Golden Week (1)
As this week we have the Chinese National Holiday, the government has decided that people deserve a week off. Of course, this week off ill be partially compensated by a working weekend (luckily, this has not affected the students of my school). We have decided to thank that generosity by spending our money in the tourist industry in the area of Huangshan, province of Anhui. A real adventure. Yay!
There were 8 of us: Raymond and Julie, from China (PRC); Charlotte, from Korea (South); Eu Jin, form Malaysia; Hao, from Switzerland; Chrisitan, from Argentina, Taiwan and Poland; Brian, form the Beautiful Land and me, from 西班牙.
We arrived on Saturday morning and, after buying some water and food, we started walking. The area around the entrance to the park (12€ student fee, entrances are ridiculously expensive in China) has plenty of waterfalls with lyrical names (nine dragons, for example).
What really surprised me in that area were neither the waterfalls, nor the thousands of stairs (forget about walking on soil, it's too natural, too risky and, even, too uncontrollable), nor the pagodas in the middle of nowhere, nor the chains full of locks hanging (they are a symbol of the strengths of the bonds of marriage), but that amongst the pines, sometimes, a bamboo forest appeared:
The idea was to spend a night at the top of the mountain to see the sunrise, but it was becoming quite late. No worries, Chinahas a solution for your problems: a cable car to the top. Besides night, mist as also falling, the cable car was a wonderful option with impressive views. At nightime, after checking-in and dining some instant nooddles and sausages, we went for a walk and star-watching. In an impressive demonstration of knowledge, I pointed out what I thought was the North Star and, thus, where the East should be.
The next morning (5am), we decided not to follo the crowd and trust my (in)expert sailor intuition. So, we climbed the mountain that looked best suited to see the sunrise. As in Amanece que no es poco, the sun rised by the wrong side (or maybe my orientation was bad, who knows? in any case, viva the gps!) and we missed the sunrise. This said, we also missed 2,000 Chinese people in the same peak and the scenery was still breath-taking:
But looking at the positive side, we were alone contemplating the Grand Canyon of the Western Sea (a sea of mist). At dawn. Alone. Without nobody near us, enjoying the peace this place transmits. I am not surprised it has been a source of inspiration to so many Chinese poets.
The plan for the rest of the day was easy: go down the canyon, walk around and climb back in order to later go to the Lotus peak, the Jade peak and take another cable car to go down the mountain. More than 3,500m up and downhill. About 20 bilion steps. That was horrible! Brian, Hao and me, we ended up with our knees softer than porridge and beging for some soil path without stairs. No way:
I was slightly in advance of the group, as I thought I'd have trouble going down the steps (my doctor will be really happy with me after so many stairs :)) and I had time to take some pics and be taken in some pictures. I think I will be in about 1,000 Chinese family albums under the chapter "the laowai that climbed Huangshan with a huge bag".
At the end, the plan changed. Cable car closed at 16g30 and, by then, we were not even close. So, after waking up at 4h30 and walk for about 9 hours, we had to go don about 6km of stairs. Ah, there my knees really went nuts. Knees, thights and calfs. My whole legs.
However, once down, our guardian angel, Raymond, had already arranged a van to take us to Tunxi, where some went for a massage. I just went for a shower and to bed.
PS: There's a lot more pictures in picasa.
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5 Octubre 2009 | 04:08 AM