Magical Mt. Huangshan

With so many wonders to see in China and such little time, we needed to plan a few longer distance weekend getaways. It just so happened that tops on our list was seeing Huang Shan, reputedly the most beautiful mountain in all of China. This was definitely a tourist site that didn't disappoint and is worth taking the time to visit.

After planning for several weeks, this trip almost didn't happen. That's because Adan sprained his ankle playing basketball just eight days earlier. However, with rest and good care, he had enough strength to make the trip. With over 70 granite peaks to see at this incredible scenic park.  Huang Shan, or Yellow Mountain, is UNESCO World Heritage Site of 154 square kilometers, but as you can imagine due to Adan's injury we adjusted the intensity of our activity while we were there.

Day One
We flew into Huang Shan City in Anhui province late Friday evening.  The airport is rather close to the city center so it took us only 20 minutes to get to our hotel.  It was located in a tourist area called, lao jie, or "old street" with various stores, restaurants, and other establishments in traditional Ming shops.  Time at the hotel was short.  Just a night's rest and then off to the mountain.  However, we would return Sunday to see the area in more detail.

By 7:30am, we were having breakfast in the hotel lobby and shortly after making the drive to Tangkou the base town below the park.  It took us a little bit more than one hour to reach our destination.  Once at the park, we rode a commuter bus to take us up 4 kilometers to the main gate.  From here we purchased entry tickets for 320RMB (about $47 bucks) each.  This paid for access to the park and a one-way cable car ride.

Our first taste of how crazy it can get at Huang Shan came as we made our way to the queuing for for the cable cars.  The set up here is a covered walkway with signs posted every 500-750 meters giving messages about the wait time.  "From this point, you are 5 hours away from the cable cars," the first one we saw read!  Luckily for us it was just a regular weekend and not a major holiday so our wait time was about one hour and twenty minutes.  Nevertheless, we couldn't help but think about how hectic this tourist becomes during peak times.

We were quite fortunate to make our way up the Yu Ping cable line in our very own private car.  Every other car had five or six people crammed inside.  As we ascended up the mountain, we were in awe of the beautiful scenery.  Masses of pine trees, jutting rock cliffs, and views of clouds at eye level made the journey up the peak a memorable experience.

Guidebooks and friends mentioned to us how expensive food and drinks were on top of the mountain so we brought up a day pack filled with essentials.  Other than Adan's camera bag, these were the only things we needed to lug.  Our hotel was nice enough to keep the rest of our things in storage.

For the next six hours we climbed and explored the western trails of the mountain.  Some of the highlights were the Lotus Peak, which is the highest point of the mountain at just under 6,200 feet (1,900 meters), Heavenly City Peak, Turtle Peaks, and others.  The weather was fabulous and allowed us to take our time enjoying the natural beauty the park had to offer.  Additionally, most of our best photos were taking this day.         

After reaching the area where our hotel, Baiyun Jiu Dian, was located we called it a day.  Adan had a bit of swelling in his foot, but the bandage wrap he wore helped tremendously.  We took our things to our room and washed up for dinner.  Since we managed to go the whole day without purchasing anything on the mountain, we decided to eat a warm meal.  Unfortunately, the only options were an exorbitantly priced restaurant and a cafeteria-style mess hall.  After seeing dishes priced up to four times the regular price, we opted for the cafeteria food.  It was nothing great but it filled us up and at a rate of $8.00 bucks a person.  In our city of Dongguan this same meal would have cost $2.25.  It turns out that men carry up all the supplies on their back using bamboo!  Now that is what we call "back-breaking" work.

Day Two
The weather took a drastic turn during our night on the mountain.  The next morning we woke up to find heavy clouds of mist and rain.  We decided to wait it out a couple of hours before taking off.  Finally at around 9:30am, we left to continue the circuit of trails that would lead us to the eastern side of the mountain and down the Yung Gu cable line to where our journey would end.  Due to light rain, the trails were fairly clear during the first hour of hiking.  Then slowly, hour by hour, the weather began to improve and brought dozens and dozens of tour groups out of their hotels.

Along the way we saw Rock Flown From Afar, a massive boulder in a rectangular shape positioned in a very unlikely angle sitting atop a small plateau.  Also, we were able to see spectacular views from Brightness Summit, and finally Beginning to Believe Peaks with their awesome shard-like rocks.  As mentioned before, the weather was a letdown on day two, however we still managed to take in some incredible scenery.

Upon completing our 20 minute cable car ride down the mountain, we worked our way back to Tangkou from the main gate.  Once we reached this destination, our driver was waiting for us.  It was just after 1:00pm and the plan was to visit Hongcun, a small 18th century Huizhou style village.   This was another UNESCO site and charged us a whopping 100RMB each to enter.  This was a bit steep but after spending about 2.5 hours visiting the town it wasn't quite so bad.

Interestingly enough, the village gets filled on weekends with young artists (mostly students) taking advantage of the rich architecture seen throughout the town.  The restored buildings are still laid out in an original street plan that is said to resemble a buffalo, complete with body, legs and even horns.

Finally, we made our way back to Huang Shan City.  We spent three hours having dinner and then wandering the streets taking in the sights and sounds.  Pazi was even able to get in a little bit of shopping.  At 8:00pm we arrived at the airport for our return flight to Guangzhou.  It would be later than hoped for when we finally arrived at our apartment.  However, it was worth the experience of seeing China's most famous mountain.