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Shanghai, Huangzhou & Yellow Mountain
As you can probably tell from our ongoing eunthusiastic tales - we've had an amazing time in China. This is finally our last installment for what has been an amazing, but very full on 25 days!
But before I wrap up with the final leg of our journey, I want to make a note on Chinese food. And quite simply - it has been amazing. Of all the meals we've had, short of a few dodgey breakfasts, and the occasional oily dinner, we've had some of THE most yummy dishes we could ever have hoped for. From Yanghou's "tofu stuffed with vegetables", Chongquing's "bok choy with mushroom" and "pork with bamboo", Xian's dumplings and Beijing's "beijing duck" (surprise suprise) - it has been a culinary wonderland. Then to top it off, there's all the amazing teas on offer... It all tastes bloody good, it's pretty healthy and best of all, as a traveler, we haven't had ANY tummy upsets. How will we be able to cope when it's back to pasta and stir fry's at home!
Shuzhou & Shanghai We arrived in Shanghai from Shuzhou where we had stopped
for the day from Beijing. Billed as one of China's most beautiful cities with it's parks and beautiful canals, we were slightly dissapointed to find Shuzhou was yet another sprawling Chinese city of at leat 5 million. But to be fair, we had a chilled out time... and another great meal - with a wedding party! Inadvertadly crashing their dining room where about 40 of the bride & groom's family were having a casual end-of-events dinner - we had a raucous time encouraging sculling competitions and singing.
Our short train to Shangahi was like nothing I have experienced before. Whilst our tickets entitled us to reserved seats, this didn't mean it was all cool as cucumbers - as at leat 1,000 people packed out the waiting room, and then when on the train, over 100 people (without reserved seats) crammed into our carriage - between seats - for the 2 hour journey. Given our stop at Shanghai was a quick one - as the old saying goes - "if you can't beat them join them" - and significant Chinese-style-y pushing was the order of the day.
Our group's itinerary had little formal activities for our time in Shanghai,
which suited Dom & I just fine, as we continued our Suzhou mode of just taking things a little easier and at our own pace.
We checked out the Bund, caught a night cruise, faced the hordes on Nanjin Road, and probably highlight of all was morning toast & tea, followed by a visit to the Shanghai Museum. Amazing artefacts that continued to piece together the web of Chinese history and culture.
Huangzhou Huangzhou was about a 6 hour bus ride from Shanghai and like all our road trips in China, we spent much time gasping and holding tight. For Chinese driving - just picture Grand Theft Auto 3 add a fair degree of road rage, overtaking in any inside or outside lane you please and an excessive overuse of the horn and you start to get the idea. Not only do rules seem to be missing on the road, as a pedestrian, don't be fooled in thinking the Green Man gives you safe passage to walk.... NOOO - It only means cars merely need to honk as they're coming through to let you know to get out of the way!
But back to Huangzhou.
With the description of "city with beautiful lake" we weren't to be fooled in thinking we would find an asian oasis - as yet again we arrived at a city of somewhere in the vicinity of 5 million. Looking closer in our Lonely Planet, I finally realised why cities (or towns?) with populations of around 3 million only get a write-up of a paragraph or two... The scale of the place isn't anything that my Australian mind can quite handle!
Our one day in Huangzhou was cool and the highlight was an afternoon riding around the lake on the well paved and speedy surface. I finally was able to extend some revenge on anyone trying to have a peaceful time and was pleased to use my bike's bell as frequently as possible. 😉
We finished our time in Huangzhou with beers on a restaurant roof top over looking the lake... Very nice indeed!
Hushan & Yellow Mountain Arriving at Hushan to a glorious day, we chilled out and psyched oursevles for the following day's treck up Yellow Mountain. Unfortunately the next day greeted us with rain, but we weren't to be deterred. The ascent up the
Eastern Steps is a 15km climb, however lucky for us, 7.5km is serviced by a cable car. The cable car went up.. and up.. and up... so we were pretty glad with our decision. The remaining 7.5km ascent wasn't too treacherous and we enjoyed the misty mountains and peaceful ambience. Whilst it was a shame we weren't able to see any of the spectactular cliff faces due to the cloud, we applied our imaginations and enjoyed being in one of the most beautiful areas of China - which most will recognise and know - from its use in the film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
At the summit (around 1800m) we paused for a break and were treated to an amazing display. At that height, the clouds began to clear and low-and-behold we began to see the peaks of the surrounding mountains. The view was similar to that you may get from an aeroplane - truely exhilarating! We were lucky (as we were at Mt Fuji!) as then only a few mintues later the clouds came back for good and little could be seen.
Dom and I then decended the western steps - without the cable car's help this
time! We were fairly flabagasted however to find quite a lot of people (including elderly and children) ASCENDING the western steps. Now I thought the Eastern Steps would have been a tough walk up.. but the Western Steps were unbelievably steep. (refer attached pictures!). We unfortunatley had the pleasure of actually ascending some of these steps when someone (me) accidentally missed the end point and kept going - towards the town! So we had to double back for a few kms which we certainly felt on our legs the next day.
Surprisingly, we actually made it down the steps before the guys who were on the cable car. Not because our 2 hour trek was particularly speedy, but they unfortunately got caught up in something that sounderd like Chinese Tour Group Hell, with hundreds of people vying for tickets and front spot in the cue... Oh dear!
Farewell China! We ended our trip back in Shanghai a day later with a morning breakfast at Starbucks with our great group of new friends from our tour. Chan, our tour leader, was exemplary and made our time in China just so much more special. A great guy,
who has given us an opportunity to get to know him, his country and people.
Next stop Hong Kong for a few days R&R, before the mayhem of India!
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pgiddy
Patrick Gatland
no way
I saw thoise locks on amazing race. i am so jealous of your China travels but am loving EspaƱa! And in more amusing news - I was pick-pocketed and had my new, replacement camera stolen. so no photos to add to my blog again!