As I mentioned in my previous post, we traveled this past weekend to Huangshan ("yellow mountain"). Never heard of Huangshan? Honestly, I hadn’t either until five days before we traveled there. But if you’ve ever seen a Chinese wall scroll that has misty clouds and granite mountains on it, then you’ve seen Huangshan. According to my handy Lonely Planet guidebook, Huangshan inspired an entire school of artists in the 17th and 18th centuries (hence the wall scrolls :). I can believe it. The mountain and surrounding area are stunning.
Our new friend Tricia (who speaks pretty good Chinese and has traveled extensively in China) organized a trip of six people to Huangshan. We picked up a bus first thing Friday morning (we didn’t have classes Friday, which is why we were motivated to travel in the first place) that took us to another bus for our journey out of the city. Bus #2 was rather small and old—when my 5’2” self has knees knocking against the back of the seat in front of me, then we’re talking SMALL! Nonetheless, the bus safely carried us the four hours through the verdant countryside, lush mountains, terraced landscapes, intriguingly empty stetches of newly built apartment/shopping buildings, and small farming communities that precede Huangshan.
We arrived at your run-o’-the-mill sketchy trading post for a quick lunch and opportunity to buy snacks to carry up the mountain. We scarfed down some lunch, and stocked up on dried tofu and green peas (both very common here). We then headed to bus #3, which took us to the starting point to hike Huangshan.
A few notes about Huangshan and hiking in China:
- Any trail worth hiking in China has stairs. And lots of them. Sadly, my handy guidebook doesn’t say how many stairs comprise the trail up/down Huangshan, but I’m guessing somewhere between 2,000 and a ga-jillion. Seriously. This mountain is TALL, folks, and all stairs.
- While we found ourselves increasingly winded and wobbly from the countless stairs, we had to continually dodge mountain porters who were hauling stuff up and down the mountain. Here I am, supposedly in my prime of life and with my high fa-lootin’ footwear from the US, and these guys are whizzing by me while carrying two watermelons and 60 bottles of water, while only wearing tiny little shoes that look like pistachio green Keds. Talk about a humbling experience.
- The reason why these porters are whisking water and watermelons up and down the mountain is because there are no roads at the summit. Only stairs (did I mention Huangshan has a lot of stairs? :). Since there is no easy way to lug provisions to the summit, any food for sale up top costs mucho dinero. I was especially glad our group could share snacks for dinner and breakfast once we arrived at the top!
- A fair amount of Chinese hikers had some sort of portable boom box with them that played Chinese songs (honestly, many of the songs sounded like the ones I hear during Edification Hour*).
- Sprinkled along the trail were “no smoking” signs. How anyone could have the lung capacity to smoke and clamor up that mountain is beyond me.
- “Clean” and “dirty” are relative terms in China. When we first arrived at our dorm room in Hangzhou, I considered it incredibly dirty. In comparison to Friday night’s hostel on the summit, however, our dorm is sparkling. The hostel bathroom was a new level of nasty that I won’t deign to describe—luckily we didn’t have to stay there very long! :)
- While I still don’t comprehend much Chinese, I did understand when other hikers were guessing our nationality. We apparently look German, British, American, and some nationality called “le guo” (still not sure what country “le” is—“guo” means country).
The scenery was stunning. Huangshan apparently has rain and fog at least 200 days/year. Yet we were blessed with weather as idyllic as the climate we enjoyed in Shanghai—sunny, mild temperatures, and clear skies. The leaves became increasingly colorful and vibrant the higher we climbed, and we relished a gorgeously clear night sky full of constellations (something I’ve seldom seen the past few years while living in cities).
Saturday morning, we experienced a transcendent moment while drinking in the first rays of light. Huangshan’s main attraction is its otherworldly sunrises. How delightful it was that everyone in our hostel clamored awake at 5:30am, dressed quickly, and rushed outside to…..greet the day. A quotidian event that most of us barely acknowledge became Saturday’s main attraction.
Whether acknowledging it or not, everyone on that mountain that day made it a priority to cherish the gifts of their Creator. I stood in awe of the One Above as the reddish pink orb crested the misty horizon. For those few moments, when a relative hush came over everyone and the sun gently crested the clouds, all of the frustrations of the past couple months faded away. Saturday's sunrise put everything in perspective.
After enjoying such an otherworldly occasion, we began our venture down the mountaintop. We put one foot in front of the other for four hours, scarfed down another lunch (our first real meal since lunch the day before), and made our way back to the pick-up point for the bus back to Hangzhou. I’ve never enjoyed a shower so much as the one I had Saturday night back in our comparatively clean dorm. We celebrated our adventure with pizza and beer at a local Western restaurant, and crashed early for one of the best nights of sleep I’ve had in China.
I’m still processing our mountaintop experience (pun intended :). I’m sure reflections from the trip will emerge in subsequent blog posts, but for now, I was grateful for a last minute escape to nature, the opportunity to feel invigorated while hiking, and a reminder that our Creator blesses all people with the beauty of places like Huangshan.
* see the eponymous post from September :)