I made it to Helsinki, partied for Vappu there (you can search for that in my Finland section) and had big plans to head north to Lapland. Helsinki was a beautiful city, awesome infrastructure, gorgeous women, cool guys but my love for it took a hit when I was quoted a 500 Euro ($650) return train ticket to Rovaniemi, a stop 14 hours in the north, where the Arctic Circle border is. Ouch. So, my friends and I butted heads, there was only one thing for it – Finnish road trip!

We rented a car for 5 days and made a beeline for Lapland, about 700km to the north. The Northern lights are strongest in January and February, it was already May so we knew our chances were slim, either way we were heading towards the Arctic Circle which is a pretty cool thing in itself.

A $60 parking fine, $200 speeding ticket and 8 hours later we made it to Rovaniemi, a town 8km from the Arctic Circle border. Hostels in finland normally cost $30 per night in a dorm, so for three of us that was gonna be a pricey $90 per night, we figured that if we have to pay that much then perhaps we can go the extra yard and get something really special, which we duly did.

A Finnish friend of mine managed to hook us up with our own 3 bedroom cabin, on a lake, with a boat, complete with fully stocked kitchen, heated floors and our own private sauna all for the same price as a hostel! Did someone say flashpacker?

I dunno how much group nudity with your mates is acceptable but I’m pretty sure we pushed those boundaries, spending every available minute jumping in frozen lakes and running back to the warmth of the sauna hoping we haven’t done any damage to our extremities (note: we had’nt!)

I hit up the tourist information and apparently the Northern Lights were well and truly gone by now, heartbroken! (Ok, trip to Iceland in December is now confirmed!). We took solace in the fact that we crossed the article circle and we’re living in luxury in our cottage, not to mention the fact we still had 3 litres of dirty cheap Russian vodka in our backpacks. 2 days passed in a very enjoyable heartbeat.

The artic circle, and Rovaniemi, do have a lot of things to keep you occupied though. Snow mobiles, reindeer and husky sledding, camp fires, hiking, ice-fishing so you can easily burn a few days, and a lot of cash. There’s one more extra special thing that Rovaniemi has too… the real Santa Claus! This is where he’s from, so I spent day two going to have a word with the big man himself… read about it tomorrow! Happy travels!

Where is the Arctic Circle?

In Finland, it’s found 14 hours north of Helsinki. The major town near it is called Rovaniemi.

Can I see the Northern Lights in Finland?

Yes you can, but you have to be there between December and March ideally.

Crossing the Arctic Circle, Private Saunas, and Chasing Northern Lights in Finland is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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3. Backpacking in Pai, Northern Thailand’s travelers retreat

I know,, I know I used to doubt it too. Thinking – People can blog as a full-time job?! Surely not.  Well, they can, and they do and even better still is that they work for themselves and often work less than 5 – 10 hours per week (my limit).

So you’ve got a blog, or an inclination to start one – how many hits do you need to make money on it, and how much can you make? Here are some rough figures to go by. I’m no google genius, in fact I’m pretty horrible with computers but I do blog full time, I run a number of sites and it’s my full-time income even though I don’t have to work ‘full-time’:

Now I’m sure these figures can be disputed but they give you an idea about what page rank you require, and how many unique monthly visitors you need to generate a certain amount of cash (through ads etc). So if you wanna make $50k USD per year, then you need a site with a Page Rank of 4 and with around 50,000 unique visitors per month, not that difficult and certainly achievable within a year.

This is all without selling ebooks, using affiliate marketing or selling your time or expertise, they all increase revenue further.

Note, I’m not selling anything here, I’m not making any money from this post, I just know that when I started out blogging I wanted to know some figures and they were difficult to come by, these are the sort of figures that I, and some of my friends, regularly turn from each website. Now imagine having 4 or 5 websites, hmmmm. Good luck and happy travels!!

Motivational Monday: How Many Hits Do You Need to Make Money from Your Blog? is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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1) Gandan (Khiid) Monastery:

Titled “the Great Place of Complete Joy”, you can be forgiven for expecting big things. Mongolia’s most famous Buddhist site and probably UB’s  biggest tourist draw is home to 4 or 5 temples within the complex. You can walk here and admission is free, the monks conduct ceremonies throughout the day but your best bet is to be there around 10am.

Don’t expect huge, pristine, ornate temples like those in Thailand, this is a lot more ‘real’, it has a lot of personality and is a little more rustic.

