I have not seen the movie Avatar, and hence neither have I seen its scene with Hallelujah Mountain. I've been told it's phenomenal.
But I think I've done one better... I've seen the real thing: Heaven and Earth Pillar.
But I think I've done one better... I've seen the real thing: Heaven and Earth Pillar.
A few months ago business took me on a plane to Zhangjiajie and our host proposed we take a morning to promenade through part of Wulingyuan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage listed natural heritage site. It was peacefully snowing and it felt a tad nippy for my tropically acclimated blood, so I borrowed a winter parka and off we went. Being low season, the tourist traffic was very light, and that, you must take my word, was to our profit.
The park consists of a ravine of precipitous karst pinnacles that are splintering away from a high limestone plateau. Many of these pinnacles are as tall as 1200 meters / 4000 feet.
Here is some of what I saw; the photos enlarge if you click on them.
Zhangjiajie, 2010
The seventh and tenth photos show the Heaven and Earth Pillar. The poster in the eighth photo shows it with Hallelujah Mountain.
And this is my post for ABC Wednesday, where of course many other pleasant P stories await you.