Mt. Huangshan...7 hours of hiking with kids

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Tuesday we left the hotel at about 7:15am. The drive to the Mount Huangshan took an hour and then we had to take a bus to the cable car which took us across to the scenic areas. We knew we were going to be walking around and seeing sights but I had not really prepared myself or the kids for the 7 hours of hiking we ended up doing. Oops. They were for the most part troopers. They were for the rest of the time typical kids who wanted to go back to the hotel. It was a lot of walking. Up steep inclines of stone steps and back down only to go back up. It was a long day. We did see some amazing views. The pictures will speak for themselves. I suppose looking back, the fact that most other tourists had walking sticks, and the additional fact that the vendors were selling these walking sticks by the hundreds, were other clues that we were in for a lot of steep hills. Early in the hike, we had clear skies, but as we climbed higher, it was so foggy we couldn’t see many of the things we had climbed up to see. Then we would move on to the next scenic spot….and this went on for 7 hours. We did stop for a good lunch at one of the hotels in the mountains. It was very expensive—our most expensive meal yet in China. Turns out that not only are prices inflated due to the tourist tax, but things are expensive because every thing we ate was hand carried up the mountain. We saw these men carrying huge loads on their backs. These loads would be laundry for the hotels, food for the restaurants and stores. Everything. Hand carried. Quite a workout.

I loved the stories our guide shared about the various scenic spots and local varieties of plants and trees. There were several types of pine tree that are only found in these mountains (according to Allen). One was called the lovers tree (or something similar). It looked like 2 trees at the base, but it merged into one trunk further up. Couples, many older, were getting their pictures taken in front of these trees. Couples also put locks on the bridges near the trees and threw the keys into the water to symbolize their unbreakable love (I think). Corny, but cute. Another tree grew in the shape of a dinosaur. The location—off a cliff—led me to believe it really did grow in that odd shape and hadn’t been trimmed in the night to fool the tourists.

We returned to our celebrity status and were photographed all day long. At one point Emily was pretty upset about the fact that we had more hiking to do and this man was trying to take her picture. It gets old. When we were finally on our last stretch, and reached the cable car station at last, we found out we were at the old station and the wait would be over an hour. If we walked another 40 minutes, we could take the cable cars we took up to the mountains and there would be no line. I was panicked at the thought of making Emily walk another 40 minutes, but she managed to do it. I made up a game that distracted her fully and we got to the next stop without any whining or tears. Phew. The game was just taking turns making up stories, but when Emily was the story teller, she got lost in her stories and was practically skipping down the mountain.

We were all exhausted and boarded the bus to take us back down the mountain. We all dosed on and off, changed to the van and made it back to the city. We had Allen drop us at a restaurant so we could get dinner and again he helped us order and then left. Turns out, Allen was feeling pretty ill. He didn’t bring a jacket and it was cold and a little wet at times during our hike. We’re not sure why he didn’t prepare for the trip as he’d advised us to do and bring a jacket. He knew it would be colder up in the higher altitude but for some reason didn’t dress accordingly.

Dinner was an experience. We walked into this restaurant filled with huge tables that could hold 3-4 generations of a family. They sat just the 4 of us at one of these giant tables and all the people at nearby tables turned to look when we sat down. I decided to acknowledge the attention with a loud ni hao and a regal wave. I figure, we are like celebrities so we should act like celebrities. I don’t think I’ll really do that all the time. Our dinner came slowly, and we were all feeling the effects of the hiking. Nathan was showing signs of falling asleep at dinner so we kept him awake with games on Mark’s itouch and a can of Coke. Emily was so excited to have Coke (her first Coke EVER at a restaurant) she was giddy and sugared up in no time. Nathan stayed awake but neither kid ate much of the dinner. It was fine for Mark and myself, but the kids stuck with the rice and a few bites of this and that. The crackers and granola bars we brought have been keeping the kids from starving. They are still willing to try most of the food, but they are not eager to fill up on most of the local dishes on this trip.

Stay tuned for more stories when we are back in Shanghai. My hour of paid for Internet access is about to expire!

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Comments

[Linda]

beautiful views
The hiking sounds arduous for a 6...but given the beautiful senery, worth getting away into the mountains. The pictures are great. Love the cable car and the misty trails. Bet dinner tasted especially good to you and Mark, if not the kids, after all that walking. Interesting detail: everything being carried up the mountain, including, I assume, those coke botles.

[Dennis]

Taking 2 kids to Huangshan too! Need advice
Thanks very much for the stories. Really helpful! I am taking my 2 kids (10 and 6yrs old) there in early April. Any advice on which routes we should take. Should we book a hotel one night on top of the mountain? Right now, we only plan a day trip but I can see that we probably need to rush back to the cable just like you did. Many thanks in advance.