Remember the 2009 James Cameron directed super-hit movie Avatar? What if we told you that there’s a way in which you too can travel through the Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora lookalike in China, all thanks to the tallest elevator in the world. Read on to know what we are talking about. By Amitha Ameen
View this post on Instagram
The Bailong Elevator in China’s Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie standing tall at 1,070 feet has recently found a spot in the prestigious Guinness Book of World Records for being the tallest elevator in the world. An architectural wonder of sorts, the Bailong elevator also known as the Hundred Dragons Elevator, is situated in the surreal-looking Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
What makes the elevator special among travellers is the scenic backdrop against which it is situated. Passengers board the elevator at the forest bed and are quickly taken to the tallest point of the elevator while passing through majestic sandstone pillars, a place that served as inspiration for the Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora in the Hollywood sci-fi film Avatar.
View this post on Instagram
The mountains that seem like they are floating in the clouds are one of the major reasons that attract tourists to visit the park, especially for those who are keen on visiting the Avatar-like location. Each elevator can carry around 4,900 kilograms and transport around 50 passengers at a time. The three-faced glass double-decker elevators take around 1 minute and 32 seconds to get to the top as compared to the normal free climb route that would take around 68 minutes.
Costing around INR 100 crores (approx. $20 million), the construction of the elevator came with a host of controversies about the damaging effects it may have had on the environment. Nevertheless, the elevator has been praised by many others, as earlier certain areas of the park could only be accessed through a dangerous mountain trail and would take around three hours to navigate.
Related: China Is Building A New COVID-Proof City To Make Future Lockdowns Easier
