Dayongcity(todayZhangjiajie)withTiamenmountainsnearbyTianme
nMountainsareinthenorthernHunanProvinceofChina,nearthe
cityofDayong.(ManypeopleareconfusedbythenameTianmenth
atissimilartotheinfamousTiananmenSquare,inBejing,thousa
ndsofmilesaway)ToreachthesummityoucantaketheTongtian
(avenuetowardheaven)highwaywhichhas99sharpturns.Atits
endyouhavetoclimbtheTianti(laddertoheaven)stairswhich
has999steps.ItisperhapstheChinesewaytoreachheaven,sca
redtodeathbytheroadandoutofbreathfromclimbing!Butall
theeffortisworthwhilebythemagnificentthingsatthetop.Y
ouwillfindthere
acollapsedcavethatisnow
a
naturalstonearch,abeautiful
templeandbreathtakingviews.Themountainislocatedonly
7miles(11Km)fromthecity.Yougoaroundabighill…andstar
tclimbingandturning.Theroadrises3600feet(1100m)froman
elevationof200mto1300mabovesealevel.Theroadconstruc
tionstartedin1998andendedin2005,withatotalcostofonly
US$13.2million.Theroadrisessteeplyaccordingtotheformo
fthemountain.The99bendslinkcloselywitheachotherandpil
eupinlayers,makingapatternofacirclingflyingdragonreac
hingtheskyline.Areyoualreadydizzyonlybylookingatthec
urves?Donotdistractthedriver,hemaylosecontrol!Fortunat
elythereisalsoanotherwaytoreachthesummit.Thereisacab
lecarthatstartsfromthecityandtravels4.7miles(7.5Km)r
aisinginelevation4200feet(1280m)andreachingnearthesumm
it.Itcosts$38foraroundtrip,butitisworththemoneyfor
thegreatviewsenroute.Thereare98cars,eachfor8persons.
Thecarsareweatherproof,butstillyouwillnotwanttobeins
ideduringastorm.Thecablecarwasdesignedtobesafeevendu
ringanearthquake.TianmenCaveisthenaturalwater-erodedcave
withthehighestelevationintheworld.TianmenCaverunssouth
-northhavinga?heightof434feet(131.5meters),a?widthof188
feet(57meters)anda?depthof200feet(60meters).Itismuch
likea?gatepointingtowardsheaven.TianmenShanmaybeunique
amongtheworld''sgreatarchesinthatitsformationisrecorded
inhistory.DocumentsfromChina''s"ThreeKingdoms"periodrepor
tthattheentireopeningformedinonecataclysmiceventwhenth
ebackofahugecavecollapsedin263AD.Thus,TianmenShanis
alsooneoftheveryfewnaturalarcheswithapreciselyknownag
e.Cablecarorbus,youstillhavetoclimbtheupperstairsif
youwanttoreachthebottomofthearch.Thebacksideofthen
aturalarch.Inmoderntimes,TianmenShanhasbecomeatargetfo
rstuntfliers.ThisisduetoitslocationclosetotheZhangjia
jieairport,aswellasitslargeopening.In1999,internationa
lstuntflyingacespilotedplanestoflythroughTianmenCavefo
rtheveryfirsttime.800millionpeoplewatchedthelivecoverage.In2006,theRussianAirForceAerobaticFlightShowwasheldinZhangjiajieandmanyplanesflewthroughthearch. |
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