Huangshan- Going up the mountain

Eric has had one picture as his desktop background for years now. It is a beautiful picture of Huangshan or Yellow Mountain in China. Ever since we were first dating, Eric would tell me how it was one of his dreams to go there and take that same picture on his own. Last weekend, we finally went!

Here is the picture from his desktop.

And here is one that we took. We didn't get quite the same picture but it is still breath-taking, yeah?

My husband was definitely a happy man. He was like a little kid with a piece of candy. He had a blast. We both did- I absolutely loved it. We went with our friends, Carissa and Jeff, which made it even more fun!


We took the night train out there, which was 15 hours long. Not too bad, considering you are sleeping for most of it, right? Well, a bus going there takes 5 hours. Imagine how slow this train was. Yep, super slow. Actually most of that time was taken up by the train stopping in the middle of nowhere (okay, sometimes it was actually at a station) and sitting there for half an hour. Or a lot longer. If we weren't sleeping for most of it I am pretty sure it would just about drive me crazy. But it was fun. And we can't complain. Our friends, without realizing it, bought tickets for the hard seat car. And since it was a holiday weekend in China, that meant that every inch of space was taken up by people-- standing, sitting, crammed together. Eric and I really had it good. At least we had beds!



Once we got to Tunxi city, it was off in another bus and then a taxi (who charged us extra saying that there was a special 'insurance fee' when you drive up the mountain. Not true, we later found out.) and then up the mountain we went! Look how excited he is!



It is incredible what the Chinese have done with this mountain. The trails are all steps. Super steep steps, but at least there are steps. The mountain is all really steep and these steps go right up. At times the steps are somehow attached to the side of a cliff with nothing below for hundreds of meters. I had a hard time with those ones- I have a mild fear of heights that pops up every now and then. And those same areas were probably Eric's favorites. Here are some pictures so you can get an idea of what I mean. But the pictures really don't capture how steep and high up they are:





That's me on that ledge. I was positively shaking at that point. Way too big of a drop for my comfort!

And up those steps is carried everything for the buildings and hotels at the top of the mountain. On the backs of tiny looking but obviously incrediably strong Chinese men. They make two trips up and down each day-- all for a total of about $10 a day. Crazy, isn't it? We passed (and more often than not, they passed us) men carrying water, food, and even wooden doors up.



Eric really had fun watching and talking to all the workers we met along the trail. He has decided that the ultimate dream job would be to pick a trash collector on Huangshan. Hiking up and down the mountain all day (without a huge heavy door on your back). How could it get any better than that?

The lucky trash man.

Another man hard at work (the one with the red hat) with a hammer and chisel.

The mountain was incredible. Every mountain is different and beautiful but Huangshan is so majestic and amazing that it really took my breath away.






This picture is a perfect depiction of how we both felt as we climbed. Me a little terrified of how high we were and Eric just completely loving it.






And we made it! Here we are at Lotus Peak, the highest point on Huangshan.