ZHANGJIAJIE, China – There’s something almost ceremonial about walking into Huángshízhài especially when your first sight is the Greeting Double Gate.

The towering stone pillars rise from the thick canopy like an ancient city’s grand entryway, their rough sandstone surfaces carved by centuries of wind and rain.

I arrived at Huángshízhài in the early afternoon, and though the light lingered, the sky was anything but clear. Mist coiled around the mountains like a living thing. Faraway, they dissolved into soft blue shadows, their edges blurred. All the while, a light drizzle fell steadily, soaking the path and making the rocks slick.

It was a minor inconvenience that did little to deter the steady stream of tourists. In fact, they clambered onto the slippery outcroppings with determination, striking poses in the rain. Our tour guide lamented the weather, but I didn’t mind it. The mist added another layer of mystique to these mountains that already seemed to inspire such wonder.

Huángshízhài has that kind of pull. After all, these aren’t just ordinary mountains. They’re the iconic sandstone pillars of Zhāngjiājiè, the inspiration for James Cameron’s Avatar. To stand among them is to feel like you’ve stepped into a different reality — or at least, that’s the clever marketing China has used to attract travelers from all over the world. And it worked: after the movie’s massive theatrical success, tourism in Zhāngjiājiè also skyrocketed, with visitors eager to see the “floating mountains.”

Of course, there’s truth behind the hype. Sure, the mountains here didn’t float, but when the mist clings around the thick foliage just so, it’s easy to see how they brought Avatar to life.

Huángshízhài is not home to the park’s most iconic pillar — the so-called Hallelujah Mountain — but it still offers sweeping, uninterrupted views of the otherworldly landscape. Known as Yellow Stone Village, it’s the largest viewing area in Zhāngjiājiè National Forest Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The entire park spans over 11,000 acres, with its story written in stone — literally. The sandstone peaks here, shaped over hundreds of millions of years, once rose from an ancient seabed. Over millennia, the forces of water, wind, and temperature sculpted these formations, some reaching heights of more than 200 meters.

But the wonder of Huángshízhài isn’t just geological. Zhāngjiājiè is also a haven of biodiversity, home to over 700 species of plants and countless animals, from mischievous monkeys that prowl on the path to the endangered Chinese giant salamander that lives in the Golden Whip Stream below.

In fact, the wildlife has a way of reminding you that this place is very much alive and often in the most amusing ways. Mid-hike, a group of tourists came to a sudden stop, their attention drawn to a monkey perched on the railing. It sat with practiced poise, head tilted as cameras clicked eagerly, as if aware of its starring role in the day’s spectacle.

By then, the drizzle had softened, and wisps of clouds hung in between the mountains. Before me, Five Finger Peak rose into view. Its jagged columns reached skyward like the hand of a fallen stone giant.

So this was why Huángshízhài was called the “best viewing terrace” in the park. From this vantage point, the landscape felt endless, as though the peaks might go on forever, disappearing into the folds of the earth. – Rappler.com

Disclosure: The author was part of a media delegation to the Envision 2024 Global Partners Conference hosted by Trip.com Group.