Second Deep Pit! World’s Only Mine Pit Floating Theme Park! This New Changsha Hotel is About to Blow Up!
The last time I went to Changsha was 12 years ago when I was a political reporter covering the Kuomintang-Communist forum. In a flash, 12 years have passed, and Changsha has become an internet-celebrity city—Wenheyou, Sexy Tea, Jiefangxi... Today I’m adding a new spot to your must-visit list: Da Wang Mountain!
Tomorrow is the opening day of the Changsha Da Wang Mountain Langham Hotel, but I, Miao Ma, have already checked it out before the opening—this hotel is being called the 'Second Deep Pit'!
Look at this live photo I took—can you feel the deep-pit vibe?
The difference is that while the Shanghai Deep Pit Hotel is built at the bottom of the pit, here a theme park, Xiangjiang Happy City, floats inside the pit. The hotel connects to the floating structure on one side, like a snow boot overlooking the bottom.
See the comparison photo below from online—it’s clearer. The part with water is the original mine pit, turned waste into treasure. Over 100 meters deep, the structure is supported by 48 pillars underneath, creating the floating building above. The Discovery Channel has called it 'one of the nine most difficult construction projects in the world.'
Inside the pit, there’s an ice and snow world, a water park... Can you feel it? This new internet-celebrity landmark is a perfect place for kid-friendly fun—nonstop play!
The Langham is part of the Langham Hospitality Group, looking younger and trendier, but still featuring the iconic 'Langham Pink.' Upon arrival, the signature 'Langham Service Ambassador' greeted me holding a pink rose.
A little tip: try to get to the hotel early—every day they give out pink roses to the first 24 ladies, first come, first served.
The lobby was stunning—beautiful! Every Langham property has a must-photograph spiral staircase! Everyone has to take a few rounds before they can get enough.
I stayed in a small corner room; the whole room layout was fresh and bright. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows faced the lush greenery of Da Wang Mountain.
The bathroom was amazing, overlooking Tongxi Lake. Especially when I turned on the sparkling mirror lights—it looked super pretty, didn’t it!
The toiletries were from Langham’s own brand 'Chuan'—the scent was quite nice.
Everything was pink; even the pen with pink feather patterns was so beautiful! Perfect for a middle-aged young-at-heart lady like me, haha!
And guess the best part? On the desk were hand-painted cards featuring Changsha scenery—so beautiful I couldn’t stop admiring them! Don’t worry, everyone gets one (rumor has it that guests with kids get cards with children’s themes). Of course, when more people stay, the patterns might not be as elaborate as ours, haha~
The family rooms were also beautiful, with adorable little tents, and they can arrange a small bed for babies.
Every detail for kids was thoughtful and considerate.
Each room type tried to bring in plenty of natural light.
| Kids’ Facilities
Come on, parents, don’t worry about the kids having nothing to do. The children’s activity center has lots of toys.
Thinking it’s just for little ones? No! There’s also a parent-child playroom for all ages. With so many professional electronic interactive games and motion-sensing games, you rarely see this in ordinary hotels.
There’s even a children’s cinema! Throw the kids in there and you’re worry-free!
| Pool and SPA
The hotel has both indoor and outdoor pools, super high in appearance! Unfortunately, neither is open yet. The transparent glass canopy looks like a stretch of Xiangjiang River flowing overhead, letting in natural light. The light and shadows ripple across the blue pool water, as if there really is flowing water.
I went to check it out again at night—truly stunning. The ring around the ceiling is actually a flowing screen, constantly changing into a romantic purple nebula. It’s like lying in the pool watching a movie!
When you don’t have the kids, parents can also hit the gym.
Or get a SPA. It’s said to be very good—unfortunately it wasn’t open when I went, but you can try it.
Before I talk about my favorite food, let me first mention the biggest highlight of staying at this Langham: the gate is right at Xiangjiang Happy City!
That’s the world’s only double-decker amusement park floating in a mine pit that I mentioned earlier! It rained heavily during my two days there, but looking out from the hotel, I could still see the stunning floating building in the pit.
| Happy Snow World
36 meters underground, there’s a 30,000 square meter 'Happy Snow World'! When I walked in, I felt it was huge. Later I checked: wow, it has 13 snow slides—6 straight ice slides, 3 curved snow slides, 2 wave snow slides, 1 S-shaped snow slide, and 1 bumper ball slide—making it the indoor ice and snow world with the most snow slides in China! Pretty awesome, right?
The most impressive part is that this original deep, steep, irregularly shaped mine pit was transformed using 3D scanning, radar imaging, BIM modeling, and other techniques to embed an insulated ice cave.
The indoor temperature is always around -5°C, freezing cold. For us southerners who rarely see snow, it’s amazing!
Take the aerial cable car to overlook the entire snow world. The design is really clever—they used the height differences inside the mine pit to build so many snow tracks.
Although I was shivering from the cold, I boldly took off my coat and did a 'snow bra' shot. Just kidding—with this body, I only dared to show this much, haha!
Actually, the place really has an Alpine feel. At first glance, you can pretend you’re in Europe, haha!
Besides the 8,000 square meter beginner and intermediate ski slopes, the most popular area is the beautiful and fun snow play zone.
