No Title Can Describe This Place!

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What can you say about a mountain when along with your bus ticket from the entrance to the foot of the mountain you are also handed a receipt for the life insurance included in the fare?
Being somewhat afraid of heights, this was not the first thing I wanted to see.
Yellow Mountain, China’s most famous mountain, is a paradise of unusually shaped peaks and trees as well as seas of clouds that you can look down upon from the heights. Truly stunning and literally breathtaking, it is a place for the sure-footed and active not the stagnant vertigo-impaired like me. All kidding aside, Yellow Mountain is one of the most beautiful places in China. However, if you do have the least bit fear of heights, it might not be for you. I did have a quite enjoyable time though.

There are a few ways to get to Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). Traveling from Nanjing bus or train is most convenient. We took the train, not the overnight train mentioned in some of the other journals here, but the afternoon train that arrives in Tunxi around 9:30pm. Most tourists seem to take a bus tour or the overnight train. It didn’t seem like a lot of tourists got off the train at night (Saturday night). Of course this made us targets for what we call “the mosquitoes”. Mosquitoes are the those people waiting outside the bus and train stations wanting to give you a ride before you can reach the taxi stand, or trying to sell you a hotel room, or souvenirs; mosquitoes because you cannot easily shoo them away. You learn quickly in China to always avoid the mosquitoes.

We decided to stay the first night in Tunxi and start off early in the morning for the mountain. So we booked the Huashan Hotel through Ctrip. We took the lowest available rate. For some reason, this hotel has a 4 star rating, but the room was dingy and stale. The breakfast buffet was pretty decent though compared to other hotels (if you like the Chinese style breakfast). After our descent from Huangshan we stayed there again but this second night we booked the next more expensive room (about 30rmb more). This room was pretty decent. It even had a computer for the Internet. A night and day difference. If you use this hotel, try to stay in the “B” wing, not the older “A” wing.

After breakfast early Sunday morning, we took a taxi to go to the bus station for our trip to the mountain. But the driver said he would drive us all the way there for 100rmb. Not knowing the bus schedule or availability we thought this might not be so bad. The bus takes about one and a half hours. The taxi took just under an hour. Of the whole trek to, up, and down the mountain this was the scariest part. Since our rate was already set, our driver wanted to get us there as fast as possible. So off we went speeding as fast as he could go, even though the road was curving and winding. And of course when he came across a bus trudging along ahead of him, he had to pass it, whether he was on a curve or not. Now when you pass another car, you usually want to accelerate as fast as possible and get it over with. If you have a standard, you usually downshift and hit the gas to get the right amount of torque and acceleration. I think Chinese taxi drivers are allergic to downshifting. Most of them have standard transmissions. Most seem to like to start off in second gear causing the engine to drag and almost stall. Passing is the same. It’s never quick. Just put it one gear higher then you should, hit the gas, and slowly, painfully gain acceleration until you pass the vehicle in front of you. I guess passing is an experience that must be enjoyed for as long as you can. And of course the driver always lays on the horn the whole time. I’m thinking this must create some sound barrier in front of the car to make it more aerodynamic. Or it’s just the driver’s expression of joy during this particular pass. Either way, we finally made it to Huangshan.

The bus or taxi from Tunxi will drop you off at the main gate area of the mountain, but you are not there yet. You need to walk by even more mosquitoes offering you rides to the mountain base at ridiculously high prices (we were offered 60rmb for two people). Keep walking inside and buy bus tickets for 14rmb each. (These include the life insurance I mentioned above.) The bus will take you to the various lifts and the beginning of the hiking trails.

At the terminal where you buy your bus ticket you will see a souvenir stand. There you should buy a map (much better than the ones on the internet, though the scale is not very accurate, but much needed). They also sell canes for walking sticks. They look kind of cheesy but you should buy one anyway. I thought they were kind of funny looking, but a couple hours later I bought one on the mountain for much more money (the cheapest one at the bottom is 3rmb while the same one on the mountain is 10rmb. The pricier ones don’t change much in price as you go up the mountain). Many people have them. They help. Really. Mount Huangshan is all stairs; many stairs; many, many, many stairs; many times very steep stairs; many hours of stairs. Your legs will thank you for letting your upper body share the pain. Use a stick.

We took the Yuping (Jade Screen) lift up the mountain. Luckily it was a gondola style ski lift, not a chair lift. It was very fast, only about 8 minutes or so to the top. But it saved at least 2 hours walking up stairs. The weather was overcast. And since we were up in the clouds it appeared as if it were very foggy: very little visibility. But for those of us who get the heebie-jeebies standing on the edge of a precipice looking down into a bottomless abyss, it was almost a welcome blessing. The views were much better the second day.

