Blogs from Huangshan, Anhui, China, Asia

Chaji,a small village located in south Anhui province,has several hundreds years history.if you have any question,just ask me!... read more

Alleen de reis zelf was het al waard. Een enorme horde die de klaarstaande trein probeert in te komen. Niemand die er ook maar aan denkt om kaartjes te controleren. Als ik eindelijk mn plek heb gevonden is die natuurlijk al bezet, maar voor een waiguo ren(buitenlander) wordt meteen opgestaan. Als de trein eindelijk vertrekt heeft een kwart geen zitplek gevonden. Een hoop gedoe in het begin, maar als alle ‘regels’ zijn afgesproken, verloopt de reis zonder enig probleem. Chinezen zijn gewend aan permanente drukte; frustraties worden niet publiekelijk geuit. Een schattig dertiger stel (jep, zelfs dertigers zijn hier schattig) en een oud mannetje zitten bij mij in de stoelen. Ik probeer wat Chinees te praten, maar veel wordt het niet: mijn Chinees en hun Engels is gebrekkig, en eigenlijk zijn we beiden te verlegen om ... read more

So I hit the mountain and with the weather the day before looking like it was clearing up, thought we might be alright.. no, not at all!! It couldn’t have been raining harder! Got prepped at the bottom of the mountain, meaning getting rid of anything that was going to get wet. No shoes, no shirt, no worries =D stuck a comical poncho on to look a bit like a tele tubby and started the accent. The Chinese know how to be tourists and were cracking us up! They all looked exactly the same with bright yellow ponchos with matching trousers, shoe covers and obviously a camera, there were armies of them traipsing about everywhere you went! The mountain seemed to get wetter and the view wasn’t much but was all good fun, all the Chinese ... read more

Guilt! I have had this feeling of guilt since arriving back from the wedding in Australia. Why? For various reasons, all of them trivial. Now before I go on to tell my story, let me start of by saying that guilt is a big thing in my family. We are all comfortably endowed with a guilty conscience about anything and anybody, it is in our genes. Returning to Guangzhou I had made all these plans, I was going to visit such and such places of interest around the city. But instead of doing any of that I just stayed in the hostel and lounged in the common area talking to other travellers, Chinese and Western alike and sipping beers in the evening. For two days I did nothing and then left without ever having done any ... read more

Big day ahead of us: Climbing the YELLOW MOUNTAINS. Huangshan translates to “Yellow Mountain,” it was named so after the first emperor of China. The yellow mountains are a huge range of mountains that are extremely rocky and often just rock, bare of any trees. At this time of years, the mts are supposed to be extremely cold. Forecast for today was -4 C, partly cloudy. Since we were going to be on the mts, we knew it would be extra cold. Better safe than sorry: I counted a loud each layer I put on… 6 layers, 2 hoods, 2 pairs of socks and 2 pairs of boxers!!! I was prepared for what was to come. Before taking the hour drive up to the mountain we had to organize the rest of the trip. We dropped ... read more

In China there is a famous proverb. It says if you visit Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), there is no need to visit another Chinese mountain. Many tourist destinations in China come with similar bold statements. ‘He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man’ is another. Catching the train from Nanjing, I was intrigued to see if there was any truth in these words. Sometimes I wish I would re-evaluate my policy of choosing the cheapest options available every time. Instead of travelling to Huang Shan in comfort and style for a few pence more, the penny-pincher mentality saw me purchasing tickets for possibly the slowest train on the entire rail network. Leaving at 5am in freezing conditions and lacking any heating inside, the 340km distance took over nine hours to ... read more