September 14, 2026
CHONGQING is such a gigantic city we had hired a driver to take us around to multiple sites, over the two days we had there for sightseeing. It was a blistering hot day with temperatures hitting 100 degrees, before lunch. Ciqikou Ancient town was our first stop, as this required the most walking of what we had planned. It's a lovely place with cobblestone streets and wood frame houses and shops. The main streets are loaded with lots of shops selling all kinds of products and lots of food. There is a local theater, with daily performances of opera, in the center of town.
Lots of alleys lead off the many pedestrian street through town.
Some of the opera performers coming out of theatre to entice people inside.
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Tianmen Mountain , also known as Heaven's Gate , is where the dramatic natural arch is at the top of a staircase 999 steps! This is in a whole different section of the Zhangjaijie National Forest then we did yesterday. Getting up to the plaza at Upper Station, to start the ascent to Heaven's Gate , is quite extensive in itself. First we took a 30 minute cable car ride from the town of Zhangjaijie; then a bus ride you have to strap in for up a series of hairpin turns, for another 30 minutes. Then you climb a couple of staircases to make it to Upper Station . To get to the Peak of the Mountain, you either climb the 999 steps or take a series of 12 escalators inside the mountain. The upper station cableway is currently closed for renovations, so the options above were limited and very crowded.
We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the Zhangjaijie National Forest at 2:30pm, so we could have a much needed break for the 2 hour drive to Furong Ancient Town. That way, we could explore Furong at night, which is the best time to see it, have a bit of a rest and still be in a good position, to see more of the Forest, the next day.
When we arrived at the Zhangjiajie train station, we had a driver meet us to take us all the way to the little village just outside the North Gate of the Zhangjiajie National Forest, which was about a 2 hour ride.This put us in a great position to get right into the Park early the next morning before the large crowds and access to the top section of the park, in lieu of the more crowded routes, coming in from the base of the mountains from downtown. We stayed at an older resort called Stilt Paradise and the place had a rustic charm as did the whole one street village. It was close to 7:30 pm when we arrived. We went in search of dinner, which commenced a session of pointing at photo's on their billboard and piecing together an order with google translate, to get the basic dumplings and noodles.