We had a reservation at the Beihai Hotel in the Beihai (North Sea) Scenic Area. So we proceeded to walk in that direction. If you go to Huangshan plan carefully which lift you will take and where you will stay. If you stop to enjoy the scenery at all, it will take about 4 hours to walk to the Beihai from the Yuping lift. A better choice would have been the Yungu (Cloud Valley) lift, which is only about a 15-minute walk to the Beihai (mostly walking down stairs, by the way). I think it’s much better if you are staying on the mountain to get to your hotel ASAP, check your bags, and then hike around without lugging your backpack or suitcase around. Live and learn.

The mountains are spectacular. Since it wasn’t too clear it’s hard to post any pictures that show it. Actually, I don’t think any picture can capture how impressive the mountains and trees are at this place, so I won’t try to describe any of that. But there are a few things worth mentioning that go along with visiting Huangshan. First, the crowds. Another journal here said only the Chinese can turn a mountain into an amusement park. So true!!!!!!!!!! If you think you are going on a nice quiet secluded hike away from everything, guess again. The whole route along Lotus Peak, Ladder on the Clouds, and Brightness Top is filled with people. One of the reasons it takes so long to get from the Jade Screen lift to the Beihai is having to walk slow or wait to get by people. At times it seemed like we were waiting in line for an amusement park ride instead of hiking through the mountains. And when you are walking up or down stairs where one side is the wall of a mountain cliff and the other side is a small guardrail that drops off into oblivion, having to navigate through people bouncing off each other does not give you the serene peaceful, feeling you came to the mountains to experience. A few times I even experienced something similar to road rage. Luckily, not everywhere is teaming with people. There are some places that it’s not a problem. The second day we explored the Beginning to Believe Peak area and it wasn’t as bad. Coming down the mountain we walked down the trail under the Yungu lift and there were even less people. The point is, if you run into a crowd, just be patient. It won’t always be like that. Enjoy the view for a while.

The second interesting thing about Huangshan is the chair service. It’s not cheap, but if you get tired, you can hire two guys to carry you up the mountain in a chair. I have a picture of this but it’s not a very good one. Hopefully it will give you some idea of what it looks like.

Perhaps you feel sorry for someone who has to work carrying someone else to the top of a mountain in a chair. But there are two of them. Nothing will impress you more about the people of the mountain than the “porters”, not the porters who will carry your luggage from the lift up the mountain to your hotel because your luggage is so light, but the porters who supply the hotels and restaurants on the mountain. There are no service roads at the top of the mountain. Every item you find at a store or hotel on the mountain has to be carried up the mountain. Every bottle of water, bed sheet, bar of soap, rice, cooking oil, everything needs to be carried up. They all do it the same way: a piece of bamboo across their shoulders with their load suspended on each side. I have a picture of one taken on the Yungu trail on the way down the mountain. The trail under the Yungu lift is like a commercial route filled with porters sometimes in long convoys bringing supplies up and down the mountain. The stairs at many places are very steep. Their loads are heavy. One porter who was carrying a load that looked much smaller than others was carrying 2 25kg bags. That’s more than 100lbs. It was common to see some carrying two full cases of bottled water plus another box just on one side, with an equal amount of weight on the other side to balance it out. The pain and concentration in the faces of those going up step by step for the 2 to 3 hours journey was quite impressive. Someone told us they get paid 100rmb per trip. That sounded a little high until we overheard a couple of them talking saying if they hurried they could each make 300 that day. Who knows? None of the porters we came across were rude. Some even joked with us as they passed with their loads, one of them showing me his arm and asking why I had hair on mine while he had none. Of course misunderstanding him at first, I asked him back why my arm was so white and his wasn’t.

With this in mind, knowing everything must be carried to the top of the mountain, you can imagine the hotel and food prices. By western standards, the prices are what you might pay at any common hotel or restaurant these days, but by Chinese standards those prices are through the roof. The Beihai Hotel’s cheapest room was about $100US. For some reason it has a 4 star rating. Yet, as someone else described in their journal here, the room is more like a lodge room. It has old hard beds, old dirty furniture, bugs (luckily only some kind of beetle, one of which I found crawling on me in the middle of the night), no free drinking water, and no refrigerator. But the view was great. As far as food goes, your only choice is to eat at the hotel. Those prices too were as high as the mountain. The dinner buffet was 100rmb per person (about $12US) and the food was miserable. You don’t mind paying extravagant prices if the food is good. But it hurts when you know you can buy much better food for next to nothing everywhere else. The breakfast buffet was 50rmb per person and was equally bad. Maybe these prices sound ok by western standards, but for the food you get the prices are shear thievery by Chinese standards. I guess 2 star service at 6 star prices averages out to a 4 star rating.

When people stay overnight at Huangshan they always plan to wake up early and watch the sunrise. It is supposed to be the best place in all of China to watch the sunrise. However, there are times when the weather is too cloudy and you can’t see it. The forecast when we were there was cloudy and even some rain for the morning. So it was obvious there would be no sunrise. And there wasn’t. But this didn’t stop the many tour groups from waking up and congregating outside our window at 4am. I guess they thought if there were enough of them and they made enough noise then the weatherman would certainly be wrong. He wasn’t. No sunrise. No sleep. Only the weatherman slept. The moral: though sound can be used as an aerodynamic barrier to make your car pass a bus easier by using the horn (see the earlier section about the taxi), sound waves will not dissipate clouds. That said, it felt good to get out of my “sleep from 3am until noon rut” and finally drink some coffee at an hour at which coffee was designed to be drunk: 7am. I’ve kept normal hours since then.

