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MeznG. In the air, on the road, river or sea again
We have just enjoyed the most amazing weekend. Our adventure to Huangshan began at 9am. We left our main luggage at the hotel and just with a change of underwear, our toothbrushes and a few other necessities in our backpacks we headed off to the mountains with Ada and our driver. We have about an hour drive to the bus, then a 20minute bus drive and then a cable car and then we walk the rest of the way. The weather on the mountain can be very changeable but at the moment it is fine and warm. The drive takes us through villages and towns. The traffic is reasonably heavy but the general rule us that there is no rules. You use your warning device incessantly and pass no matter what is coming towards you or if there is a bend or a hill. There are motorbikes and scooters and any other vehicle imaginable on the roads. Somehow we don't witness any accidents, it just works! There is some sort of saying about 'all the tea in China'- well whatever that is I can now confirm there is a lot of tea in this part of China. Every inch of land either has a house on it or is growing something. We arrive at the bus and have a short wait, but the number of buses running mean that the wait is not too long. This part of the drive is like a spiral. The tight bends and sheer drops are jaw dropping. Apart from hiking, this is the only way to get to the mountain, it is closed to any other vehicular traffic. The wait for the cable car is a different story as the line winds around and around and around. I guess it's about an hour and a half before we board our little carriage on the cable car. They each carry 8 passengers and somehow we get away with 7. As we make the ascent, the mountains come into view and they are awesome. It's such a fickle environment and as fast as they appear, they can disappear in the mist. At the end of the cable car ride the walking begins. In accordance with Chinese mythology the mountains are divided in to North, South, East and West seas and then the middle. We are going to walk to one of the hotels and this is where we have lunch. Ada orders for us so we never know what we are going to get. We get a clear soup with fresh tomato and egg, sweet and sour pork, a duck dish and vegetables and bamboo and rice. Back on the path, there are so many people in large groups with their guides using microphones. It's very noisy and as Ada explains they are not listening anyway but they insist that the guide keep talking. Thankfully the scenery is so spectacular that the crowds and noise can't even spoil it. The paths are reasonably good but the steps are steep and high. As we continue to go down my biggest fear is that at some stage we have to go up! There are many legends associated with the mountains mostly relating to the beliefs of Taoism. Ada shares a few of these stories as we walk. The walk is quite strenuous. We reach our hotel just after 2.30 and Ada checks us in and she takes us to our room. It is an enormous room, with a huge bathroom and a separate dressing room and 2 large single beds! We are staying at the newest hotel on the mountain and not at all what we expected. All of our documentation explains that the accommodation will be basic and not to expect the standard we get in Australia. Well this is exceptional. Ada leaves us to unpack and will meet us again at 4pm to go to the top of the mountain. This walk is more intense than before and up and down such steep slopes. The view is ever changing as the mist rolls in and out . It is a round trip, so we don't return the same way as we went, there are still many people around. The sun will be setting soon but with the mist, there won't be much to see and this is not a path we won't to be out here when it's dark. We do meet some of the locals on the hike back as a couple of curious monkeys come down from the trees. They are large fellows so we don't hang around to shoot the breeze as Ada said they can be quite aggressive. We arrive back at the hotel before dark and freshen up for dinner. Once again Ada orders for us so we gave rice, soup, duck and vegetables followed by fruit. Everything that we have on the mountain is carried up by porters and we saw some of these yesterday. They are not big men but they carry everything on bamboo rods across their shoulders , it's painful to watch but this is their job. There are also porters that will carry people. A chair is strapped to 2 bamboo supports and 2 porters, one at the front and one at the back carry the person up and down the mountain! After dinner it's straight to bed as we are planning to get up at 4.30am to go up the mountain to watch the sunrise!
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