Hua Shan – Xi’an in pictures

Published June 14, 2011

We found a tour bus that would drive us to Mt. Hua for $30 RMB.  Not a bad deal considering we’d spend the better half of 3 hours on the ride over.  Being in China made me skeptical of everyone.  The owner of the bus was run by a young boy who looked like he had more in common with korean dramas than running tour companies.  So I asked him a grand total of six times that we were actually being dropped off near the hiking trail to Hua, and not the cable car.  You can’t be too careful in China.

We were dropped off near the tour company’s main office in the town where Hua shan is located.  We were briefly lectured about the risks of hiking Mt Hua but it was all in Mandarin so it was all a moot point to me.  Matt tried to translate for me.

“Mt Hua is one of the most dangerous mountains in China, and maybe the world.”

“You will be climbing stairs where each side of you will drop hundreds of feet.”

“IF you are scared, then I suggest you climb at night!”

At this point, everyone’s eyes peered up giving him the look of crazies.

“…because if you climb at night, you won’t see anything! so you can’t be scared!”

A natural comedian, haha.

We ate briefly at the restaurant, it felt weird to be the only customers, likely for the entire day.  The meal was expensive and the taste bland, but it was the carbs we needed.  A stray dog laid outside sitting in a fetal dying position and I swear, I have never seen as many scared dogs as in China.  Maybe they know that they could be dinner tomorrow.

We walked up to the main Hua shan gate, realizing that we were finally here.  For me, it was an adventure I had waited ten years for.  I first saw Hua in my junk hotmail inbox.  Something about a crazy mountain in China with these ridiculous pictures of chinese people climbing the sides of mountains holding on to only chains.  At that point I decided I HAD to come here, and here I was, finally.  I felt like I had landed on the moon.

We took the obligatory pictures at the entrance and before we knew it we were buying tickets and ready to hike.  It’s kind of a strange feeling walking up a mountain.  I mean, on one hand it sounds ridiculous to know that at its highest point, Hua Shan is 7000ft in the air.

 

 

We walked briskly.  The first 3KM were a breeze, much like a leisurely walk in the park.  What you don’t realize though, is the walk is slowly draining all your energy for when you really need it later, the stairs.  We didn’t really take many breaks, but Matt was in worse shape than I was.  He was a real trooper though and as we got higher we rewarded ourselves with more rest in between strides.

The road reminded me a bit of alice in wonderland.  Where all around you the world just seemed surreal, yet there was this pathway leading you somewhere you didn’t quite know.  You’d follow it of course, but it all just seems so whack because it seems like there should be no place for such a road in between such hostile but beautiful terrain.

 

By far the cutest stray I saw.

Yes, that really is a motorcycle going down a mountain path.

As we got higher, we passed by so many hermit houses.  Houses which didn’t look like they belonged anywhere near a mountain with stairs looking like you’d pay a price to be drunk when walking down them.  Most of the places were temples I’d imagine and most probably weren’t in use.  Still, it was amazing to see the effort it must have took to build such a place.

After about 4 KM, we started hitting the stairs.  Here we go, I thought.  After about 50 steps I was already exhausted.  It was a pretty sad day for my fitness ability but we marched on.  The stairs were incredibly annoying.  You know when people don’t build steps small enough to let you double them and not large enough to let you take one comfortable step either?

We passed by so many different engravings of chinese characters on rocks.  It was gorgeous.  As we got higher, the mountains started surrounding us on every side, as if it was embracing us, letting us know that it understood the insane trek that we were undergoing and that it would soon be worth its weight in gold.  As we walked up, we hit an area where there were padlocks and red everywhere. I was told that travelers would place locks here for good luck.  That’s a lot of travelers.

 

The hiking trail was pretty empty when we walked that day with the exception of a couple women who were also making the trip.  They moved fast, much faster than I’d be willing to admit.  A group of old folks were coming down the mountain while Matt and I were catching our breath and I remember them pointing and laughing at us.  Ha ha, encouragement!  We went past many small shops that were closed for the better part of the winter.  Walking along one of the houses, I saw running water streaming down the steps and noticed that he was washing cucumbers over cold water.  Awesome!  Those things are amazingly tasty.

 

 

We continued walking for what seemed like another couple hours.  You really can’t explain how difficult it is to be constantly going up stairs.  You only ever realize how high you are, or how many steps you’ve climbed when you stop to rest, turn around and see how high you’ve come up the hill.  It becomes a bit of a routine after a while and a real treat seeing the scenery unfold before your own efforts.

I’ll continue this in the next post… too many pictures for one page, and it’s time for an early morning tomorrow.