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Published: April 14th 2009
Terracotta remains
Shattered remains of the warriorsThe morning comes all too quickly, but with a lot to be done, I don’t dilly-dally. I’m out the door and heading to the bus stop before my body even recognizes the day has begun. The Terracotta warriors were interesting, not a lot to see though. The statues are housed in three separate buildings. I tear through the buildings with effortless speed, only interrupted by requests for pictures. We are at what most consider to be the premier archeological site of China, and they want a picture with the white girl…
I wrap up that adventure in record time and head back to the bus stop. I catch a painfully slow minibus back to the train/bus station and look for my next bus to take me to Hua Shan. I luckily stumble upon the bus to Hua Shan, but have to wait an hour for it to fill up in order for us to be on our way. The ride is an hour and a half, not dazzling scenery, but enough to keep me amused. We arrive and to my horror, the streets are packed with locals mingling about. The scene reminds me of summer solstice in downtown Fairbanks. I
step off the bus and set off uphill in the direction of mountains. At the end of the street, there is a monastery where people are busy lighting incense and praying to various Buddhas. Entertained by the solo white person in the temple I entertain more stares and looks of wonderment. I was stopped by a security guard, which gave me a temporary fright, thinking I had broken a sacred rule of the temple. However no, he just wanted a picture with me, I obliged, then asked for directions to then entrance to the mountain (was NOT easy to find). Finally, on my way, I pay the steep entrance fee of 120 Yuan, and without haste, I am off to conquer the mountain.
My original plan was to hike up to the East peak, spend the night, watch the sunrise, contemplate the meaning of life, and then hike down along the trail which provides chains and wooden planks for those who dare. That is not quite how things happened…
The hike starts off with an impressive incline—not enough to deter the determined, but enough to make you think twice about how you’re about to spend the next several
More warriors
These are from the main pit hours of your life. Of course, 20 minutes in I need to pee. Frustrated, I chastise myself for not taking advantage of the restrooms at the trailhead. While I am imagining how I am going to have to hike off the trail and do it Alaska camping style, I happen upon a group of hikers and some restrooms! After looking at the Chinese lettering in confusion, the girls giggle and motion for me to follow. What happened next has changed my views of restrooms for eternity. I get in line behind one of the girls and wait my turn. Finally one exits and motions for me to enter. I enter into a cement room with piss and shit everywhere, there are two holes on one side—one of course privacy. One hole occupied by a lady hiker and the other hole patiently awaiting my disgust. Not wanting to turn and run in disgust, I tell myself, ‘When in Rome!’ I position myself appropriately, double-checking my balance—I have a backpack on so I had to be extra balanced! I give the other toilet goer a look of disapproval (because she was staring at me! Come on, a little privacy!) and go for
Up Close
Very detailed... it. Of course, the whole situation for me was too much and I just ended up squatting there. Finally, after the peeping Sally took off I was able to relax and get the job done…for the record. I didn’t pee for the next 19 hours.
Back on the trail, I am able to quicken my pace. I admire the scenes on the surround cliffs, many temples are built into the cliff faces with stairs etched into the cliff faces. I encounter two young Chinese guys who end up to be my hiking buddies—I pass them, they pass me, after a few hours of this, you’re friends—it’s a hiking rule I guess. They don’t speak English, but we communicate through hand signals, grunts, and looks of disapproval at treacherous stairways. Along the way, we inherit more hiking buddies, a group of 5 or 6 teenage-ish guys. We arrive at the point where the day hikers take the cable car back down to the bottom and the hardcore hikers continue punishing their legs and lungs and continue up the mountain. After a rest, my buds motion for me to follow them to the cable car. I shake my head no, point
Start of Hua Shan trail
This before I knew what I was getting into to the path heading up the mountain, and make the sign for ‘sleep,’ basically telling them I plan to hike up and spend the night. They chuckle, then consult the other hiking buddies, after a minute of Chinese gibberish they let out a war cry and start running up the trail. I guess they figured I couldn’t do it on my own.
Although no one spoke English, it was fun having a posse to hike accompany me. We marched along at a steady but strenuous pace, then stop for a few minutes, someone would finally shout, “Go!” and off we’d march. With night settling in, we took out flashlights and continued along the steep mountain paths. At this point, it is a bit chilly out and everyone is wrapping up in jackets—I however am still hot from the hiking. My tank top was drenched in sweat, along with my backpack, which now sports white salt lines on the straps; I am thoroughly impressed with myself. We steadily march up the never-ending staircases and finally arrive at our destination. We summit the East peak only to be met with a sea of darkness. There is a hut that rents out
First glimpse
That\'s Hua Shan, in the distance. jackets, most of my hiking party purchase one, but upon investigation, they are not too warm. About 20 minutes following our arrival, more hikers arrive. After an hour or so there are about 50 eager Chinese on the mountain—but its only about 9pm, we still have about 9 hours till sunrise…Two guys speak a little bit of English to me as we all sit and huddle together. They sing songs and laugh. As hikers arrive, we greet them with clapping and chanting. After another hour or so, everyone begins to depart to find shelter for the night; however, my hiking pals and I stay put. Shortly people return to report that there is no more lodging available on the mountain. Looks like I’m going to be camping out for the evening. This didn’t bother me in the least, I’ve braved Alaska winter nights, plus this was one of the first nights I’ve been able to admire the starry sky. In town, it’s usually too bright and smoggy to properly gaze upon the night sky. I take ALL the clothes out of my backpack in the attempts to fight off the chill. Put socks on my hands, take out my sleep
Cliff dwellings
Along the path you can spot a lot of these... sheet, and snuggle in. A few of the guys rent jackets (since none of them were prepared to spend the night on the mountain) and huddle together, inviting me in. I of course oblige, I estimate the temperature to be around 35-40 degrees, and there is a fierce wind whipping through. I eat some dry ramen noodles I brought with me (ramen never tasted so good) and chew on some candy Steven and Helen gave to me. After a while, my buddies inform me we’re moving off the mountain to get away from the winds. We move just a few minutes south down some stairs and huddle on the trail. We adjust ourselves properly, trying to get comfortable on the granite rocks while, and absorbing as much body heat from those around us.
