We caught a taxi at 0720 and headed for Huangshan Mountain. To get there tourists are deposited at the South Gate where all private vehicles have to stop. It was confusing as, as we’ve previously found, China is not geared towards non-Chinese tourists. Whilst Chinese can buy their tickets online, foreigners have to buy at the location, however with all the signs in Chinese we were quite baffled. As ever, armed with my translation app, I queued for a kiosk and asked how to buy tickets. The system was that, yes, we’d come to the right kiosk but they could only register our passports. We then had to take a photo of our passports with a unique reference number which we’d need later and we had to catch a bus to get the tickets.
We found another kiosk that was selling tickets for the shuttle bus and for £2 each we were transported 10 km to the base of the cable car. Fortunately JC can read enough Chinese that we got on the right bus. We bought our tickets at the foot of the mountain showing the photo of our passports and ID number. Again, we were the only tourists actually buying tickets as everyone else was sorted, simply swiping their ID cards to enter. Not sure how UK citizens would feel having to scan their passport every time they went to a tourist attraction.
Huangshan, meaning the Yellow Mountain(s), is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. Below 1100 m mesic forests grow vigorously, then up to 1800 m deciduous and pine trees grow. Of particular note is the Huangshan pine which is so resilient it can grow straight out of rocks. Some of the pines are hundreds of years old and have been given their own names. Above 1800 m it is alpine grassland. Like Sanqishan, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - it is one of China's major tourist destinations.
We went up the Yungu cable way in clear blue sky. One of the reasons for such a prompt start was that the weather was forecast to deteriorate in the days we were on the mountain, so we had to make the most of the fine day. Apparently Huangshan has fog 258 days of the year so we were super lucky to have a day or two of blue sky.
We walked all over the mountain it seemed! We missed a turning which probably helped us cover all pathways: like Sanqishan the maps have varying accuracies and we had to compare a few to work out the best route. Loved the warm tips though.
The crowds were large, so much so that they used one way systems at popular rocks. We were trying to keep the pace up as we needed to cover a lot of ground today (in case of poor weather tomorrow). We briefly escaped the masses with an expensive, but welcome, Costa coffee in a hotel. At £4 a cup it was UK Starbucks prices!
We walked a ~10 km loop around the West Sea Great Canyon scenic area. It was truly awesome.
I hadn’t quite appreciated the geography of this walk as it was basically steps all the way down - the only flat portions being where the hotels were. And what goes down must come up..!
We kept getting stuck behind tourist groups and/or slow walkers. Of course, I recognise that we all have to be patient, especially when the paths are narrow and steep, but my patience was tested. It was wonderful to see so many older people out in the mountains but they really couldn’t manage the hundreds of steps. Some would hold onto a partner for balance and some would walk down backwards. Into the mix was everyone stopping randomly to take photos, tourist guides stopping their group to explain something and it all look a long time.
We made it down to the funicular which carries people back up the valley. But we wanted to walk to rid ourselves of the crowds and prove we still had it in us.
The valley bottom was 1300 m above sea level and we had a 4/500 m ascent ahead of us.
From Sanxi Bridge I began the count. It was a massive trudge but, 3351 steps later, we made it back to the top.
Although the steps were hard work, having the path pretty much to ourselves was wonderful. It was a magical, but sweaty, walk.
We came across a little cute bridge and then Fairy Bridge - spanning a gap across two rocks. I marvelled and took photos and then came across a sign that said it was built in 1985! And there I was wondering how they carved this a century ago.
It was now 1600 and we had 90 minutes until sunset. It was our only chance to take it as Friday’s forecast was cloudy. So we sped (dodging aforementioned people obstacles) over to ‘Cloud dispensing pavilion’ to watch the sunset. Beautiful.
The temperature had dropped a lot by now and we were grateful to arrive at our hotel. Hurrah hot water and a blissful warm-up shower - being careful of landslips as we did. We noted that the hair dryer was not a gift.
Friday 25 October 2024
It was an even earlier start than yesterday as we rose at 0530 to watch sunrise. We managed to find a quietish spot and enjoyed the view as the sun rose over the clouds.
We also spotted ‘Stone monkey watching sea of clouds’.
JC wanted to do the West Sea Grand Canyon scenic area again and I’m glad we did.
This time we had decided to take the funicular back up instead of the 3000+ steps, which gave us more time in hand. So we stopped more and marvelled more.
We even let the tour groups overtake us. They are easily identifiable by colour coded baseball caps - my favourite being the red caps with 666 on them. In China this is a lucky number.
Such a great walk full of twists and turns, narrow gaps and mountain vistas.
The funicular was short and expensive, but saved us time and left us energy to explore other areas.
We headed south west towards the Yuping cable car. It was incredibly busy so we turned back after an hour and explored a different route back to the top.
I became fascinated by sticks. The majority of Chinese buy sticks for walking in the mountains. Some are walking poles but most are wooden sticks which look like short broom handles. Age was not a factor when buying these and we saw people 30 years our junior tap-tapping these with every step. You had to be careful as, because most people didn’t really need them or use them, they would trot up and down steps swinging the poles and they would often be used as pointing sticks. It’s a blessing no one gets their eyes taken out.
Nearly everything here, not just food and drink but hotel supplies and even building materials, is carried up by hand from the cable car stations. The porters laden under stupidly heavy loads, across their shoulders hung from a bamboo pole. Counting one porter’s load of 72 x 500ml bottles each side we figured he was carrying over 72kg. Heavier loads, such as people or concrete slabs, have more porters.
And, look, a drone delivery!
There was no sunset to see as the cloud had come in, so we headed back. We saw fairy peach peak and more lovely misty views.
And spotted some red-billed Leiothrix and Huanghan mountain red squirrels on our way.
Saturday 26 October 2024
There had been rain overnight and it was drizzling off and on first thing. The tour groups exchanged their corporate sunhats for plastic macs.
After a slow breakfast we walked off down the mountain as cloud was forecast all day and there was nothing more we wanted to see.
The guidebook said 3 hours but that was for ascending and we were down in 1:35. Our knees were a bit put out with all the ups and downs of the last few days but we felt in reasonable shape by the bottom. Another amazing mountain trip :-) And, in case anyone was worried, yes I did find some survey markers!
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