Huangshan 黄山
Each year, every university in China will hold a Sports Day, which basically is a mandatory 2-day track meet. Sports Day is equal parts hilarious & awesome, simply because most of the students have such little exposure to anything athletic, so watching them is really entertaining. (Kind of like the TV show "Wipeout")
Classes are canceled, which makes it even better. This year, though, we decided to use the time to travel. I would rather peel my eyelids off than travel on a Chinese holiday, so we made a quick trip to Huangshan, which was the Best. Decision. Ever.
Like always, just getting out of Gongyi did wonders. We traveled for 3 days: We left Wednesday afternoon, took an overnight train and arrived Huangshan on Thursday morning - climbed all day Thursday, then stayed the night on the mountain. Woke up to watch the sunrise, then hiked down the mountain. We ate at Mr. Hu's place (that coffee was pure magic), then grabbed a few more trains and arrived back in Gongyi on Saturday morning.
Huangshan is probably the most famous mountain in China, so it is mostly stairs due to all the tourists who come, but the stairs are pretty intense. There is a saying in China that once you climb Huangshan, you don't need to climb any of the other mountains. Nothing compares, really. It is incredibly stunning. You feel like you are floating on the sea of clouds. As you climb, the clouds slowly move around you, which makes it just feel so unreal.
There were a lot of people the first day we climbed, but nothing compared to what it would have been like if it had been a weekend and/or a holiday. So we got pretty lucky. Especially the second day when we were hiking down, there weren't many people for a long stretch. I was particularly grateful for that, because the hike down was so peaceful and mesmerizing. I was grateful to have that time to myself to take it all in without worrying about the possibility of getting nailed in the head by an unruly selfie stick.
And PRAISE HANDS for the weather. We went during the rainy season, so we packed our ponchos and said our prayers. The forecast was that it would rain the entire time we hiked, and when we arrived the base of the mountain, it indeed was raining. But as we climbed, the weather cleared up and stayed that way for us until we left. Mr. Hu, our helpful friend, even mentioned how we were there the only 2 clear days of the entire week.
Small World: There are a thousand places to watch the sunrise on Huangshan, but we chose to climb to an overlook near our hotel. When we were there, we ran into our French friend, who we climbed some of Tiger Leaping Gorge with. It was sooooo bizarre and soooo awesome. The same mountain, the same day, the same outlook? What are the chances. As we left, we told one another, "Ok, see you on the next mountain!"
On the night train to Huangshan, Emma & I shared a sleeper cabin with an older Chinese couple. And the man snored SO LOUD. Then, on the overnight train on the way back, we shared the cabin with an older Chinese woman. Emma & I were like, YAY NO SNORING. But we were SOOOO WRONG. She snored even louder than the man. But Dan made a good point: "She may have snored, but we haven't showered for 3 days, so I feel like the lady got the worse end of the deal." Which is completely true. We smelled SO BAD.
There are a few really fancy hotels on top of the mountain, but for some reason they don't use the cable cars to transport the supplies. Instead, workers climb all the stairs with heavy loads on their back. It is astounding was these guys do. They navigate all the people and all the stairs and all the heavy things on their back. Their calf muscles were huge. They were the real MVP's.
Classes are canceled, which makes it even better. This year, though, we decided to use the time to travel. I would rather peel my eyelids off than travel on a Chinese holiday, so we made a quick trip to Huangshan, which was the Best. Decision. Ever.
Like always, just getting out of Gongyi did wonders. We traveled for 3 days: We left Wednesday afternoon, took an overnight train and arrived Huangshan on Thursday morning - climbed all day Thursday, then stayed the night on the mountain. Woke up to watch the sunrise, then hiked down the mountain. We ate at Mr. Hu's place (that coffee was pure magic), then grabbed a few more trains and arrived back in Gongyi on Saturday morning.
Huangshan is probably the most famous mountain in China, so it is mostly stairs due to all the tourists who come, but the stairs are pretty intense. There is a saying in China that once you climb Huangshan, you don't need to climb any of the other mountains. Nothing compares, really. It is incredibly stunning. You feel like you are floating on the sea of clouds. As you climb, the clouds slowly move around you, which makes it just feel so unreal.
There were a lot of people the first day we climbed, but nothing compared to what it would have been like if it had been a weekend and/or a holiday. So we got pretty lucky. Especially the second day when we were hiking down, there weren't many people for a long stretch. I was particularly grateful for that, because the hike down was so peaceful and mesmerizing. I was grateful to have that time to myself to take it all in without worrying about the possibility of getting nailed in the head by an unruly selfie stick.
Small World: There are a thousand places to watch the sunrise on Huangshan, but we chose to climb to an overlook near our hotel. When we were there, we ran into our French friend, who we climbed some of Tiger Leaping Gorge with. It was sooooo bizarre and soooo awesome. The same mountain, the same day, the same outlook? What are the chances. As we left, we told one another, "Ok, see you on the next mountain!"
On the night train to Huangshan, Emma & I shared a sleeper cabin with an older Chinese couple. And the man snored SO LOUD. Then, on the overnight train on the way back, we shared the cabin with an older Chinese woman. Emma & I were like, YAY NO SNORING. But we were SOOOO WRONG. She snored even louder than the man. But Dan made a good point: "She may have snored, but we haven't showered for 3 days, so I feel like the lady got the worse end of the deal." Which is completely true. We smelled SO BAD.
There are a few really fancy hotels on top of the mountain, but for some reason they don't use the cable cars to transport the supplies. Instead, workers climb all the stairs with heavy loads on their back. It is astounding was these guys do. They navigate all the people and all the stairs and all the heavy things on their back. Their calf muscles were huge. They were the real MVP's.
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