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Published: December 27th 2015
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Huang Shan Trip
fot. Arwin Adityavarna If you fly to China, with the stopovers in China, make sure that the plane ticket you thought you bought is for sure a plane ticket, not a train ticket, and that the train leaves from near the airport, and that this train number is also similar to the number on your ticket. Seems absurd? Not in China. My journey to China started rather ridiculously, with finding out that my plane from Wuxi to Shanghai is actually a train. Not much of a problem, itinerary claimed that it goes from the airport. Not a problem at all. At the Wuxi airport (only due to the kindness of my English speaking neighbour I found out that the train leaves from very different station, about 25 km away from the airport (sic!). Luckily, again thanks to my neighbour and his father, who knew which station I should go to, they put me to the taxi (with very weird construction around the driver, in order to prevent him from attacks) I got to the station, where luckily my ticket waited for me. Train travel was very pleasant and fast, using one of those super fast (350 km/h) bullet trains. Just when I thought I'm
Huang Shan Trip
fot. Arwin Adityavarna going to see my host in few seconds waiting for me at the platform exit, there was a new surprise waiting for both of us. The train number he had from the itinerary was completely different from the one I was actually in, so the help desk at the train station was telling him to go to the airport (about 15 min away from the train station), and the airport claimed that such a connection doesn't exist. Since I couldn't connect to the internet, it took me two hours to find my host. What a joyous two hours of being lost at the Shanghai's huge train station.
After that China turned to be a very lovely and vibrant place(s). First few days we have spent sightseeing Shanghai, having lovely dates with the view over Bund, wandering around Chinese districts and temples.
One of the days we decided to go to one of the water cities surrounding Shanghai. Our city of choice was Zhujiajiao, an hour drive on the bus from People's square or park. Its old town, beautifully conserved is hidden in between fake iStores and other not-so-legal-franchises. But it is absolutely worth visiting. Tiny streets are full
Huang Shan Trip
fot. Arwin Adityavarna of shops selling local products and craft work or are turned into the cafes/libraries/smoothie shops, where you can have a seat with the lovely view over the river (or one of many canals). After you get tired of your fancy latte, a stroll along the canals and over the multiple bridges is obligatory. Don't forget to go into hidden gardens and not-so-hidden temples. Mind blowing! (list and brief description of other water towns you can find here: http://www.timeoutshanghai.com/features/Travel-Weekend_breaks/1679/Battle-of-the-Water-Towns.html)
But that wasn't our only trip. The next day we set off to Yellow Mountains for a two days hike. We started the journey in the night sleeping train, arrived at Huangshan and taken the small bus to the point where we started hiking. Journey in the bus itself was an adventure as no safety features, including reasonable speed were included. After paying a fee and buying medals confirming we have climbed the mountain, we have started hiking up the cloudy and misty mountains. Our path consisted mostly of stairs. All way up the stairs. But in the afternoon the clouds and rain gave their way to the clear sky and we could've seen the whole beauty if the place. Stunning
Huang Shan Trip
fot. Arwin Adityavarna view of the rocks growing up from the ground, creating canyons and well-like landscape. After the stunning views day, yet rather tiring and challenging stairs hike, we were rewarded by finding out that the Power Rangers' evil headquarters and Karate Kid's temple are only about a 1 km apart 😊 After checking in into one of the hotels we have discovered that apart from the impressive lobby and expensive restaurant (no morning coffee ;( ) we are going to sleep in the most uncomfortable beds with unchanged linens and absolutely awful bathrooms. Oh, and girls are not allowed to sleep with boys, so we were put to the separate rooms with some strangers. Waking up at 4 am wasn't easy, but the sunrise and then taking the footage by the drone has rewarded all the inconvenience. Road down was done using the cable car, which has provided us with yet another stunning views (I guess I have used that expression before). Then a bus to the rail station (newly built- looking better than many of European airports) and few hours in the super fast bullet train home.
I must say- even though I've seen only a tiny bit- China
Huang Shan Trip
fot. Arwin Adityavarna is very impressive and definitely worth a visit.
Fotos were taken by Fadly Rosman, Arwin Adityavarna and me. Video was edited by Arwin using footage and fotos taken by him and Daniel Nagels and his faithful drone Fernando.
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