Answered by Dick from Indonesia | Sep. 15, 2014 21:26
Well, you can take bus from Zhangye West Bus Station to Danxia directly. It takes around 1.5 hours and costs around 10 RMB. Since you go there during the low season, you may not easily catch return bus from there. If you leave from Zhangye in the morning, you may arrive nearly at noon. Therefore, you just have half a day to visit the Danxia Landform. In fact, there are some hostels around the scenic area. You may choose to stay there for a night and have another visit next morning. The living conditions there are not as good as you expeted.
The average temperature is from 0 to 16 degrees celsius at the end of October and the temperature difference is very sharp. At daytime, you may wear windbreak, jacket and thin sweater. At night, you may wear thick winter clothes to keep warm.