6 months of traveling, and 2 photos of one of China's most treasured sites



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 danxibad 5 Shutterstock China's "Rainbow Mountains," shown in a stock photo.
  • In March I left New York to travel around the world as Business Insider's international correspond.
  • One of my travels Rainbow Mountains of China. Most photos greatly exaggerated the colors one could expect to see.
  • It's a bummer because the "Rainbow Mountains" are a beautiful sight, but people may be disappointed after seeing many of the photos of the location. [19659009] China has a lot of Instagrammable destinations.

    There is the cloud-shrouded quartz-sandstone pillars in Zhangjiajie – best known for inspiration for the floating mountains in the movie "Avatar." There's the lush, green Wuyi mountains in Fujian.

    And, of course, there are so-called "Rainbow Mountains," more formally known as the Zhangye Geological Park.

    On my six-month trip around the world, I often find that the gap between the two is often big. Instagram is not reality.

    In China, which I visited in April, the "Rainbow Mountains" were a perfect example. The Zhangye Geological Park is home to a Danxia landform, a unique geological formation of layered colored stones and conglomerates.

    Prior to visiting, I had seen tones of photos of the Danxia landform on Instagram, Google , Reddit, and various travel magazines. I have also seen pictures of a similar formation located in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

    Most of the pictures I saw the picture of the Danxia landform at the top of this article – bright reds and

    When I visited the landform, I encountered a much different sight. While the formations are no doubt spectacular in person, the effect that the "Rainbow Mountains" give away is far more subtle.

    Here's a photo from my visit, with minimal editing:

    Read More : I visited the viral, 1,400-foot glbad bridge in China – and it was a traveler's worst nightmare

    After spending several hours walking around the park and viewing the mountains, it was clear to (19459006)

    While there's nothing wrong with editing photos – what does photographer do not know what to do? In this day and age – it was so big that the gap between the glossy photos and the reality in this case was so big. Particularly when the subtle reality is beautiful enough on its own.

    This is all just a long-winded way of saying: Be wary of those viral destinations you see on social media. If you go in expecting what they show you, you could be very disappointed.

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