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Published: October 24th 2008
Continued... We were feeling more comfortable with Fa after he took us to the train station and finding out he had a son, 18 who lived in a nearby town. We drove through a forest and eventually made it to the park entrance. When we arrived he had some friends of his join us, they were there to sell us something but we ignored them and moved towards the admission area. Trying to leave Fa behind we were unable to shake him and we arranged to have him pick us up after we were finished at the park.
After paying the 100 yuan plus 68 yuan for the bus ride we entered the park and joined the other tourists for the ride into the park. We got to our hotel and decided to head where tourists were not. The guidebook explained that we could skip the 80 yuan fee for a ride up to the lake at the top of the mountain, the highlight feature of the park. Digressing, Changbai Shan is a former volcanic area and the mountain itself erupted leaving a huge crater that eventually filled with water. The crater formed Heaven Lake and is the pinnacle sight
of the park. We found a hike that took us to the base of a waterfall that was also supposed to be the beginning of the hike to the lake. The first part of the hike was really nice, wandering through a birch forest and ending at the waterfall. Unfortunately, we were told that the hike to the lake was closed. This botched our plans for the hike to the lake but we ended up meeting two friends, Dennis and Jeff, students from Dalian where we were headed for next and who also speak Mazi's native Cantonese. After a brief introduction, the two graciously offered to take us around in Dalian. So we exchanged phone numbers and planned to take the truck ride up the mountain to Heaven Lake. Jeff and Dennis ended up going out with out us as the line up was long and the day was near an end. We opted to wait for the next day and for better weather but Jeff and Dennis had plans to return home the next day. So instead we hiked around to some of the other features of the park.
The next day we woke up to beautiful blue
sky. We were very lucky to have such beautiful weather. With no line up at 9:30am on a Monday we jumped aboard the truck and we quickly zipped up to the top on the steep windy road. From the top the views were spectacular. We spent a total of three hours at the top avoiding the tour groups when possible. Enjoy the pictures. Later that day we enjoyed a relaxing stop at a natural hotsprings provided by one of the hotels.
On the way home we met up with "Fa" who explained that it was now 60 yuan to take us to town. We protested and negotiated a 50 yuan fare to take us to the train station so we could get our tickets for Shenyang. We jumped back in his taxi and he immediately parked at another friend of his establishment who explained to us in a few words of English that he new of a great hotel for us to stay at. At this point we were ready to leave Fa, if only our bags weren't in the trunk. We agreed to at least look at the hotel and so Fa's friend let us leave and off
we went. About two mins down the road we passed a man that was looking for a taxi ride, Fa wanted to pick him up. We agreed. Fa then negotiated a fare of 10 yuan. We knew we were being overcharged. Anyways, Fa took us to the hotel, we told him we didn't want to see the hotel and got him to drop us at the Train Station. We knew it wasn't open but we sneakily walked passed where he was parked through some trees to the Youth Hostel beside the train station. Not that we were overcharged that much but we have now learned to avoid any enthusiastic people selling various wares and services.
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Changbai Shan
Jennefer
non-member comment
Great Pictures.
Wow, the crater lake looks amazing, to bad about the taxi driver. Where are you off to know. Reading your blog is the highlight of my day, oil is down again, gold is down again, Cnd dollar is in a free fall. You picked a perfect time to be away. Have fun.