Return Trip - Day 12: Huangshan Mountain, Nan Ping and Xi Di

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Hey it’s Hannah. Yesterday and the day before we had to leave our luggage because your not allowed to bring luggage to the hotel at the Yellow Mountain. Yesterday we finished climbing the YM. Then we went to two villages like my tour guide’s village. Then we went to the old street and had some hot cocoa - my mom got Bailey’s coffee and it had a panda face with paws that were made out of crème. Ha ha ha. Then we went to dim sum - yum yum. We had very good foods like sticky rice and dumplings. Then my mom, and Mrs. Montague (mont-a-gue wrong pronunciation last time oops)(name:Karen) one time they brought out wooden hammers to “RELAX THEM”. Then we went to the airport and flew to Shanghai. It’s so sad we have to leave tomorrow whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Hopefully can write tomorrow but if I don’t my mom will because she didn’t write yet. -Hannah (whaaaaaaaaaaaa)

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Today the sunrise was at 5:33 am. Unfortunately the alarm was set for 4:45 pm and we didn't wake up until 5:30 am. We rushed out of the hotel to the viewing spot just in time to see everyone else coming back down the mountain. Nonetheless we apparently didn't miss much - the temperature was in the high 30s and there was no dramatic sunrise. Walked up to several viewing points after the crowds all disappeared and got to see fantastic vista with no one else around except the loudly singing birds. Apparently there are monkeys on the mountain, but we didn't run into any. After breakfast we regrouped for the hour long hike back to the gondola passing "Beginning to Believe Peak," the best photographic point on Mount Huangshan. After reaching the bottom of the mountain we then visited two local vilages, Nan Ping and Xi Di (there are greater than 1000 villages around Huangshan). Each village was between 400 and 600 years old had 800-1200 members of each family clan living there. We was one villager who was the 17th generation of his family to live in his house. Each had the original temples and houses with remarkable wood and stone carvings. Unfortunately many of the old artifacts were destroyed by the Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s. In one village, there were originally 9 stone arches - 8 were destroyed and the last was left untouched only because it displayed pro-revolutionary slogans. Many of the stone carvings in the villages had had the heads of all the carved figures removed by the Red Guard, while others were saved by covering them with mud and then painting words over them in support of the revolution. The villages are now supported by the government in an effort to preserve the traditional Chinese villages and lifestyle and have become a haven for art students, who filled almost every alley when we were there.

In the evening we went back to Old Street in Huangshan and people-watched for a while at an open air cafe. We then went to dim sum for dinner and had a great variety of steamed dumplings (I highly recommend the pumpkin). They do dim sum different than in Boston - the dishes aren't carted by your table; rather, the options are displayed at a long counter, where you select what you want and it is brought to your table. Seems to cut down a lot of accidental ordering. Off to the airport late tonight for the flight to Shanghai.

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Photos

Sunrise from Lion Peak

Songbird at Shuguang Pavillion

Hannah and Aili and Beginning to Believe Peak

The mountain crew - Awtrys and Montagues

Panoramic vista

Archway at entrance to Xi Di

Art students in Promotion Alley in Nan Ping