A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Zhang Jia Jie, Hunan Province, China

Wow.

Seldom have I been absolutely breathtaken by scenery, but this place is truly a testament to the power of erosion. The whole park, named an World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is a stunning combination of subtropical forests and gigantic pillars of rock rising hundreds of meters into the sky. China's natural features are so ridiculously over-the-top that it's hard to continually come up with superlatives, but I seriously think this is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in the world. The whole area looks like something Dr. Seuss would have come up with.

Although I was alarmed by the prospect of being part of a matching cap wearing, flag following Chinese tour group, I was delighted to be met at the train station by Shao Ying, who was to be my own personal guide during my trip to the park. My own personal guide!! And I didn't have to wear the hat!

So we spent the next two days hiking up and down mountains (by stairs -- the Chinese love the stairs) and through lovely valleys. My first day we had the traditionally most lovely weather -- misty and mystical, with moving clouds exposing dramatic peaks at the least expected moments. On the second day we had sunshine and blue skies. I've put a website down below with photos, but they don't begin to show how beautiful the whole thing is. It's impossible to capture the scale of these pillars and how dramatically beautiful and lush they are. Oh well, your loss. I guess you should all plan a trip to Zhang Jia Jie.

The other interesting element of my trip was that I was the only foreigner there. Honestly, the only one. It was me and thousands of Chinese tourists, the ones not scared out of traveling by the Chinese government. And I'm told that even when SARS is not a factor, very few foreigners visit Zhang Jia Jie, though it is very popular with Chinese and Korean tourists. As a result, I was something of a celebrity in town, receiving myriad fixed stares (a Chinese habit I've experienced in other cities), "hello"s, and helpless giggles. As we walked past groups, they would be speculating about where I was from and why I was there alone. My guide was quite impressed with all the attention I was getting.

I don't know if you folks do this, but I like to get shots of people and not just scenery when I'm in foreign countries. Thing is, I don't always want to ask them for permission -- the candid nature of the photo is a bit lost after you go through that rigamarole. Yes, I know this is kind of insensitive, but I don't do it with native cultures who have a thing about photographs. Anyway, sometimes I get caught, and I tend to do this really lame thing where I look down at my camera as though there's something wrong with it and I have no idea how it could possibly have been pointing in that person's direction. The act is wholly unconvincing, I feel sure, but I can't help myself.

So here's the point of that story. I actually saw people performing that same maneuver with me at Zhang Jia Jie. I was the exotic person wearing curious garments or with an interesting look about her. I'm even in several videos -- when I caught them I'd wave and say hello.

To top it off, as the only foreigner in town, I was interviewed by the provincial TV station about SARS, my trip to the park, etc. This occured after I returned to the tour company office in ZJJ City to retrieve my luggage, and since none of the staff or TV people spoke any English, my guide performed the interview, with me looking like hell in the same clothes I had worn on the last day of the boat, during the overnight train, and hiking in the park for two days. The best part was that after we were all finished and I put my backpack on to head outside, the cameraman was waiting there to get a shot of me leaving the building. I smiled and waved serenely like I've seen the stars do at movie premieres. Unfortunately the footage is scheduled to run on tonight's news, when I will be on a night train to Guilin, so I'm just going to assume that I looked and sounded fabulous.


Click here for a site showing pictures of Zhang Jia Jie. Book a trip, it's totally worth it!

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 7:15 PM