2) Sükhbaatar Square:

The square is named after Damdin Sükhbaatar, the ‘hero of the revolution’. This dude rose against the Chinese and finally declared Mongolia an independent nation (although how independent they were from Russia is open to interpretation!). There’s a huge statue dedicated to Damdin  in the centre of the square, but just at the north of the square is the huge new parliament building with a massive Chinggis (Gengis) Khan statue overlooking the entire square.

3) Centre of Shaman Eternal Heavenly Sophistication:

Another free site, UB’s official centre of the Shamanism religion is a real eye opener! The city’s lead Shaman holds court every day and the guy is pretty famous for stirring up some pretty crazy crowd reactions. The whole thing is set in a few gers (Mongolian tents), the lead Shaman carries out his routine in the nature tent. You can get your fortune read for  a small donation (about $2).

4) Naraan Tuul (black market):

If Ulaan Bataar is famous for pick pockets (which it is), the Naraan Tuul is their epicenter so be careful with your belongings. With that said, this is an cool place to wander around for a couple of hours. It costs $0.04 (seriously) to get into the market, once your in you can get lost in the labyrinthine alleys of souvenirs, counterfeit gear and delicious local food.

5) Winter Palace of Bogd Khan:

Mongolia’s last King and only living Buddha lived here, and it’s one of the few religious centres the Russians didn’t tear apart in their push for communism in the last century.

Bogd Khan had a bit of an obsession with animails so you can check out a huge aray of stuff animals. It costs $2 to enter and $10 if you wanna take any snaps.

UB is a really interesting place, it’s small enough to walk around but once the night falls, be careful as it can be pretty dangerous. People talk about pick-pockets and violence and I can vouch for it. I went partying one night and after the police came and raided the bar I was in (5 minutes after I paid the cover charge) we got harangued by a few local dudes who took umbrage at our presence as foreigners and told us he was going to stab us, and cut us in half. Wonderful. A quick sprint to a taxi and a yell of “drive anywhere” soon got us out of that less-than-awesome scenario! So be careful!

During the day and early evening it’s safe as houses though, but when the booze hits the Mongolian dudes, their Chinngas Khan streak can get a little stronger! Happy travels!

Backpacking in Mongolia; What to See in Ulaan Bataar is a post from: onestep4ward.com

Related posts:

1. The Trans Mongolian Train Beijing to Ulaan Baatar: My experience
2. Going on Safari in Mongolia
3. Witnessing a Shaman getting possessed by two spirits in Mongolia

I went for 3 days into the mini-Gobi desert, to Gengis Khan’s former Capital Kharakhorum, I went horse riding, stayed with a nomadic tribe in their ger (tent) and saw a shaman being possessed by two spirits. How much did it cost me? $150. Money well spent. Here was my intinerary:

Day 1: I left the hostel in the morning, a guide and a driver drove 5 hours into the Mongolian wilderness.

We stopped in the middle of nowhere where someone had built a 5-pagoda Buddhist shrine on top of a hill, overlooking the desert. I started to realize just how vast this country was.

We drove another hour or so until we arrived at Kharakhorum. When Gengis Khan was taking over all of Asia, he declared this the capital. I climbed a local mountain, watched sunset as a kid herded his sheap around the Erdene Zuu monastery there. Really nice evening. I slept in a ger that night too, although not with a family yet.

In the evening we paid an old Mongolian musician to come to our tent and play some songs for us, he did the traditional Mongolian throat signing, played for about one hour and if ever I felt like I was traveling, it was then.

DAY 2: I woke up around 8am freezing cold, the oven in the ger had gone out and Mongolia is one cold place! Anyway, I ate breakfast and headed over to the Erdene Zuu monastery in Kharakhorum. We had a guide take us around and explain everything, I watched the monks chanting, had a prayer said for us and left.

We drove to a Genghis Khan monument to see how much of the world he actually took over, that dude was one crazy guy!

The area that Mongolia once owned

After lunch we headed back into the desert, we were staying with a local nomadic tribe, sleeping in the tent on the floor with the whole family. On the way we stopped at some awesome sand dunes.

When we got to the nomadic family, we went horse riding through the mini-Gobi desert, I hadn’t ridden a horse in a long time but in true Asian health and safety standards, they whacked me on the horse and set me off alone!

