Blog 10: It's just a few steps...and then there were angels.

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Blog 10: It's just a few steps....and then there were angels.

Well I'm telling you, it isn't.

Not by any stretch of the imagination is it just a few steps.

Huang Shan. Or Yellow Mountain if you prefer. FMG.

Seven days ago, I undertook to go up Huang Shan. This is what happened...

I got up early as you know dear reader, I had 6 hours and 3 buses to catch. Well I was happily on my way on the bus to the mountain armed with the knowledge there were shuttle buses taking you from the town Tankou to the base of the mountian. About half an hour to go, a young girl came and sat with me and started chatting. Turns out she worked in a restaurant come travel agents and advised I should get my return ticket for my return trip to Huangzhou as soon as I could, as tomorrow would be Sunday and EVERYONE in China travels on a Sunday. I agreed this was good advice, and she said she would help me. We got off the bus at one of those mysterious drop off points where you are just on a road, and expected to get off while the rest of the bus passengers gaze at you out the window, unsure not only as to where you are, but why you were the only person to be told to get off. Anyway, I had my new friend with me, so off we went to her restaurant where I got my bus ticket for the next day. She then walked with me to the shuttle bus stop and waited for a while chatting until she got called away to show someone else to the local waterfall.

So anyway, I got on my shuttle bus and up we went and up we went and up we went on those perilous mountain type roads where the drop to the side of you is awe inspiring yet also terrifying and you start to wonder if that rather flimsy looking line of trees would have any chance of propping up a coach full of people if the driver were to veer off the edge on one of those hair pin bends...fortunatley, I didnt find out.

So I got to the mountain, paid an obscene amount of money to be allowed in, and off I went. It was 3 in the afternoon, stinking hot, and I seemed to be the only one going up. It was a pleasant walk, a few steps, then flat, then a few more steps, with sprightly looking pensioners jogging down (yes, jogging) and I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. Its not hard, this is easy peasy. Of course, it was hard going in the heat, but this was nothing.

This lasted approximately 13 minutes. I know, cos I kept checking my watch and could not believe how close to death I felt in such a short space of time. I felt like I had been climbing for hours, not minutes. The pleasant gaps between the steps had stopped, and the steps went up in great long very steep runs, with nothing to hold onto, just dropping off either side. And we know how China hates to waste the safety paint. You really had to keep your eyes on the ground to see where you were going. It would also appear that 6 months living in China under a cloud of smog has also reduced my lungs to the size of peanuts. I'm not exaggerating, I was seriously wondering how on earth I would make it to the top.

Eventually, the higher I got into the clouds, the cloudier and damper it became, until my clothes thoroughly soaked in sweat were clinging to me cold and clammy. It wasnt nice. And the clouds had also obscured the view, so I couldnt even SEE anything! After 2 hours and 20 minutes of hard climbing, and 7km later, I was at the top. Great. All I could see was absolutely nothing. And then I had to find where I was staying that night.

You see, I assumed there would be steps up, and steps down. And that would be it. But no. Huang Shan is not just a mountain. Its more a mountain RANGE with a number of peaks and different trails and all manner of different ways one can go. After asking around and following the noise, I eventually found the settlement that exists on top of the mountain. There are some very nice hotels, a bank, a police station, a doctor, a basketball court and a bank. My abode that night was a bunk in a room in a hut behind the bank. And it was an absolute pit. The room was small, damp, like an old store room really, with 3 sets of bunk beds crammed into it and that was it. All the rooms in our block were like this, and the block behind which also housed the toilets. I wont go into too much detail about THEM. What I really wanted, what I would have REALLY REALLY liked, was a nice hot shower, a good hot dinner and a fat comfy bed. What I got was the bag of tomatoes and crackers I had brought with me, a few baby wipes and a change of top, and then I went to lie on my damp metal bed. Being the only westerner, I was in the heart of Chinese camping. Everyone else was pretty cheerful, they all had their pots of instant noodles and as I have already discovered, the Chinese dont sweat, so everyone was looking fairly fresh and relaxed, and not the aching soggy mess that I was. I lay on my bed and read my book and the Chinese women I was sharing my room with drifted in. There was me, a girl called Crystal (who was a law student and I chatted to for a while) 2 older women and 2 small girls, aged about 7 sharing a bunk. Crystal and I chatted about travelling and her life in China - she's a law student, and one of the rare Chinese who has been able to travel to quite a few places in China and had high hopes of visiting more. Everyone was really here to get up early and see the sun rise. This is rare. I mean, clearly the sun rises EVERY day, but because of the cloud and rain on Huang Shan, on only 50 days out of the year do you actually see the sun. The rest of the time it just gets light. Theres no special time or way of knowing, its just luck. Anyway, Crystal declared she was getting up at 4.30am. The lights went off, and we were in the dark.

