Huang Shan Day Two

(Caitlin) 

On our second day in Huang Shan (if you count the day we arrived from Xi’an), we got up pretty early to begin our day, and after a quick breakfast in the hotel, we met up with our guide, Phillip, to leave for the mountains. And so, around eight-thirty, after some hurried Wi-Fi using and phone checking, we piled into the van and took off.

After about an hour of driving out of the city, we got out of the car, and headed over to the ticket office for the bus that would take us up the mountain further, because private vehicles aren’t allowed any further. We got on that bus, drove a little while more (this drive was actually pretty cool, because even though it was wicked misty out, so we couldn’t see the entire area, the mountain itself was a sight to see), and disembarked at the bottom of a cable car station.

This cable car was a lot different than the one we had taken up another mountain a few days ago, though. The previous one was a two-seater car, with open windows. This was more along the lines of what you’d see at any ski area, just without the ski rack on the doors. As we continued on up the mountain, we began to notice just how little we could really see out the windows. It was a cold day, and it was raining sporadically, with a thick layer of mist (which for once was not smog) covering the entire area. The further we went up the mountain, the more difficult it became to discern any shapes out of the mist, which concealed virtually everything except for the trees and boulders most near to us.

Regardless of the mist, we arrived at the top of the mountain, and began to walk along this stone and pseudo-wood pathway (The railings were really concrete, for stability, but were they type that were designed to look like tree branches to fit in with the scenery of the place better. The overall effect was nice, actually), which hung off of the side of the cliff seemingly unsupported. The rain had, at some point, turned into snow at the top of the mountain, and then back to rain, so we were walking through slippery slush for most of the day. That sounds miserable, and granted, it was cold, but the way it made the little bit of snow stick to the trees was just perfect. We kept walking, when after about twenty minutes, we came across some monkeys! I’m not making this up, there were about ten or so monkeys just walking around the woods right in front of us. One even came within five feet of the group, but then decided it was shy and ran away.

We stopped for lunch soon after at the hotel that was, surprisingly, at the top of the mountain itself. Considering how hard it must have been to get anything up the mountain at all, it was a very nice hotel, and a good lunch. Timmy had his first Snickers bar after lunch, too!

We headed back down the mountain, tuckered out from walking around in the cold all morning, had a few hours of relaxation, dinner, and that was it for our second day in Huang Shan.