Don't worry or go to the bathhouse! China-2017. Part 6. Heaven's Gate.
Zhangjiajie 2017-06-01 Day 4
It's not raining outside, the sky is overturned outside.
Dense streams of water fall to the ground, clinging to the branches and leaves of trees, creating the sweetest lullaby in the world.
- Let's not go to the beach today. We won't go, we'll stay at home. How tired I am of this beach, this sun, these palm trees, this sea. . .
We finally wake up. We sadly look out the window. There are no mountains. In their place is white milk.
WHAT TO DO? !
We flew here thousands of kilometers, we have a schedule every day, we have no time for rain, for fog, for illness, for laziness! We don't even have time for breakfast! We have breakfast at the expense of the surrounding beauties. We don’t get them when we butter a bun and blow on coffee. They are the ones who miss us and stare at us with all their eyes while we lie in bed, listen to the rain and decide what to do.
- Maybe the sources?
- And lying in hot pools in the cold rain?
- Maybe in a cave?
By the time we get there, we'll have lunch.
- Can we sleep all day?
- Yes! Sleep!
After this friendly "Yes! " we both jump up and begin to quickly pack up. We decided to go to Mount Tianmenshan. We are normal heroes, we are not afraid of rain or snow. We'll go into the fog, it's even more interesting! )
The owner of the hotel where we stayed speaks English and helps to solve all problems. Long trying to book us a train ticket from Yangshuo to Guangzhou. There are no tickets, but they may appear, as he explains to us. Then he takes us to the cable car station. Myself. Of my own free will. For free. Golden man.
By the way, you need a passport to visit Tianmenshan Mountain.
The rain subsided a little, but did not stop. We are in raincoats, it protects us not only from the rain, but also from the wind. I'm looking for where to buy a lighter. I can’t find anything selling lighters and I ask the food sellers if I can buy or borrow from them.
“Suvoni, ” a smiling girl tells me, holding out a lighter.
- Shenme? ? )- our way "What language does she speak? " "What? "
My brain frantically runs through the entire Chinese-Russian dictionary known to me. RAM is full. Gears creak. Su. . . In. . . No. . In- I, N- you. That is, "I told you" Ah Su? What is Su? What is she alluding to? ) I slam my eyes.
- What is the price? - I ask just in case.
- It's free. Souvenir! she laughs. It's sous-ve-nir.
-Aah! Souvenir! Sese! Sece no!
And how, tell me, could we not buy hot cakes and coffee from her? )
Let's eat it all up quickly. We have no time. The mountains are waiting for us.
Forward and upward!
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My memory sometimes fails me. I don't remember exactly how we ended up in the booth. We walked, rode the bus, climbed the stairs, stood in line - probably all this was, but I only remember a long trip in thick fog. 
Through the windows, which are foggy on the inside and poured with rain on the outside, we see very poorly, but there is not much to look at either.
It's hot inside, milk outside. 
Only occasionally, the cotton cloud in which we swim is torn by a small hole and images appear that delight and horrify us at the same time. 
Nadya is afraid of heights and quite seriously. The rocks that appear in front of the cabin or the abyss that opens under us chills our hearts, but instantly everything is again covered in a saving fog. 
At a moment, a road appears! 99 turns", along which we will go down by bus. That's cool! )
It's cold on the mountain. The rain continues to pour, but in a lingering drizzle, and not in stormy streams. And thanks for that. Right at the exit from the booths they sell rubber shoe covers, which are worth buying even if there is no rain. They will come in handy elsewhere. Or come in handy at home. Wonderful, reusable shoe covers, in the form of rubber boots rolled up into a tube) They also sell less cool shoe covers, and raincoats, and even jackets. 
The road around the mountain starts here. They say you can go right, you can go left, these are different routes. We just went where everyone was going, I think it's straight)
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There are few people, rare tourists come across and almost no one goes nearby. 
Tianmenshan is a steep mountain. Not only in the sense that it has sheer walls, but also in the fact that you must get here if you have reached Zhangjiajie. 
And while I was thinking over the plan, while still at home, I thought for a long time whether to go for it or not, because the famous Avatar mountain park with “flying” mountains is forty kilometers away, and here are mountains and mountains, that we are mountains, perhaps we have not seen flightless. But it turned out so magical.
We meet the first glass path.
We pay 5 yuan, we put on our beautiful shoe covers, another one - fabric, red. They are wet and nasty. I don’t even know how to put them on my shoes, and even light ones. We stomp along the path.
We were lucky - at the beginning of the journey, besides us, there is no one at all and we arrange a small photo session.
Then we meet a group of people who are in no hurry. They take pictures, many sit on the floor right in the puddles. There were no people crying or clinging to the rock, but some do not go far from the rock. Nadia courageously overcomes her fear.
About halfway through, says:
- Oh, I'm sick.
I grab her by the arm and quickly, quickly, we go out onto the terrestrial concrete path. If you look at it, then it is not at all safer on it, just look from the side to understand that almost all the paths are attached to the rock from the outside. 
- Did you like it? - I ask.
- Well. . You could do without it)
And, of course, I liked it, it’s only a pity that I couldn’t see the one and a half kilometer abyss under my feet. And if nothing is visible, then nothing is scary) Although, when there is not a path under the feet of glass, but a serious road with railings, then it should not be scary. Probably)
We still walk in the fog for a long time, sometimes getting into absolutely fantastic places.