I watched the most vivid sunset I’ve ever seen in the desert, then had dinner with the family in their ger. It was a full moon, and one of the families sons had recently become a shaman. Tonight 2 spirits possessed him and I happened to be there, so for the next 2 hours I watched a ceremony where the kid was talking like an old man, then an old lady, spinning around in the tent with a huge head dress on, complete with dead fox and 2 eagle heads. He summoned certain members of the family to him (luckily not me). It was intense, and I was very fortunate to be there but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t freak me out a little! Oh, and the shaman slept beside me that night, wonderful. (no pics tho, no cameras allowed)

Me with my nomadic family

DAY 3: Woke up after a broken night of sleep on the floor of the tent. That morning, after breakfast, we drive into the desert again and saw some great rock formations. After a few pics we headed to another mountain where the old Ovgon Temple temples had been left unattended.

On the way to lunch we saw a pony completely alone in the desolate wilderness. We got out of the car and our guide, Soyolo, grabbed the horse. It turned out it had just been born yesterday but it had been bitten by wolves, luckily a dust stormed kicked in last night so the wolves left. Soyolo picked the horse up, but it in our van and drove to our nomdadic family, he passed them the horse, they were so grateful, thanked us profusely and then we head back to Ulaan Baator.

On the way to the family with the injured horse

What a trip! Happy travels!

Going on Safari in Mongolia is a post from: onestep4ward.com

Related posts:

1. Witnessing a Shaman getting possessed by two spirits in Mongolia
2. Culture in Mongolia: Saving a horse, nearly getting stabbed, a Mongolian throat singer, and watching a 16 year old Shaman getting possessed.
3. Backpacking in Mongolia; What to See in Ulaan Bataar

I was sitting idly in the tent and unbeknownst to me, outside due to the full moon, the spirit had returned to the Shaman, so his spirit guide (a role his father had assumed) and him had to expel the spirit from his body before it could do any damage.

The Shaman burst into he tent with a full head gear, complete with eagle feathers. His coat consisted of a full fox fur, with two eagle heads sewn to his shoulders. He was carrying a lambskin drum and a scepter shaped like a dragon. The whole family was in the tent by this point, wide eyed and focused on their Shaman son. With 16 people now in the small tent, the Shaman began spinning around uncontrollably on the spot, banging his drum more and more furiously until it reach a climatic crescendo. Finally he collapsed at the back of the tent, in front of their Shaman alter.

The nomadic family outside our ger

He slowly rose to his feet, with the help of a cane. He was bent over and inched towards the alter like an old man, struggling to walk. He turned and faced the family, his face entirely obscured by his ornate headwear, and gingerly sat down on the religious mats, with the candles from the alter burning behind his head.

He began to speak, but not in his normal voice. His voice had adopted the voice of the spirit that possessed him, in his horse, croaky, elderly voice he summoned certain members of the family to come and kneel at his feet. At this point his speech sped up and he began speaking in tongues which only his spirit guide could understand. The guide translated for the rest of the family, the Shaman’s brother was called to the alter, he was lashed by a ceremonial whip 4 times on the back, after the 4^th lash he recoiled and the Shaman was placated with 2 cigarettes and a bowl of Mongolian beer.

Inside the ger, where the exorcism took place

This continued for around another very intense 30 minutes, until he began spinning uncontrollably again. After he collapsed this time, the spirit had been expunged but only to be replaced by the spirit of an old woman. He arose again, but this time he was even less mobile. The spirit was clearly very elderly, the Shaman warily pranced around the tent, aided by his (her) cane. Again, he settled at the foot of the alter but his voice had changed once more, adopting the old, female voice of the new spirit possessing him. More people were summoned to the alter, more alcohol and cigarettes were given as an offering to the spirit, in a bid to minimize the damage she could choose inflict. Throughout the ceremony the Shaman would throw up into a container specifically placed in case this happened. After he continually vomited I knew, regardless of my beliefs, this was a genuine religious affair for them.

Fortunately, I was never called to the alter, although throughout the entire ritual I was sure that as an obvious outsider I would be called to explain my self, this time I escaped unscathed. Every so often, when the spirit was riled by frustration or a perceived lack of attention the Shaman would stand up, and spin around in the style of a whirling dervish, banging his lambskin drum feverishly, only to eventually calm down again, consume another cigarette and relax.

