The Ride - 10.13 + 10.14

Being on the west coast, we are evenly spaced from east asia and western europe, which makes the flight from SFO to Beijing much more bearable. We were unfortunate though with the seat arrangement, since we got to the airport a *mere* 2 hours ahead. We had E and F, the middle seats of the middle section, with a glaring out-of-tune monitor blasting light at us. So the 12 hours didn't exactly melt away. But the service was quite surprisingly decent. And the airline food not so horrible.

We landed at Beijing to a dusky sunset. To call it dusky is giving it the benefit of the doubt. The Capital Airport was laid out much like any other but for the noticeable lack of ventilation. We waited with throngs of people for our connection to Shanghai, ended up totally lucking out on that leg, getting the first row window seats with oodles of leg room. And we didn't even have to ask for it!

Hong Qiao airport was entirely oldschool in comparison. They had chairs all made of metal, pots of pretty azaleas alternating with other leafies, half walls in hospital blue, and a toilet I ran out as soon as I stepped in. Outside there were two huuuuuge lines for taxis, one "short distance", one long. Of course, I had no clue if where we are going counted as short or long, had to ask someone. It was almost a disneyland line, but mercifully fast moving. With a bit difficulty we finally arrived at my aunt's place, after 20 hours of travel. Hot shower and a bowl of authentic steaming chicken broth noodle, the baby chicken kind that had been stewed all day. Then off to our separate rooms to bed.

Perfume for Yiyi 25USD. Icewine for aunt 289Y. Pack of preserved prune 12Y. IC phone card 100Y. Taxi from Hong Qiao to aunts place 74Y.

Shanghai Day 1 - 10.15

My aunt's place was nice, 3 bedrooms, big living room, sectioned off balconies with nice views, with curtains billowing in the warm fall breezes. Shanghai felt so surprisingly warm with daytime temperature at 24C. The apartment was built right beside a tributary of the main river that runs through Shanghai, minutes away from Hong Kou park and the Hong Kou stadium. Dark stained hardwood that lined the floor was also used on the doors. I thought the color coordination was a little off. But the place was much nicer than my usual expectation of lodging in China.

My aunt was super hospitable, pampering us in every single way. Breakfast was so good, my favorite Shen Jian Bao, with sweet Da Bing!! Sinyee on the other hand much preferred the savory ones. OMG my uncle just picked it up from their local free market but it beats all the places I have tried in the west, together. A little congee, some preserved vegies and shredded pork, classic SH breakfast.

We took their bicycles out to open a bank account and exchange my USD. We got a real kick out of riding the old bikes down busy shanghai streets, weaving and dodging and generally learning survival tactics. It was wild. Too bad I couldn't get some shots while on the bike.

Outside of Bank of China, my aunt hooked up with a Huang Niu (yellow cow), slang for a black market exchange person. The bank was offering 8.00 rate, and the guy in black was ready to deal 8.05 for us. Out of his single-strap bag, he counted out two huge bundles of 100-yuan bills and handed them to me right in the middle of the bank, with the security guard not two-feet away. If he wasn't dealing on the bank on the other end, I'll be damned. Anyway, we got the account open after about 12 entries of my pin number and had the money deposited and an ATM card ready. I didn't think that could be done in 1 day.

Hopped over to a travel agency by the park entrance to arrange tickets to Chengdu and more importantly to JiuZhaiGou. But we found out all flights to JZG were apparently sold out for all the days we could stretch for. We would end up having everyone single one of my relatives trying to get us tickets, to no avail. And I would learn the frustration of trying to get tickets online in china, especially over my uncle's 28.8 dialup. Eventually we decided to just get to Chengdu and see what other options we could dig up, being prepared to take the 10 hour bus to JZG as a last resort.

All my relatives from my dad's side came over for lunch. They brought over freshly produce and a shanghai classic: freshwater blue crab. We came to china at the perfect time to enjoy this famous delicacy: lunar september is when the female crabs get belly-full with golden crab roes. Lunch started with a dozen dishes of mostly vegies, which suited our palate just fine being still tired from travel and jet lag, and very very tasty ones at that. The fresh shittakes and the Shanghainese greens were particularly delicious. I also had a cup of chinese red wine that was surprisingly good.

Then came the crab, probably 2 dozen of them in two batches. Syl was much surprised as she thought the first dozen or so dishes was a feast enough. Eating crab was a ritual to be enjoyed in leisure, so when the clock struck three we were just finishing up the last of the crustaceans. Then, the final course of noodles in broth made from the crab water. Flecks of orange oil (crab roe oil) floated on the golden broth setting off the pearly flat noodle. I saved up my (crab) leg meats for the noodle. Oh it was soup heaven. So yummo! I could have had two other bowls of the broth and literally busted my belly.

A lengthy and family picture time followed that tested much patience. Then off to the Bund by old fasioned bus hopping. The late afternoon was gray for the sun has set behind cloud/smog. We walked down Nan Jing road to idle away some time until 7 so we could go back to the bund to see all the lights get turned on. More pictures. By then we were both gravely exhausted and in no more mood for posing. Still we had to bear through a fairly lengthy and crappy dinner at a restaurant within the Huang He "gourmet street." Taxi home, shower and pass out immediately.

