Zhangjiejie, Part 2: An Afternoon in the Park

After dropping my things off in my room, I headed straight out to the park. My hotel is actually in the National Forest Park- nestled into the hillside next to a stream- but it's a ten minute walk to the main gate of the park's entrance gate. I bought my ticket, went through the odd process of being fingerprinted before entering the park, and finally found myself THERE! I decided to take the Golden Whip Stream route, as I had spent the morning sitting down and was ready to walk. It was a lovely trail. All around, the amazing sandstone formations rose majestically into the sky, and the sound of the stream and the breeze rustling through the trees and foliage was divine. It felt wonderful to be out in nature again, and I felt I had all the comforts of modernity with a very well kept path and full cell phone coverage, which allowed me to text with Steve a couple of times and even receive a call about my hotel reservation! Lovely nature walk aside, there were several distinguishing things about the Golden Whip Stream trail. One aspect of the trail was that there were places along the way where small stalls had been set up.
Yes, they were touristy, but they were run by locals, so they had a cool feel. Aside from artisanal trinkets, they sold food, fortunes, and even pictures with traditionally dressed "ethnic minorities." I don't know why they decided to translate their supposed title as "ethnic minorities," but they were basically girls in beautiful clothes and they made the forest and the little checkpoints feel oddly magical. Another feature of the trail was that it was populated by litter runners that could be hired to carry hikers to the end of the trail.
It was great fun to watch them run by, and even greater fun to see groups of them resting by the path, smoking and playing cards or some other game. The third interesting aspect of the trail was that parts of it were visited by an indigenous monkey, which tourists seemed to adore feeding, desptie ALL of the signs advising otherwise.
I thoroughly enjoyed my walk. I really felt far away from it all, because I hadn't seen a foreigner all day, and nobody spoke English. I loved snapping photos of the jutting formations, monkeys, tourists, vendors, and streams, and the fresh air was a godsend after Beijing. I stopped at one of the rest points and bought fried potato balls and marinated tofu (INSANELY DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) from a group of friendly girls, and chatted with them for a while.

I posed for pictures with tourists, and waved back when people said "Hello!" I enjoyed the scenergy immensely.
In fact, I was enjoying the whole experience so much that I didn't realize that I was almost to the end of the path, and that I would have to walk all the way back to make it back to my hotel!
I was worried that I wouldn't get back to the entrance before dark, so when a pair of litter carriers passed me, I asked them how much it would cost for me to ride with them for a bit. At first, they said 250 RMB, which I didn't have. They then brought it down to 150, which I still didn't have. Then, they brought it down to 100. I still didn't have that, and I wanted to use my money for dinner (I showed them this with that convenient eating sign that all the food vendors used when trying to sell things to me), and that they should go on without me. I waved goodbye and let them pass, but further down the trail, they waited for me and sat me down and said they'd be willing to carry me back for 60 RMB, which I DEFINITELY had!
Oh boy, it was fun riding in that chair! It was just such an odd experience, sitting in this little chair with its canopy, going BOING BOING BOING between these two men, and tracing this beautiful creekside trail surrounded by woods and incredible sandstone towers. Really, I had a blast.
Every now and then, the men would set me down and take a rest, which was great, because it allowed me to say hello to my friends at the rest stop and stretch my legs. After a while, though, I started feeling super bad about being an extra weight to these guys! I could see how hard they were working, and the front man's shoulders were so red from being worked all day!!! After the next rest stop, I stood up, grabbed the handles of the chair, and said I wanted to help carry it! The shopkeepers and carrier dudes probably thought I was a real whack job, but it was great. For most of the home stretch, I carried the front end, giving one man a break and lightening the load for the second. I really enjoyed the experience! I wanted to know what it was like to carry those things around all day, and tourists and locals alike cracked up whenever they saw me. It must have looked pretty funny- this caucasian girl with a bow in her hair and polka dot rain boots carrying the front end of a litter down the path...
Right before the end, the first man tapped my shoulder and signed that I should ride again. Hahaa, I'll admit I was happy to oblige! That thing was HEAVY! My hat's off to these men- they are VERY strong! At the end of the ride, I gave the men a big fat tip (because 60RMB for hauling my ass along that trail just ain't gonna cut it) and left the park a seriously happy camper.