The day started early. Now we are on the mag-lev train traveling at 300 km/HR!! We arrived and were met by out guide Jackie Hu. He was to be with us for the next three days. Right away we liked him.
He got us into the van and off we went for the long ride to the Yellow Mountains, Huangshan. After four hours we arrived and had some lunch. This one was marginal, but ample. So we loaded up knowing that we were going to need our strength. Jackie had told us he was a mountain boy....ut oh! We hoped we were up to the challenge! Luckily we had hiked hard on the Great Wall and that prepared us.
After lunch we jumped into the cable car that was built by an Austrian company and felt very much like we were going skiing. The ride was 2600m long and the scenery spectacular. We kept thinking...boy are we glad this thing is taking us up to the top for our hiking!
We got there and started to walk. Jackie explained that China has many many people and they all need work. Some people's job is to build the stairs, others to carry the goods. Every single thing that is up on the mountain has been carried up by the porters. AMAZING! You see these men with a bamboo pole across their shoulder and balanced on each side is huge loads. We saw some with 200 kg.
They are building a new 5 star hotel and each beam, each bed, each wire is being carried up on the backs of the porters. they are paid by the weight they carry. 1 RMB per 2 kg. Hard life!
We felt stressed just carrying two back packs with overnight clothes and our cameras! Can't imagine their world!
As we walked off the cable car, we immediately began to shoot images. Oh my goodness....the beauty before us was breath taking! That old adage that life is not about the number of breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away....well this was 24 hours of breathlessness. Breathlessness from altitude, steps, up and down as well as the beauty!
We first hiked to the hotel dropped off the unnecessary gear, loaded all the camera equipment and struck off to hike and see the sunset. The sheer nature of the cliffs was astonishing. The mountains are mainly granite and very very beautiful. The pine trees grow right out of the rock at all angles. It is clear to see why this place inspired so many paintings and poems.
We were very lucky in that we had two beautiful sunny days. The sun is seen about 25% of the year. The rest of the days are misty, cloudy and rainy. Thank God!
We hiked at our own pace behind the mountain boy. The place was packed, largely with Koreans. They are a mere two hours by plane and they love the Yellow mountains. Some spoke excellent English and elected to converse with us.
Dinner was ok, but the staff were stressed. Our rice never arrived. So. Cheri tried to get it taken off the bill. Thankfully a Chinese American woman saw her plight and stepped in to help. Jeanne Kwok was a huge help! Thank you!
We had read the reviews about the hotel...moldy, airy, freezing. They were right! Our room had no heat and no insulation around the windows. So when the windows were closed, the air whistled right in. After dinner we pulled the curtains, took baths and showers, put on everything we owned and jumped into bed for an early night!
Enjoy!
Cheri & John