The Chinese sleep like the dead. The lights go out, and thats it. Until POW, one person decides to get up at 4am and thats it. Lights on, speaking at full volume. China has woken.

I lay there, eyes shut, feeling like I hadnt slept at all. I looked over at Crystal who was miraculously seemingly fast asleep. The others left the room. I waited till 4.45am, got up and Crystal was still asleep. I wasn't really sure what to do. I knew she wanted to be up for the sunrise, but no alarm had gone off or anything. I tried shaking her. Nothing. I shook her a bit more. Still nothing. I tried a few "Ni hao"s, still nothing. I was at a loss. I felt bad leaving her - imagine, waking at 9am and having missed the whole thing, so I grabbed her leg and REALLY shook her. She woke up.

So together we went to a look out spot and found the rest of China had got there first. This is pretty standard. There are no quiet places in China. Everywhere is crowded. Even at 5am on top of a mountain there are 100 people in front of you. Lucky for me, I'm taller than most of them AND I have long arms. It got lighter and lighter and the sky was pink, it was all very lovely. Then a cheer went up from the crowd above us balanced on the rocks - the sun was coming up! And there it was, rising up in front of us all. We were on one of the lucky days. I held my camera high and hoped for the best.

So Crystal and I started walking. I was going to head down, my bus was at 2.30pm so I had plenty of time but didn't want to waste any more time up here than I had to. She was going to another part of the mountain. I thought there was only one way down. We walked, to my dismay, uphill again. All the way up to Brighness Top, one of the highest peaks. Well I thought, at least its all downhill from here. It cant actually GET any higher. So down we went, past flying rock, a big balanced rock that hangs over one of the valleys, and down we went. We got to a junction where we went our separate ways. Crystal had spoken to one of the women at one of the stalls and didnt look terribly convinced I would get to the bottom ok. She admittied she was a little worried about me getting to the bottom. I trotted off undaunted, until after a while, it became apparent that the place names I was seeing were not on my map in the area I wanted to go. Something was a bit wrong. It then dawned on me, that in order to get to the part of the mountain I needed to be on in order to get down, I would have to go all the way back over the way I had come with Crystal, and basically start again. That had been 2 hours ago. I could have been at the bottom by now, but instead, I was halfway down another peak I didnt want to be on. I nearly cried. I was so tired. My legs wouldnt work more than a few steps without me having to stop. I went all the way back up to Brightness Peak. All the way past flying rock. I could not believe it. No wonder Crystal was worried. I think she had spoken to the woman who told her the way down was the way we had come from. I think she felt bad, but didn't tell me. I laughed bitterly to myself and marched on.

Anyway, the relief I felt at getting back to the downward part was immense. I was no longer on top of a mountain, on my own, in China, lost. It was also getting later, so off I trotted. Downhill. It's easy.

No.

No it isn't.

By the time I reached the bottom, my legs didn't feel like my own. Flat was weird. Down was hard. Up was impossible. I limped over the finish and sat for about an hour. Just sitting.

I got back to the restaurant where I had to catch my bus, and ate noodles with a fried egg on top. It was delicious. I caught the bus to Hangzhou, and at the bus station, got my ticket for Wenzhou for the next day. I had a nagging feeling in the back of my mind about money....

I got back to the youth hostel and checked my figures. I was right. I didnt have enough money to get to Hong Kong, pay for hostels or eat. I panicked. I stressed. I freaked out a bit. Then I looked for HSBC banks in Xiamen (where I intended to go AFTER Wenzhou) and decided to head straight there. I asked Nita who worked at the hostel where I could catch a bus to take me to the south bus station in order to get the bus for Wenzhou. She tried to explain where the stop was and which side of the road...I wasn't really sure but was too tired and too busy worrying about my lack of money to care.

The next morning, I got up early and was dragging my case downstairs to leave, when Nita appeared behind me. She said she had been awake all night worrying about me not being able to find the bus stop and so had decided to get up early to show me. Bless her. She not only showed me, she caught the bus with me, waited an hour at the bus station and made sure I got on the right bus. It was so kind of her, I was so touched, I felt sad to see her go. When the bus pulled out of the station, I saw her walking down the street back to the bus stop to go back to the hostel and I felt really emotional. It's strange. Here I am at the mercy of the rest of the country. A lot of the time, things dont make sense. I dont know where anything is. People stare at me, or ignore me, or wave me away when I try and ask them something. And it can often take the wind right out of your sails. And then every now and then, China sends you these little angels, that show such concern for you and want to help you, that you feel touched to the point of sadness. I cant really describe it. I guess its just such a relief when someone is nice to you, and any girl will tell you, that when youre a bit teary or upset, the one thing most likely to tip you over the edge into fully fledged gibbing, is niceness. Kind words from a stranger always make me want to cry.

