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Published: June 10th 2014
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An hour-long flight from the bustling contemporary world of modern Shanghai brought us to the quieter milieu of Huangshan. Our hotel here was located down a winding narrow pedestrian alley on the upstairs floor of a house from the Ming Dynasty era. The ground floor had no windows (to ward off burglars while the medieval merchant-homeowner was away), so the entrance threshold opened onto a inner courtyard where we were greeted by a caged mynah bird. The upper floor had windows without panes to let in the breezes and the light. The door to our room was bolted with a wooden lock. The bed was a beautiful wrap-around wood canopy frame carved with intricate designs and a lovely red silk comforter. Altogether delightful.
Huangshan itself is a town which produces rice and green teas, but we came here to hike on Yellow Mountain, the tallest mountain in the Huangshan range of pine-covered granite peaks that jut up above the clouds and mists. On our trek up, we saw a troop of Tibetan macaques. There are 60,000 steps carved into the mountain and we climbed, if not 60,000, at least enough to ascend 5,900 feet to the top. After
our strenuous hiking, we treated ourselves to a service offered by the hotel - a warm herbal soak and massage for our feet. Heavenly! The next morning, the peaks were shrouded in delicate mists as we hiked through this exquisitely beautiful landscape. We climbed down hundreds of stone steps cantilevered into the side of the mountain and rode a recently constructed cable railway back to the summit where we spent another night in our snug little hotel room in the clouds.
The following morning, down we hiked and off we motored to Xidi and Honcun, two UNESCO World Heritage Site-designated ancient villages whose residents still maintain some of the traditional ways - using hand tools to farm their small gardens, hanging salted hams to dry in their courtyards, washing their clothes in the canals flowing outside their doors, drying bundles of herbs in the sun and freshly picked tea leaves in large wok-like pans over the fire. Of course, most residents were also talking on a cellphone while driving a scooter through the ancient lanes. Although we have sought out these pockets of traditional Chinese life, in every corner of this country the progress to a higher
standard of living for people who have previously lived their lives in conditions of squalor and poverty is remarkable. Much of China is being rebuilt with the security and conveniences of any middle class society. The loss of quaint and picturesque scenes of traditional lifestyles is the price most people willingly pay for improved living conditions.
Our next destination was Hangzhou, the southern end of the Grand Canal, now the 4th largest city in China, but most famous for the "beautiful West Lake", a body of water with mountains on the northern and western sides (feng shui which our guide informed us would bring "good lark" to the city designed around it). Chinese tourists love "beautiful West Lake" and they flock here to stroll with their silk umbrellas along its causeways and cruise in barges around the lake or to one of its small islands. After dark, we enjoyed a performance of "Impressions", a spectacular visual tableau staged on platforms submersed a few inches under the surface of the water, enhanced by beautiful music and dramatic lighting, all directed by Zhang Yimou of Beijing Olympics 2008 opening ceremony fame.
On the first day of
June, we flew from Hangzhou southwest to Guilin. We traveled to Longsheng County, an autonomous region where the Zhuang and Yao minority people have lived for centuries. We climbed through the terraces carved into the steep mountainside some 600 years ago for growing rice which they have continued to do to this day. Even now, the farmers in these remote villages still use mostly hand implements and cows (smaller and less awkward in the fragile rice paddies than water buffalo) harnessed to plow the mud. As we walked through their ancient village, we saw some of the long-haired Yao women with their heavy earrings and colorful dresses.
We ventured down the Li River to Yangshuo on a four hour ferry cruise through a karst landscape, every bend in the river revealing spectacularly dramatic views, with wisps of mists floating between the overlapping mountain towers. In Yangshuo, we bicycled through the pastoral countryside to several nearby villages until a sudden thunderstorm drove us back to the shelter of our hotel on the banks of the Yulong River. The rain continued to fall heavily through the night and by the next day, the banks of the Yulong were considerably
closer to our hotel as the rivers flooded out of their beds and into the flat rice fields. After the rain finally stopped, the water receded as rapidly as it had risen and was flowing gently in its usual course by the time we drove back to Guilin for our flight to Beijing.
In Beijing, we have walked past the Great Hall of the People onto iconic Tiananmen Square with Mao Zedong's mausoleum on one side and the entrance to the vast Forbidden City palaces on the other. Yesterday, we hiked along the rugged desolate beauty of the Great Wall, more magnificent than we had expected or imagined. Today, we were astonished by the splendor of the lakeside Summer Palace of the Dragon Lady of the Ming Dynasty. The rains have temporarily washed the infamous air pollution from Beijing's skies and we have breathed comfortably during our visit in the capital city of the People's Republic of China. Tomorrow, we fly to Ulaanbaatar to continue our adventures in Mongolia.
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Alison
non-member comment
Thank you!
I love to read about your travels.