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Huang Shan (Yellow mountain)
Sept 7th - Sept 8th (Day 187 - Day 188)
We woke super early to get a taxi to the bus station and then an onward bus to Hangshan (Yellow mountain). The taxi took about 30 minutes and we got to the bus station in plenty of time for our 6am bus. Once we got into the bus station we were surprised to find the earliest bus was not 6am as our hostel had told us but 8am. This was pretty disappointing as it meant we would have to wait for 2 hours, and get to the mountain much later than we had hoped. Also little did we know but it was a sign of things to come as it began to became evident buses in China rarely leave when they are meant to or even go where they are meant to!
We eventually got on the bus at 8am which would take us to a bus station at the bottom of the mountain, this would take about 4 hours. The journey itself was fine but instead of a bus station we were dropped at a restaurant and were told if we got some food they would help us to our final destination after. This was slightly annoying as we were only interested in getting up the mountain. Eventually we convinced someone to drive us to the bus station we should have gone to....all in all this cost us about an hour and was very frustrating, especially as no one spoke any English.
After a final short bus ride we were finally at the base and ready to get the cable car up to the top......we´ll I was ready and Tina was petrified. The cable car went steeply up through some amazing scenery, through the mist and cloud up to the top of the mountain. Once Tina had opened her eyes and managed to prise her hands of the bar in the centre of the cable car we were ready to go and explore!
The mountain itself has a number of concrete paths which allow you to explore the various view points and peaks. Unfortunately for us the weather at the top of the mountain wasn´t the best, it was very misty and drizzly so the views were rather limited. However the mist and cloud did give the top of the mountain a very eerie and atmospheric feel. This atmospheric feel was only broken by the large tour groups wandering round the top of the mountain. It wasn´t the tour groups that where the issue here but rather the tour guides who all had loud megaphones which they used continually. Therefore to really enjoy the beauty and peace and quiet of the mountain you had to find an isolated spot or venture somewhere the tour groups didn´t choose to go.
Later that afternoon we found ourselves such a spot on the east side of the mountain called monkey watching the sea. It was just Tina and I and no tour groups in sight. Luckily for us the mist began to clear a little and we were able to get amazing views of the numerous peaks, valleys and rock fantastic rock formations. This was made even more spectacular with the late afternoon sun shining across onto the side of the mountain. The light seemed to change every second, which meant the scenery constantly changing, making it all the more impressive and mesmerising.
As the light began to fade we headed to one of the few hotels on the top of the mountain which we had booked for the night. Once we were settled in we went to a nearby restaurant to grab some food. Due to communication problems we managed to order ourselves enough fried rice to feed a small army, there was no way we were going to finish it all. Unfortunately whilst we were eating Tina got the impression people were laughing at us because we had ordered so much food. As a result she insisted we eat it all in order to prove them wrong…….. I have never eaten so much food in my life! The result was agony and chronic indigestion.
The following day our plan had been to hike to the bottom of the mountain but we decided to scrap that plan and instead trek to a bridge we had seen a picture of the previous day which looked fantastic…..We didn´t regret our change of plan.
We set of on the trek on a quiet path. The path climbed and then took us across a ridge made up of a number of mountain peaks. As we progressed the path got smaller and smaller and the mist closed in around us. At one point we were walking along a ridge with sheer drops either side and all we could see was thick mist all around us. Every so often the mist would clear and we would see a huge mountain face right next to us which had previously been hidden. It was amazingly atmospheric and exciting. The path then disappeared altogether and we had to climb over huge boulders next to sheer drops, all the while hoping we were still heading the right way.
Eventually we found some very steep stairs which took us down a part of the mountain which looked like it has spliced in two, leaving two sheer mountain walls facing each other and a deep crevice in between. As we followed the path down it took us through a small tunnel in the mountain and then over a beautiful small bridge that crossed the crevice. It was amazing, the place looked and felt like something out of Lord of the rings, it was simply out of this world. What made it even better was it was just me and Tina, nobody else in sight. We spent about half an hour taking in the scenery before heading all the way back to the cable car in order to get back down the mountain.
Once down the mountain we eventually found a bus that took us all the way back to Hangzhou.
xxxx
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