I refrained from checking the time, simple because I felt if knew what time it was I would just dwell on how many cold hours lay ahead of me. I dozed for minutes at a time only to be woken by people traveling past and stepping on me, or one of my cuddle buddies readjusted his position. Finally, I sat up and grabbed another bag of
So many stairs...
Around 27,000 steps, my legs pretty much despise me now. top ramen. The shivering was robbing my body of precious calories and I needed to re-stock. I gave in to temptation and checked the time, 3:30am. Not bad, just a few hours left. At that point, a few of the guys and I walked back up to the East peak, I stood around for a few minutes, jumping in place and swinging my arms to stay warm, when all of a sudden Steven and Helen walked past! Surprised and shocked I grabbed them and smiled, they told me I inspired them and they decided to climb up and meet me. We chatted for the next few hours and when the time came, positioned ourselves accordingly. I was standing behind some rather tall Chinamen with my face buried into their backs. They thought either I was someone else or simply didn’t mind, which was quite nice, seeing how they were blocking the cold bursts from my face. However, once discovered that it was the sole white girl out of well over 300 hundred Chinese on the peak, buried into their backs, they pulled me in for a front row view. I made myself comfortable on the ledge, I did indulge myself
More stairs...
Crazy sections of verticality that made me question my determination...but then I'd see 3 year olds on them and thought if they can do it, so can I dammit! a little and scooted to the edge and leaned on the chain railing. Before long the sunrise started to show it’s colors, a nice sunrise—not entirely the experience I had hoped for. No life epiphanies or angels singing, but a surreal experience nonetheless. Steven, Helen, and I begin the arduous hike back down. I had lost my hiking/cuddling buddies in the swarm of Chinese, but quickly they caught up with me on the trail. Finally reaching the ‘half-way’ point, I split ways from Steven and Helen who chose to take the cable car down, whereas I was looking for the daring wooden plank and chain route.
To my surprise, I met up with another American (Scott, on vacation from medical school in Israel) seeking out the same trail. Together we took many wrong turns, but finally were able to find our ‘special’ trail. The descent began with a non-ending trail of stairs. As far down as one could see, it was stairs…my legs quivered with excitement or maybe exhaustion, either way; this was the way I was going. After an hour or so of nearly non-stop treacherous staircases, Scott and sadly gaze upon the opposite side of the valley.
Hua Shan
Getting closer... We see the infamous wooden planks that we so longingly wanted to skirt across. Along with spying other pathways that were chained off, we realize the dangerous paths have been abandoned and we were doomed to finish our descent on the hellacious stairways. Thoroughly disappointed, we lift each other’s spirits with tales of travels. After another hour or so of stairs, we come to the end.
We buy tickets for the bus to return us to town and gladly sit down on the padded bus seats. Once in town we seek out some food and kindly oblige all stares. What’s more fun to look at than a tall white female?? A tall white female AND a tall white male! We find the mini-bus back to Xi’an and park ourselves at a bench. The bus driver and gang are so excited to meet us—and of course think we’re 'together.' They try to get Scott to pay for both the bus tickets and seem rather put off that he’s not purchasing my ticket. While we’re waiting Scott runs off to use the restroom (something I have given up on until I reach a more modern place…I’m thinking the airport), I sit
Little boy
Saw this little kid up at the top later that night (being carried by his dad...I knew he couldn't do it alone!) and guard his food and our belongings. What happens next only made the weekend that much “better.” Dazed from lack of sleep and exhaustion, I don’t notice the bus driver and posse (about 6 older fellas) rising up and coming towards me. What happened next is a blur, but from what I remember, the bus driver throws out a charming “Ni Hao” (hello) and I shake my head in confusion (since we already said hello to one another) and spit out a pitiful “Ni Hao.” I begin to turn my head to look up at him, when suddenly there is a large, wet, pair of lips being pressed on my cheek. There is a hideous uproar of laughter—not only from the old gentlemen surrounding me, but also from the food vendor and her friends, from the shop keepers across the street who have not averted their stares since I sat down, and from the 20 or so passersbys on the street. All I can do is sit there in a shock (and a bit of horror). I muster a chuckle and wave my finger at the old bastard in shame, which only makes them laugh harder. After a few minutes,
My climbing posse!
These guys are my groupies who couldn't let me continue on my own. I think it worked out for the best. Scott returns and I attempt to retell the horrid affair. As he looks over at the men, laughing, they lose it once again, almost harder than the first round of laughter. Shortly thereafter, the bus departs for Xi’an. After arriving, Scott and I part ways—limping of course, I for the shuttle to the airport and Scott for a hotel for the evening.
Hours early for my flight I settle into an airport seat, reliving the events of the weekend. My body aches and I cannot help but laugh—out of sheer exhaustion and amazement at what I have just accomplished in a matter of 2 1/2 days. In a daze, my body reminds me that I haven’t used a bathroom in the last 19 hours, which adds to my amusement. I drag my distressed body up from my seat I commend my body for having such great willpower…I can only hope my next China adventure produces equal if not more adventure and intrigue.
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