It's good that we decided to go to the mountains in the rain! At another time, all this would have looked different. 
Meanwhile, the fog dissipates, spreads to shreds and beautiful views begin to appear.
We meet a glass balcony, here you can do without shoe covers, but there is a queue .
I'm taking pictures, but Nadia refuses.
Then you need to go through the bridge, and it is terribly swaying with the wind. In addition, the bridge is crowded and many are swinging it in unison to make it even scarier. I'm already uncomfortable here)
There is a monastery above us, a chairlift leads there, I really love the lifts, but it is closed. The wind is such that I probably would not have dared, but it’s still a little disappointing that I didn’t manage to ride it)
And now we meet a large temple complex. 
He, like the whole mountain, is called Tianmen, that is, Heaven's Gate . Later, we will see the real Gates, the ones that gave the name to both the temple and the mountain. And even go through them.
It's still raining, it's very cold, the wind is rocking trees and religious attributes, 
This is the feeling of ancient energy. It's so good here! 
In such places, you can stay indefinitely, looking at every squiggle and listening to the wind woven into soft music. 
If there was a place to lie down here, I would fall asleep) Or if it were warmer, I probably would just sit there for half a day. 
I liked the temple so much that I even threw money into a piggy bank. 
Then the road goes on the other side of the mountain.
Either the fog cleared at all, or it didn't exist on this side.
Visibility is not very good, there is haze, but this also adds charm to the landscapes. We go and go and it doesn't get boring. 
We go around the second glass path, although, now I think, if there was not fog, why didn't I follow it? )
The rain has ended, but there are still few people, they accumulate only on the playgrounds, but if you know that the Chinese like to walk in groups, then, if you wish, you can wait until the group leaves. If another does not come, then you can stay on the observation deck alone.
Good weather! There are crowds of people here in the sun)
We approach the main object of this mountain - the Heaven's Gate Cave.
Once, almost 2 thousand years ago, it really was a cave.
And then the back wall just fell off. And there was such a passage.
From here you can see the road "99 turns", along it we will go down. 
Of course, I would prefer to ride the cable car again, but there are no such tickets It was. It was necessary to choose from three options: either there by cable car, back by bus, or there by bus, back by cable car, or back and forth by bus. But all this is free, unlike other Chinese parks. Here you pay only for the entrance. You also pay for shoe covers on glass paths, for a chair lift ride to the top of the mountain, to the monastery, and for... an escalator inside the mountain - from the entrance to the Gate to the bottom of the stairs "999 steps", if you do not want to walk along this staircase )
But to get to the entrance to the cave, the escalator is free. It is also located inside the mountain. The Chinese are not lazy)
But with or without construction, this is the Gate, a mysterious and, without any embellishment, mystical place. 
Four times, in the 20th century, a powerful waterfall more than one and a half high unexpectedly collapsed here thousand meters. The streams rushed down for 15 minutes and just as suddenly dried up. Each time it boded turmoil for China.
We pass through this Gate, looking up a little apprehensively. If it falls unexpectedly, then you understand, we will go straight to a Buddhist paradise, we won’t be able to swim out of the waterfall)
From the very top, in a thin stream, practically without touching the stone, spraying with fine, crystal dust, water flows. A gate is a portal between worlds. Between the human and the divine, or the real and the otherworldly, or the real and the illusory. And who knows which side of the illusion? )
Gone! )
Now there is a construction site and the portal does not work) We both entered our restless world and left it.
I wonder what they are building there? To supplement such places, only to spoil.
From here, from the entrance to the Heaven's Gate, you can choose: either go down the legendary staircase "999 steps", or go again on a boring escalator, and even for money. Of course we chose the latter! )
No matter how boring and expensive it is on the escalator, I can’t even overcome 999 steps on foot .
I saw a great many photos of Heaven's Gate from the foot of the stairs even before the trip and never paid attention to the fact that a small but picturesque waterfall flows next to the stairs.
Maybe it was he who gave rise to the legendary catastrophic waterfalls, and not that trickle in the Gate itself?
For a while we rest here, take pictures, I even try to storm the stairs from below in order to declare in my old age how I walked up the stairs with nine hundred and ninety-nine steps. But she did go! )
The Chinese are very fond of the number 9, it symbolizes the divine essence, this is the number of the emperor- "son of God". It is surprising how, with such a connection in their minds between the emperor and God, could a revolution and socialism happen in China at all? )
Here I suddenly realize how tired I am. 
Even if it were possible to go down the mountain on a cable car, then you would have to go up to it on two escalators, then walk to the cable car itself for another good segment.
I probably would have fallen asleep right on the escalator) It's terrible when you're tired, and even boring) The only entertainment inside the mountain is to look at beautiful photographs on the walls.
Then we get on the bus, drive along the serpentine, making 99 turns.
There is no fog at all, fantastic views around, I fidget and take pictures through the glass.
But, as is often the case when photographing from a vehicle, then a tree runs across the road, then a bush, then a pole. That is a whole rock! )
The place where we transfer to another bus. very beautiful, Heaven's Gate Mountain looks the most advantageous from here.
We'll come back here today to watch the Tianmen Fox show. Great shows are put on in China!
Don't switch! )