Overnight train to Huang Shan mid & lower bunks 169 & 174. (Bus to bund 1Y. 7 appetizer 8 main course 3 dessert dinner ~150Y)

	This one's for gabe

Shanghai Day 2 - 10.16

After another identical yummy breakfast, my aunt rode out with us on three rickety bikes to bus 20. There the two of us locked up our bikes and bussed over to Jing An Si (temple) on the 20. I finally got to try the much-talked about Jing An Si temple vegetarian noodle! Well it wasn't all that great. Never having had the old ones I didn't now if this was just a corrupted version (the temple has been and was still undergoing massive reconstruction).

I visited grandpa in the nearby Hua Dong hospital while syl walked around on her own. The hospital hasn't changed a bit, even down to the European style main building back foyer and the tranquil lawn garden it opened onto, just as I remembered it from way back in childhood.

Meeting back with sinyee, we picked up some essentials and browsed a well stocked food store. I drooled at the various cookies and pastries and candies I used to eat when I was young. Ended up going back home with a good selection of treats in both our tummies and bags. After a bit of packing, we said goodbyes to my aunt/uncle and taxied off to Quan Ju De for dinner with my uncle on the mom's side.

The food at this restaurant was fancy and expensive, but not really all that great. A few interesting pieces like a shallow soup of shredded tofu skin, and a smoked duck meat. I did quite fancy the chinese liquor my uncle and Yi Yi were drinking. Very fragrant, just like the ones my grandpa used to drink at dinner.

I like trains. The gentle rocking, the rhythmic grind of the wheels on the track, gives such a sense of going-to-places, the anticipation of adventures. Yet it is perfectly restful and private. I do have something for these small spaces where every nook has a purpose. Not to mention the practicality of an overnight sleeper. By tomorrow morning, we would arrive at Huang Shan, our first real travel stop.

bus 20 1Y. Jing An Si noodle 10Y. Preserved prunes 5.8 per jar. Hickory walnuts 33Y/jing. Cookies 1-2 per pack. Loose cookies 5Y. Mooncake 1.20Y. Chestnuts ~18Y. Taiwanese pancake 3. Lamb Skewer 2. Bus 20 1Y. Taxi to Quan Ju De 21Y. (Dinner probably around 3-400Y). Taxi again to train station 10Y (starting fee).

Roasted yam vendor	Jing An Si kitchen
Classic SH ladies coming out of temple

Huang Shan Day 1 - 10.17

We woke up relatively refreshed and ready for the day of hiking ahead. The mid bunk beside us had a stuffy-nose-snorer who came on board sometime in the wee hours. I had to move to the top bunk above him to get some peace and quiet. Morning slowly burnt off the fog and streamed through the train curtains, revealing rough patches of fields in brown and green and gold, dotted with ancient farm houses with their blue-gray roof tiles and weathered concrete walls attesting to their age. Stony graves were set into low dirt mounts facing the rail way with their white tomb stones. Here and there, a new-looking farm house would stand out among the others, invariably one story higher, and pink in color. Sinyee was much excited by the sighting of water buffalos amongst other farm animals. And a farmer with a hoe.

Me acting like a chinese train rider

Huang Shan station looked as antiquated and sleepy as the miles we passed before. Barren, utilitarian, free of any glits. Outside, sinyee got a round of practice at ignoring peddlers, a skill she will certainly call upon again on this trip. I arranged a bus to shuttle us to the mountain from the train station, for 10yuan each. We picked up some distinctly un-delicious breakfast items and got herded off to a different bus than the one we promised. As usual they packed the minibus to the gills before taking off. The fare-collector girl had to shut the curtain and duck when we apparently passed an inspection point or police check.

Like so many other backpackers blogs we read, our bus driver turned out to be the craziest one on the road. Given three lanes, he would choose to pass a lone vehicle on the left by swerving into the oncoming lane. Many a times we would be squeezed between two cars going opposite directions with mere inches to spare. I was kind of used to that now, but I did catch sinyee's grimace once in a while. In truth the T-H (Tunxi-HuangShan) road was spacious and not terribly twisty, and Mr. driver did refrain from overtaking cars around blind corners. Not to mention we arrived in Tong Kou (town at the foot of HS) in just over an hour.

We had to switch to a state run bus system to go into HuangShan area (10y), and it didn't even drop us off at the cable car - we had to walk up around 1km, with our packs. Alas, then, the day was yet young and us full of energy. The mountain side sported lots of bamboo trees. Their leaves crispy green swaying in the breeze, stalks of gray and green and yellowy white flexing this way and that. Very pleasant drive.



Entrance fee to HS, 200y. Cable car lift up, 65y. It certainly wasn't cheap getting into this world heritage area. Everywhere, mid age and old chinese folks thronged the walkway, sitting on stairs blocking the entire row, chatting away, their vocal loudness matched only by the colors of their tour group hats.