Descending the mountain by way of the Yungu trail took about 4 hours. We didn’t rush, rested frequently, and enjoyed the view. At the bottom mosquitoes offering to give us expensive rides to the main gate met us again. We took the bus for 13rmb (no life insurance this time). But we almost didn’t. Most vacation spots in the US having shuttle buses will run them pretty regularly, especially if you have to pay for them. We bought our tickets but were the only ones waiting. There were about 10 empty buses parked there waiting but we were told they were going to wait for more people, which could be indefinitely. Luckily, a tour group came off the mountain and off we went. We arrived at the main gate only to find that transportation back to Tunxi is not as convenient as coming to the mountain. Once you are there, I guess they are not too interested in how or even if you can get back. We could have taken another taxi back to town, but the prices we were offered were much higher than our first trip. So we walked out the gate to the road and waved down one of the local private buses. It was small, filthy, and could barely go the speed limit (the only thing missing was a few chicken cages), but it was only 13rmb. I enjoyed this bus ride very much. It took about an hour and a half to get to Tunxi, but along the way you could see many tea farms carved out of the mountains and fields. There were also many rice patties and farmers working the fields with ox or very strange tractor-looking devices designed to run in the mud of a rice field. It gives you an appreciation of simple hard work and a respect for the labor that goes into what you eat. It takes a lot of sweat to put the food in the boxes we buy at the store. I would recommend a ride on one of these buses anytime to anyone.

How to prepare for your trip to Huangshan

1) Go to the gym. Get on the Stairmaster. Set it for a slow speed. After 15 minutes get off the Stairmaster, look at a picture of a mountain and ask yourself, “Am I enjoying the view?” Get back on the Stairmaster. After 1 hour, get off and ask yourself the same thing. Repeat this once an hour for 3 hours. If you can answer “Yes” each time you can take the next test.

2) If you own a home that’s at least two stories or live in an apartment that is at least 10 stories then do this. Go to the roof. Stand at the very edge of the roof. Look down. Are you scared? If not, stand on one leg and hop a few times while spinning in a circle and looking down the whole time. Are you scared? If not, invite a dozen of your friends to stand all around you near the edge. Have everyone walk along the edge in opposite directions while trying not to knock each other off. Look down the whole time. Are you scared? Good, do the next test.

3) Take the Stairmaster to the edge of the roof. Repeat #1 but instead of a picture of a mountain, just look over the edge.

Actually, Huangshan is not that bad. It’s only as scary as you want it to be. It’s quite a beautiful place and an enjoyable experience.
However, there is one thing everyone without exception can expect to take home from Huangshan Mountain: pain. The amount of pain from walking up and down stairs 4-6 hours a day for two days straight is unimaginable. Get in shape a little before going. We overheard one overweight Chinese man tell his friends he would rather just roll off the mountain and get it over with. Another experienced hiker from Germany said that even though he hikes often in the Alps, it is nothing like the steep stairways of Huangshan. But even if you are not in shape, don’t let this deter you from the beauty that is Huangshan. I’m not in shape and I made it. You will too!

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Photos

Reach for the Sky
Huangshan is filled with impressive mountain peaks rising from nowhere. This one, though it looks like about a 10 foot rock in the picture, is actually a towering peak across a small canyon from where the picture was taken. Huangshan is not all danger and heart stopping precipices. Many areas are scenic and quite tame.

Tea
Just a few of the many tea plantings from Tunxi to Huangshan

On Edge
This is one of the many walkways up the mountain. Over the edge...nothing...for a long way down!

A Nice View
The mountain has many breathtaking views. And yes, that guardrail is shorter than his knee.

Stairway to Heaven
Just past the Ladder on the Clouds the stairs ascend into the clouds. I guess since there are a few trees just over the edge they felt you have a shot to grab one if you went over the edge. Thus, no guardrail needed. Notice most people stayed to the right.

View from Beihai
This is the view from the Beihai Hotel. It doesn't capture the impressive 3-D magnificence. The cable overhead is that of the Taiping cablecar lift.

It IS heavy. He's not my brother!
One of the many porters on his seemingly endless trek up the steep stairs carrying all the things that make the hotels and restaurants at the top possible.

At least it's not up
4 plus hours of this walking down Yungu trail on the way down. After a while walking down stairs hurts just as much as walking up stairs.

Chinese Chair Lift
Yes, who needs a gondola when you can take the chair lift? Here two people each hired two men to carry them up the mountain while they sit in a bamboo chair.

Chinese Chair Lift
Yes, who needs a gondola when you can take the chair lift? Here two people each hired two men to carry them up the mountain while they sit in a bamboo chair.