Me with the family the morning after

With the second spirit finally appeased, the entire extended family began chanting Shaman incantations in unison. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more like a fish out of water, but I sat through it, watching attentively and after one last aggressive spinning session and subsequent collapse, the Shaman had expelled both spirts and was left to recover in front of the alter. He disrobed from his traditional attire, leaving a skinny 16 year old boy, looking drained, weary and ready for bed.

After 2 hours everything was over, I went outside where the dust storm had almost entirely obscured the moon, to get some fresh air and try to dissect what had just happened. The Shaman came out a couple of minutes later, he shook my hand and although he didn’t speak English, he uttered “sorry” in the middle his Mongolian  address. I guess he was sorry for scaring me, it was a nice gesture, and it reminded me why I already have such an affinity for Mongolia and its people. That night I slept on the floor of the ger, amidst the entire family, right next to the Shaman. What an incredible evening.

Witnessing a Shaman getting possessed by two spirits in Mongolia is a post from: onestep4ward.com

Related posts:

1. Culture in Mongolia: Saving a horse, nearly getting stabbed, a Mongolian throat singer, and watching a 16 year old Shaman getting possessed.
2. Going on Safari in Mongolia
3. Backpacking in Mongolia; What to See in Ulaan Bataar

Hard seat:

The cheapest class of seat. No recline available but not as ‘hard’ as the name suggests, 5 seats across each row (3 on one side, then an aisle, 2 on the other). It’s quite cramped and loud. The lights don’t go off during the night and in winter it’s quite chilling, summer it’s quite hot due to the lack of air-con or heaters. It’s considerable cheaper than the other classes and it’s fine for most people for any journey less than 8 hours or so. For the hardier amongst us, a night on this is fine too, just don’t expect much sleep. Don’t worry, it’s not just a bench, it’s got a little bit of cushion lining it.

($X)

chinese hard seat

Soft seat:

The equivalent of a long-distance bus seat, complete with reclining ability and soft upholstery. This is pretty comfortable and you could easily spend a long journey on the seat. Air-con pumps in the summer and heaters in the winter.

However the soft seat is similarly priced (70%) to the hard sleeper which, for me, makes this choice redundant, unless there is nothing left. These do sell out fast though so book early.

($2X)

Hard Sleeper:

My class of choice but sells out fast. The hard sleeper is like a dorm room in a train, with a narrow corridor running down the side of the carriage. Then there are 3 beds lined up from bottom bunk, middle bunk and top bunk. The bottom is slightly more expensive than the middle which is slightly more expensive than the top, although only by a dew dollars.

The hard sleeper is open, and often there’s a lot of talking, smoking and drinking going on. The actual bed is fine though, with a pillow and blanket and while it won’t win any comfort awards, it’s certainly possible to get a decent nights sleep on this.

($3X) 

Soft Sleeper:

The most expensive by a distance. Almost a real bed, in 2 or 4 bed cabins which can close off from the rest of the train. There are 2 beds on each wall, instead of 3 and often a table and chairs in the room too. This often runs a similar cost to a domestic flight though.

($5X)

Chinese trains always sell out early so book as early as possible. If you want a sleeper then you need to book a couple of days in advance, turning up on the same day you’ll find it very difficult to get a sleeper, and you’ll be stuck on a hard seat (like I have many of times!). Happy travels!

What’s the difference between a hard sleeper and a soft sleeper on Chinese trains? is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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Xi’an is a really cool city, one in which I’m currently considering living and studying Chinese in actually (that’s another story!), but initially the sole reason I came here was to finally see the Terracotta Warriors, something I’ve wanted to see since I was a little kid.

There are so many places to stay, you can check hotels.com discount codes, look at your guide book or get walking and find somewhere yourself. I found a hotel, sorted out a tour to the warriors the next day and I was off. The tour cost me 250RMB ($40), so it certainly wasn’t cheap, although you can do it much cheaper so read on.

The Terracotta Warriors were only discovered in 1974, when 3 farmers were digging a well! Now those 3 guys take it in turns to sit at the entrance and have their photo taken.  The story behind the army is that basically, the Terracotta army was built for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, in 210BC so when he died, he was buried with the army to protect him in his afterlife.

