Taking a step back... in Zhangjiajie

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ” Lin Yutang - Chinese writer, translator and linguist

After another gruelling journey by night train from Guilin, we finally arrived in the city of Zhangjiajie. Home to a national park spread over 12,000 acres, it takes at least three days (and a lot of sweat) to really explore the natural wonderland that inspired the epic film, Avatar; especially if you choose to hike to the top of the mountains - or are forced into it as our friend Ricardo was.

On the first day we climbed to the top of Stone Peak Forest, bravely choosing to bypass any cable cars or lifts that could have made the ascent easier. The hike consisted of taking step after step during hour after hour, wondering all too often how long it would take to reach the top, but finding reassurance in the thousands of quartz-sandstone pillars gradually getting lower into the ground. Like any pain that leads to a prize, the former is almost forgotten; more so when the pay-off is an awesome view of unique, rectangular towers - nature’s skyscrapers.

The physical beating we took to get there didn’t matter anymore. What did matter was that we spent so long basking in our own glory, foolishly taking selfies with this army-like formation of imposing rock structures, that we didn't think to check the time of the last Bailong Elevator - a 1,070 feet lift that takes you back down to the town. Of course, we had missed it - locals confirmed that there was no other way back: we were stuck in the mountains for the night…

Unable to accept that we wouldn’t be able to get back to our hotel, I frantically asked around to figure out another route to town, cursing myself for not having learned how to say anything other than “I love you” in Chinese. But, as the sun slowly sank into the clouds, my denial turned to desperation; we had to accept defeat and look for the nearest guesthouse with availability. Although the room we found was more than adequate for the three of us, I slept as uncomfortably as one usually does when presented with an unexpected pillow.

The next day we returned to the park and, as if to punish ourselves, climbed a 5km staircase that was so perfectly constructed that I questioned whether the surrounding forest had been built around the steps rather than the other way round. 3,900 steps later, we reached the top of Tianzi mountain, marked by a five storey pagoda.

This time we had to walk back down the staircase, an underlying fear of making the same mistake as the previous day governing each quick step that afternoon.

Later that night, safe in my bed, I remember reflecting on the last couple of days far more positively. Sometimes it’s not your old, familiar pillow that makes you realise the beauty of travel, but simply the one you had hoped to rest your head on...

Guess what I found out in Zhangjiajie?

1. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, set up in 1982, was the first authorized national forest park in China.

2. One of the park's quartz-sandstone pillars, the 1,080 metre Southern Sky Column, was officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" in 2010 in honor of the Hollywood blockbuster. Renaming the mountain is a way to attract more foreign visitors, as the majority of the park's 20 million annual visitors are Chinese.

3. Perhaps hard to believe, but the first McDonald’s restaurant situated at an altitude of 1,200 meters can be found at the top of Tianzi Mountain. I'm really not lovin' it.