaysia but this is of course in China.

Furong 芙蓉 is a town in Yongshun County, Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan Province, China. This town is also known as Furong Ancient Town is a popular tourist spot somewhere in between Fenghuang County (Phoenix Town) and Zhangjiajie. 

The main attraction of this town is situated on the cliffs above a waterfall.

Furong was originally known as Wangcun, but was renamed after the famous movie, Hibiscus Town.

 The Tujia people were the original inhabitants of Wancun, and today Furong consists of a mix of Tujia and Han Chinese peoples.

Visiting the ancient town with a local guide is provided giving us an in depth commentary of Furongzhen.

Furong Waterfall 芙蓉镇瀑布 is about 40 meter wide with a drop height of 60 meters.

 The entire group at the biggest waterfall in west Hunan province.

Another angle at the waterfalls as we were going behind the falling water.

Walking behind the hanging water screen of the waterfall is like placing oneself in a crystal palace and listening to the sound of falling crystal.

 From the pier you can enjoy a different view of Furong Waterfall and Tusi Palace on your left-hand side. 

The Wuli Slate Street of Furong ancient town with many traditional shops and buildings on its both sides, is winding and leads you to the pier of Youshui River(酉水).

Wuli Slate Street has a history of over 2,300 thousand years, it has witnessed the history of Furong ancient town since the time when it was still a transportation hub both on land and via water.

I bought six of these porcelain cups, initially I thought it was made of enameled metal.

An old lady making and selling Furongzhen cigarettes.

Due to it remote location, village size, inconvenient of transport and lack of promotion, Furong Ancient Town is less popular than Fenghuang Ancient Town. Comparatively it is more peaceful than Fenghuang. Another interesting and worthy visit of this small ancient town.

Finally we reached the last destination of the day Fenghuang after nearly 120km ride or about 2.5 hours on the bus. Everyone was hungry and dinner was pre-booked and ready for us.

Another sumptuous meal at Fenghuang of Xiangxi cuisine 

As the bus could not stop close to the hotel door step and we had to drag our luggage. 

The beautiful night scene of Fenghuang river side in front of the hotel we were staying.

It was Feng Huang Cheng Hotel, nice and cosy.

We will be staying in this room for the next two nights before we move back to Changsha. Goodnight and it was a long tiring day but worth the effort. Cheers!