After our big city adventures and visit to the Pandas, we figured we had seen enough Chinese culture for a while, and so we headed to reknowned beauty spot Wulingyuan National Park near the small town of Zhangjiajie. While the town availed us of some fond memories (the friendly noodle man, getting ridiculously drunk in the On The Road Bar) it was the park itself that took our breath away.

According to the Chinese tourism agency, it was the towering and precarious karst formations of the forest park which inspired the Hallelujah Mountains in James Cameron's Avatar, a fact they are keen to remind you of frequently. This, compounded with some mad crowds and the perpetual coach tours which demark a premium Chinese tourism hotspot, raised our eyebrows somewhat, ranging from shoving ourway through snaphappy tourists (and that's coming from me!) to laughing bemusedly as people had their faces photoshopped onto landscape pictures, which in turn were printed onto commemorative plates. Surely the perfect souveneir!

But these minor annoyances paled in comparison to the stunning vistas we beheld. We arrived early, trekking through the misty forests that cluster at the base of the towering peaks. With only a few monkey encounters (I allowed one to finish my apple, perhaps purchasing safe passage?), we managed to get lost and ended up dragging ourselves up a very steep and very long flight of stairs up though the peaks. The views were as breathtaking as the climb, and we found ourselves alone among the rock spires.

We stayed overnight in the park, and the following morning were treated to some more fantastic views, this time without the crowds. After a briliant cable car ride down our journey through the park was almost complete. The peaks are almost otherworldly, truly spectacular and definitely worth anyone's time to visit.

Now it's off for another geography fix, this time with some slightly smaller hills and more rivers (and as it turned out, a lot more oranges...)

To Guilin!