As most of you know, I went to Zhang Jia Jie for 5 days from 23-27 Oct. It was an eye-opening trip, filled with magnificent and picturesque views.

But given another chance, I wouldn’t visit Zhang Jia Jie (or China) again. It’s a “one-time” experience for me.

If you’re ever planning to visit China, here’s what you need to know.

Flights

When going on long flights (>5 hours), fly economy with premium airlines if you can afford it.

Typically, premium flights offer more leg room and extra amenities. In fact, Malaysian Airlines has a “premium economy” option on most of its flights, which offers significantly more leg room compared to low cost airlines at a slightly higher cost (+RM250-500).

During my flight to Zhang Jia Jie, I flew with Batik Air and my knees were touching the front seat for the whole 5 hours.

Worse, it can’t be reclined/adjusted because I’m sitting at the wing section.

In my opinion, it’s not worth to save RM300-500 for a cheaper airline. 1-2 inches of extra leg room may seem little, but it gives you A TON of comfort especially when you’re sitting in the same spot for hours.

That said, if you MUST go for cheaper airlines: NEVER choose your seat at the wing section!

Emergency exits are typically located at that area, so your seats cannot be reclined/adjusted.

Be sure to double check your seat arrangement before you complete your booking.

Attractions

Zhang Jia Jie is famous for its beautiful, scenic, and picturesque mountain ranges.

Avatar was filmed in its national park, featuring “floating” mountains with the help of CGI. Though the real mountains aren’t floating, it’s close enough.

If you’re not afraid of heights, you can walk across the 430-metre glass bridge (4 football fields), suspended 300 metres above ground.

It was designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan, with the intention to make the entire bridge “invisible”.

Built at a cost of about 460 million yuan ($69 million), each glass panel is triple layered with 16 mm of tempered glass (50 mm total thickness).

Is it safe?

The bridge was completed in 2016, and to test its strength, 20 volunteers were invited to smash and crack the glass panel with sledgehammers.

Then, engineers drove a Volvo XC90 carrying 11 people across the cracked panels.

So yes, I think it’s safe.

After walking through the world’s tallest and longest pedestrian bridge, we visited the Tian Men Mountain.

At an elevation of 1,519 metres, Tian Men Mountain is definitely the highlight of the entire trip for me. We sat in a cable car to ascend just below the peak, before walking on foot (with guided concrete pathways) to the highest point.

FYI, the cable car is the world’s longest passenger cableway of high mountains, with 98 cars and a total length of 7,455 meters and ascent of 1,279 metres.

Weather

The climate in ZJJ is slightly chilly and breezy in September to November, with temperatures ranging from 13 C to 25 C.

I think fall is the perfect time to visit the place, because it gets much hotter (>30 C) during summer and awfully cold during winter (2-9 C).

That said, it still gets pretty cold during the night, so best prepare a thick jacket and gloves.

Food

ZJJ’s main attractions are its scenic views and mountain ranges. Food there is very repetitive (mostly traditional Chinese dishes) and honestly, not the best. Malaysian Chinese food is so much better.

If you’re a Muslim, then ZJJ may not be a place for you because there are not many Halal places. I saw none during my entire trip.

But if you still want to visit, be sure to bring some food (ie. Maggi, biscuits, etc).

The people

Mainland Chinese are perhaps the rudest and most rowdy people that I’ve seen.

Because the scenic places are hotspots, we often have to queue for extended periods (sometimes well over an hour) just to get to a cable car or visit the glass bridge.

It’s almost like a fighting pit when queuing. Locals there will push you and squeeze through the tiniest of gaps, not caring whether you’re a group or alone.

We went as a group of 15 people with a tour guide and our queue was ALWAYS broken up by local Chinese bumping and rushing to the end.

Worse, if you’re queueing for a bus, they’ll rush to it seconds before the bus arrives. A perfect analogy would be like Zombies running and trying to enter a bus full of humans. When the doors finally slide open, they pack themselves like sardines in the vehicle, to the point where they are obstructing the doors.

They’re also the loudest people (even louder than Americans), constantly shouting, clearing their throats, and spitting on the floor. Yuck.

This is the biggest reason for me not ever wanting to visit China again despite the clean air and magnificent views.

Overall?

Apologies for the long rant at the end, but I needed to get my message out there so that more will know the reality of visiting China.

It’s a great place, but it doesn’t have the best of people.

This is the tradeoff. After all, you can’t have your cake and eat it.

Like what I said earlier, I think this was a once in a lifetime experience for me, but when the offer comes to go to China again, I’ll probably say no.

Thanks for reading till the end!

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