Now the Army is housed in 3 huge vaults, showing 8,000 lifesize warriors all with individual faces and expressions, 300,000 weapons, 100 chariots etc. The actual site disappointed me a little actually, I think I was too excited about seeing something I dreamt about for years, I was left a little underwhelmed. That being said, it’s still awesome but temper your expectations a little so you’re not left disenchanted.

Also guys, don’t go on a tour (like me). Take the bus 306 from the city, the Terracotta army is the last stop., 30km from the city It only costs around 10RMB ($1.60), and then the ticket is 150RMB($24) or 75RMB ($12) for students. Or you can share a taxi for 120RMB. If you’re smart about your money, places like Xi’an can be so cheap, with good bartering skills,  deals on hotels.com voucher codes, street food, and local transport, China doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to travel around. Enjoy and happy travels!

Seeing The Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, China is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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3. Seeing the Great Wall of China in Beijing

I thought I’d give an idea about how much it costs to travel in China on a daily basis, and from there calculate an approximate monthly budget that you can feasibly stick to:

Accommodation:

China is home to the best hostels in the world, I’ll be sad to leave them behind. Most places with any tourist attractions will have a plethora of hostels to stay in, generally speaking a dorm bed costs around 25-50 RMB ($4-$8), with private twin/doubles costing around 100 RMB ($15).

If there are no hostels (rare), you can always stay in a chain hotel like Super 8 or 7 Days Inn for around 140 RMB ($20) for a twin room.

Average daily spend on accommodation: 40 RMB ($8)

Chinese hostels are the best in the world!

Food:

Chinese food isn’t quite what we get fed in the west, and it’s certainly not the same prices! A meal on the street runs around 8RMB ($1.30). A meal in a locals restaurant will cost around 15-30RMB ($2.50-$5). Obviously if you wanna eat western food or high end dining, you can pay a fortune but that’s not for backpackers, so steer clear!

Average daily spend for 2 or 3 meals: 30 RMB ($5)

Chinese street food is so cheap, portion of dumplings? $0.80!

Sights and activities:

This is where things can get a little pricey. The Chinese have a lot of very awesome things to see, and they don’t half know it. An amazing national park or a famous sight can cost around 200RMB ($30) for a ticket, but naturally that’s not an everyday event. If you can squeeze a couple of these a week in, you’ll be doing well.

Smaller temples, activities and sights etc and much more reasonable priced and cost around 10RMB ( $1.60).

Average daily spend for sights*: 70RMB ($11)

Calculated at 2 major sights per week, plus a minor sight per day 

The Summer Palace, Beijing

Transport:

China is a huge country but the transport links are good, and if you’re willing to rough it, they can be quite cheap. A 10 hour bus will run around 65 RMB ($10), whereas a 10 hour train will run at 50RMB ($8) for a hard seat or 120RMB ($20) for a hard sleeper. So if you’re tightening your budget, use a train and take the seat!

Local transport within a city or area costs 2RMB ($0.30) per subway ride, or 1RMB ($0.15) per bus ride. Once you get your head around the transport system, it can work out very cheap indeed.

Average daily spend on transport*: 25RMB ($4)

Calculated at a 10 hour bus every other day

Train from Beijing to Harbin

TOTAL DAILY BUDGET FOR CHINA: $28 per day + $5 wiggle room

So for around $900 per month you can take China by storm. Remember, if you wanna stick to a budget like this you always have to consider what you’re buying, is the extra comfort worth the extra money? Should you eat on the street? Do you wanna hold a panda for an extra $200? China is still a cheap country to travel in, so get here soon before they take over the world. Happy travels!

How much does it cost to travel in China? is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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1. Cheap travel – boat from Thailand to China (taking a cargo boat, up the Mekong river, from Thailand to China)…
2. Cheap Travel: Backpacking in China – Yunan Province
3. How Much Does it Cost to Go Traveling?

I thought I’d cleanse my backpacking soul with a confession today! Here is the tech that I travel with:

1)   Macbook Pro 13”:

My baby, I don’t leave home without it! I’ve always been a macman, but after my last macbook got run over on the way to Swaziland I was due an upgrade, so I bought the brand new model in Bangkok about 6 months ago. I do all my blogging for my travel sites online and generate all my income online so it’s really necessary that I have my baby with me!