So my bus rolled into Wenzhou 5 hours later, and it was still early enough for me to be in with a chance to get a ticket straight for Xiamen, another 5 or 6 hours away. I went to the ticket office, and yes, there was one at 6.30pm. I could get the ticket here, but the bus left from another station. I asked the lady to write it in Chinese for me to show a taxi driver. People at this point are shoving in front of me, thrusting their money at this woman trying to push in. She considered me for a moment, and then got up from behind her counter and told me to follow her, much to the dismay of the surging crowd around me. She took me through the bus station and into a back office, sat me on a sofa and told me a free bus would come and pick me up shortly to take me to the other bus station. Dear, sweet angels of China, how much I love you.

The race against time was then on. The bus to Xiamen took about 6 hours, which meant I would get there around 1am. I then had to find a hostel and hope that it was open. All of these things happened, and by 2am I was tucked up in bed feeling rather happy and pleased with myself.

The next morning my legs still wouldn't work properly. Downstairs had to be done one at a time. I'm not joking, I've never felt pain in my legs like it!

I walked into town, and found HSBC where after a few phonecalls and a bit of waiting, I got my hands on some money! I was very happy! And Xiamen is a lovely city, I really liked it. Not just because it gives cash to you when you ask for it. Its a seaside port and has a nice air about it. Its busy and crowded but not ridiculously so, and was a welcome break after my few days of trauma. I caught the 10 minute ferry across to Gulang Yu which used to be an old colonial outpost and it was heavenly, so booked 3 nights on the island. Back on the mainland, I decided to find some food, and Lonley Planet recommended the peanut soup shop. I found it, but it was bedlam and operated on some bizarre ticket system. There was a counter with food on it and people foisting tickets about but I couldnt see where you paid or how you got your tickets. I had picked up a tray and had drifted over to what I thought was the paying counter and looked helplessly on as everyone surged around me. One of the ladies behind the counter saw me and started speaking in Chinese. I looked totally lost and was about to give up when she carried on barking at me. I had no idea what she was saying or asking me to do. In these situations, one is stripped to rank of a child. You are either hand held and told what to do, or reprimanded and sent scurrying off deflated and crestfallen. Before I knew what was happening, this woman was out from behind the counter, and briskly walking through the crowds to the counters, notepad in hand. In her no nonsnese manner, she pointed to various items, (peanut soup and dumplings was what I was after) and shouting at the women on the food counter, retrieved my items and marched me back to the paying counter, took my money and was onto shouting with the rest of the crowd trying to pay for their tickets. I drifted off to a spare table and ate my peanut soup (delicious) and ate my dumplings (disappointing) somberly.

The next morning I popped to the Buddhist temple next door for a quick look round, (cos you can do that in China!) before I headed over to Gulang yu. Its a very nice temple. It had a big lotus pond at the front, and was the nicest temple I had seen yet. But theres not really much else to say about them.

I went to the vegetarian restaurant next door and had spring rolls and cold noodles (I love cold noodles) with peanut sauce and cucumber. Dining in China in a restaurant by yourself is a lonely experience where you are greatly restircted to what you can eat and you end up with the million staff who are bored and have nothing to do who simply stand there staring at you while you eat. Its a trifle disconcerting but I take my glasses off and pretend they arent there.

And so here I am on my final night on Gulang Yu. I have managed to feed myself in local food bars, (albeit on a limited english menu and I've had fried rice and veg both times, but very lovely). I've found a lady who does these vegetable wrap things that are delicious and am currently working my way through a big bag of lychees (sorry mum). Gulang Yu is a bit like the land that time forgot. It is the home of various foreign consulates, although most are dilapidated and have trees growing in them or look more like shanty towns as the owners cant afford their upkeep. Its a real mix of splendind old buildings, faded glory and rack and ruin. Its a bit sad walking around seeing what once was and reminded me a little of the Arthur Ransom books I read when I was younger..Missie Lee being one of my favourites and I longed to be in the time where places like this were up and running in their hey day and ships really sailed and didnt turn the water black, and monkeys played in trees and not on the end of chains and people talked of adventure and treasure and not did I want to buy this map for 10Y or have my photo put onto this very attractive mug. What can I say, I'm hankering for a nostalgic and romantic era that probably never even happened. But still. If I had a pot of money, I'd buy one of these crumbling old mansions and make it wonderful again.

Tomorrow night, I catch a bus to Hong Kong. I hope they let me out of China. I hope they let me into Hong Kong. I hope I meet my brother ok and I hope they let me back. Theres a lot to hope for.

And also, I want to say happy birthday to Captain Dreamboat. He's 30 today. I am 11 days older than him, but no one believes it.

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Photos

TLF
Padlocks on mountains and Ive seen them in parks on boulders as well...they have the names of lovers engraved on them, and they come to these places and padlock their names to the mountain/boulder for lasting love.

Comments

[Lawrence]

I'll be back ...
"Brides in wedding dresses. You cant go ANYWHERE in China without tripping over some." Plain hilarious comment Anyway I love your writings!!