Ice slides, snow tubes, ice bikes, snow bumper cars... lots of activities. The most thrilling is the zip line high above—just imagine gliding through the snowy landscape like that. Isn’t it amazing!
| Happy Water Park
Summer is coming, and it’ll be even more fun here. On the 'roof' above Happy Snow World, there’s an 80,000 square meter Happy Water Village! Using the top of Happy Snow World, the ground, the cliffs, and the natural landscape of the pit bottom, they created a water world between the cliffs.
I deliberately went to the side with the mine pit view. Look at my live photo—isn’t it a bit breathtaking? They used the original mine pit walls and created various water slides using the height difference from the top to the bottom. I’m sure when you play there, you’ll feel like you’re whizzing through cliffs and precipices.
Oh my, thinking about it is already exciting! You have to experience it yourself to appreciate this wonder!
| Breakfast and Western Food
Finally, the foodie part! Since the hotel hadn’t opened yet when I visited, I ate two meals in my room. It felt like pretending to be a socialite, haha! Right?
Everything was delicious! I especially liked the Changsha rice noodles at breakfast—lightly spicy, with pickled beans and shredded pork mixed in. Yummy!
And the sweet wine egg drop soup that Hunan locals love—this one was authentic! It’s said that Changsha people eat it with crispy fried dough sticks, breaking the dough sticks into pieces and soaking them in the sweet wine. The hot soup soaks into the crispy dough sticks, giving a crunchy outside and soft inside. Then you take a bite of the dough stick and a slurp of the sweet wine—absolutely perfect. But I haven’t learned that sweet-and-salty combo yet, so I ate them separately, haha.
After the hotel opens, the buffet breakfast will be served in the Western restaurant, with a beautiful setting.
The Ming Court Chinese restaurant is famous—several Ming Court locations have Michelin stars! I strongly recommend having at least one meal here. Besides traditional Cantonese cuisine, this Changsha Langham also serves Hunan dishes, and they’re quite good!
See that? The tableware in the private room was all hand-painted with Yuelu Mountain scenes—elegant and refined. I looked at several sets and was surprised to find subtle differences in each one. Hand-painted really is top-notch!
We ordered a few Hunan dishes: the garlic-pepper cured beef was perfectly salty and savory, great with rice; the double-pepper Linwu duck made me cough on the first bite—even someone like me, who can handle spicy, got hit. On the second bite, I savored it carefully—the fragrant duck meat revealed a fresh kick! Hunan cuisine is indeed fragrant.
The stone bass and tofu soup had an amazing texture—the broth was thick, and the tofu was so smooth it just slipped down my throat.
Afternoon tea is worth a try—just the set of Langham’s classic English rose porcelain is worth tens of thousands. I fell in love with it at first sight.
Was the afternoon tea tasty? Of course, but with such good looks, isn’t taking photos more important? Haha!
Another super beautiful and photogenic spot is the rooftop bar! It rained during our two days there—what a pity. On clear days, the view outside is stunning!
The semi-outdoor area is also very special.
And yes, it’s really good for photos.
Check this out—Changsha people’s drinks are intense, even with chili peppers! The one with two chili peppers is called 'Bull Demon King,' haha! I only dared to smell it.
Visiting Changsha without having fun would be a waste of this internet-celebrity city!
| Huayi Brothers Movie Town
Besides Xiangjiang Happy City, there’s a Huayi Brothers Movie Town near the hotel that looks almost like Venice! I saw photos online and was amazed—even if it’s not exactly like Venice, it’s especially similar, haha!
| Xie Zilong Photography Museum
A 10-minute taxi ride away is the very popular Xie Zilong Photography Museum. I was shocked—there were lines of young ladies taking internet-famous photos! I didn’t want to squeeze in, so I just took a few random shots, and they still looked good, right? Haha.
| Li Zijian Art Museum
Li Zijian Art Museum sits across a lake from the Xie Zilong Photography Museum, connected by a glass bridge. The interplay of light and shadow, the reflections of the glass facade, the dripping water and hollowed-out designs... It’s too stunning—go see it for yourself!
We also went to the incredibly popular Wenheyou—so fun to explore! So interesting! I loved it! A reminder: if you’re bringing kids, make sure to reserve online via the app ('Wenheyou') long before you go. Even on a relatively quiet day, we waited for over 700 numbers and nearly 3 hours!
Six whole floors, entirely recreated as old Changsha from the 1980s. But these scenes aren’t unique to Changsha—they’re just like the roller rinks, supply cooperatives, small shops, streets, hair salons, and neighbors’ houses from our childhood, aren’t they? So, so similar! Honestly, many scenes brought back childhood memories—I almost cried...
Interestingly, where you end up sitting for dinner is pure luck. We were assigned to the roller rink. Awesome! The tableware was also fun—enamel pots, small iron pans... The nostalgia was very authentic.
Things in Changsha are really not expensive, from stinky tofu to crayfish to bullfrog to skewers... We ordered a full table because it was cheap, and were stunned by the huge portions.
Although it was so spicy I felt dizzy, it was so delicious I almost cried... After returning to Shanghai, I kept searching for good Changsha-style pork kidneys—please recommend some if you know!
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