2)   Iphone 4S:

Another new purchase. I had an Iphone 3GS but after a rather drunken night in Bangkok, that went missing so it was time for a new one. I waited until it was released in Thailand and then queued up like a lunatic on Christmas eve for it. I love it, it picks up wifi when you’re on the road, I can blog from it with the wordpress app, google maps is a Godsend, I’m quick to reply to advertisers etc. With all the travel apps available, my Iphone is quickly becoming as indispensible as my macbook. Also, the camera on the 4S is great too, which means I don’t have to worry about carrying any digital cameras, this acts as a Compact Digital Cameras all on my own.

3)   Kindle

Gone are the days of my lugging around 5 traveling books in my backpack, the kindle has redesigned that. With books available at the click of a button and a 40 day battery life I’m loving having my kindle on this trip. That being said, I still prefer a physical Lonely Planet to flick through too.

A kindle is awesome, but i'm still loyal to my lonely planet!

4)   DSLR

While I’m certainly no photographer, getting a digital SLR camera has allowed to me snap a few better pics. I have a bottom of the range Olympus (about $400) which im trying to learn how to use, with the help of travel friends along the way, and it’s a steep learning curve! However, it’s a means to an end and I look forward to wowing everyone with my pics in the not too distant future! 

5)   Samsung 1TB external hard drive

Being a movie buffs, and backpacking up my pics and articles, traveling without an external hardrive is an impossibility for me. I bought this one about 2 years ago on London for about $100 and it’s a beauty. Having so many HBO series and movies on my hardrive also helps keep me out of trouble in the evenings when the booze would otherwise be flowing!

That’s my lot folks. I have a couple of cheap chinese card readers, a host of chargers and adapters too but they don’t make the list. I know it’s a bit stressful carrying so much expensive gear but if you can deal with the hassle, it certainly adds a lot to  your trip. If I was going on a short trip, which I generally never do, I probably wouldn’t bother with all this, but living life on the road – it’s a necessity. Happy travels!

I’m A Self-Confessed Flash Packer! 5 Pieces of Tech I travel With… is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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It’s my 3^rd UNESCO site this week so I’m feeling pretty lucky to be honest although the pain I’m currently in from all that hiking is perhaps my payment in stead.

Zhangjiajie, along with Huangshan, were paid a visit by Avatar’s director James Cameron. On his trip through the majestic mountain range he conjured up some ideas about how Pandora’s floating mountain range should look, and after being here it’s easy to see how he drew his final conclusions.

Since the humongous success of the Avatar movie, the park has been renamed the ‘Avatar Hallelujah Mountains’ and the tacky Chinese gift stores are rammed full of avatar merchandise. They’ve even commissioned a replica of one of the dragon/bird creatures who appears to have crashed into the cliff!

If you go for 2 days, which I’d recommend, you really have to be careful about selecting your route or you’ll spend all day backtracking, or worse – getting lost. Maps are available outside for 5RMB ($0.80) and ask advice about routes from your English speaking hostel.

Bring some snacks and enough water for lunch because sometimes it’s tough to find places to buy (reasonably priced) food. Make sure you’re leaving the park by 6pm when the parks buses stop.

Oh, and if you’re stuck about which place to see – the World’s First Natural Bridge (its official name) has the coolest scenery of all, so don’t miss out on that! Any questions, let me know – if off to bed, and it’s only 8.45pm! Knackered!

FAQS:

How much does it cost to enter Zhangjiajie?

245 RMB ($39) or 160 RMB ($25) for student’s under 24 for a 2 day pass. There are various trams, elevators and cable cars spread through the huge park, each charging between 40-70RMB ($6-$11 to use).

Taking the Avatar a little too far!

How many days should I spend in Zhangjiajie park?

I spent two full days and by body had had enough! It’s tough hiking, with lots of hills. One day certainly isn’t enough, 2 is good but if you’re feeling adventurous there are 7 day tickets available, just bring some icepacks for the evenings!

Where should I sleep at Zhangjiajie?

That’s a question which no blog or guidebook really answer well so let me clear it up. You want to sleep in Zhangjiajie village (known as Wuling Yuan) NOT Zhangjiajie city which is quite far from the park. Also, you can stay in the park but it’s quite expensive and you don’t have any options to explore the town or choose different places to eat.

In WulingYuan, there are lots of places to stay including a couple of affiliated YHA members which charge only 45RMB ($7) per bed.

Me teetering close to the edge

Zhangjiajie National Park – The Inspiration behind Avatar’s floating Mountains is a post from: onestep4ward.com

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