Off the Ci Guang Ge (Merciful light temple) cable car, the road winds up to Tian Hai (Sky Sea) on the back, and past Hao Han Pou (Heroic Slope) to Yu Ping Lou (Jake screen hotel) on the front. Sinyee was ready to call it quits after the Heroic Slope, a hundred odd steps lined moderately steeply upwards. Granted, we were carrying hefty packs, mine at least 30 pound for all the water I filled into the reservoir last night (by later test we believe it was more around 25lb). But surely we could not be beaten by the middle age pudgy tour-group herds. So we trekked on.

A tourist porter
	Heroic Slope

A stone's throw away from the top of Heroic Slope perched the fancy Yu Ping Lou and its restaurant. The small mountain top plateau was teeming with people crowding around the calligraphy wall, the vista point looking upon Tian Du Feng (Heaven Capital Peak), and the famous Ying Ke Song (Welcoming Pine) drew its own twisting lines of tourists eager to plant themselves in the exact same pose with the gnarly old tree.

I checked out the room rates at Yu Ping. 1280y for standard doubles, 240 for a bed in a multi-dorm with attached shower, and 120 for a bed in one without. Syl wasn't going to take another step with the pack on so we checked it at the hotel for 10y each and planned our day. 2hrs round trip up Heaven Capital and another 3-4hrs to Bei Hai (North Sea area) should put us squarely at sunset time. We enjoyed a good fast food lunch with a slice of heavenly watermelon, snapped some shots at the impressive Heaven Capital Peak for posterity, and then hit the trail.

	Pine welcoming sinyee
You can barely make out the stairs up Heavenly Capital behind me	Tourists lined up for a pose with Welcoming Pine

When I say trail, I really mean stone-paved steps and walkways. See the chinese believe in conquering Nature, not living in harmony with it. So they built km's and km's of good paved path all over the mountain. Which was nice looking, and certainly made it possible to reach some places that otherwise would have been impossible for any without mountaineering credentials.

So we head down, down and down from Yu Ping we go, around a sharp bend under the Welcoming Pine, dipping into a cave under a giant rock, past countless flights of stairs, a named site at every turn. Yi Xian Tian (One-line sky), Du Xian Qiao (Deity crossing bridge), Wo Long Jian (Prowling Dragon Gully), Pu Tuan Shi (Mattress Rock) etc. On this way, we got our first glimpse of the HuangShan porters in their airy yellow uniform.

	One Line Sky

The porters carry a lot if not all of the supplies needed on the mountain, food, produce, water, construction parts, laundry, etc. Upon the ends of a halved stick of bamboo hangs their load. That stick sits across their one shoulder, and is then counterbalanced by a shorter stick across the other shoulder. Quite ingeniously, when they are tired, the porters would plant the shorter stick on the ground and the main stick fits perfectly into the curved grove on the top end of the short stick, thus resting the packs without having to have both loads on the ground. Anyway, more to come on the story of these guys.

The back side (west side) of Huang Shan was broad sweeps of peaks stacked one upon another in staggering heights. Of these the HC stood highest in its own lonesome; its steepness made even more pronounced by the opposing viewing angle from Yu Ping Lou. Standing at the bottom of the Yu Ping Lou descend, stairs edged straight up the nearly vertical face of Heaven Capital, we seemed to be tackling the near-impossible. With camera in one hand and metal chain railing in the other, I lumbered up the (in)famous peak. It was only the 3rd highest peak in HS, but well known for being most diffcult and dangerous to summit.

The stairs were steep and shallow, at points divided into three sections of separate height giving each step a tiny square of standing room. Looking up, the dazzling afternoon sun filtered through cheerful yellow leaves. At one particularly narrow and steep part on the face of a dagger-life cliff, we thought we were done, only to climb the last steps and discover a whole other section behind the bend. A very "Grand Canyon moment".



Past the well-known Carp's Back and a few cave tunnels, we reached the top at 1810 meters. The return trip was made with a quicker pace. We met a chinese guy with a brazilian cowboy hat that was traveling by himself. He spoke good american english, and was doing a self-guided 2-day tour of HS just like us.

	Carp's Back & Yu Ping Lou
Way back up to Yu Ping Lou	Way we came down Heaven Capital

By the time we picked up our bags again from Yu Ping Lou, it was already nearing 4pm. We hurried on towards the front of the mountain, towards Bei Hai (north sea). The way was filled with immovable stairs stretching in vast long rises that tested our resolve. We paved each step with sweat and burning lactic acid. Around the highest mountain Lotus Peak, bypassing the Lotus Stamen Peak, down the Hundred Step Cloud Ladder, around one beautiful autumn colored bends after another. Faced with a fork in the road, we chose the path to Turtle Cave instead of One Line Sky, a literally breath-taking mountain pass in the sky, which syl was in no mood to assail. However as it turned out Turtle Cave wasn't a very cave like feature either. It was likely every bit as high as the One Line Sky path.

After topping the hill behind Turtle Cave, we turned around briefly for a victory view of the Lotus Peak in the setting sun. Once we passed the Fish Carrying Turtle hill, it was obvious we weren't going to make it to Bei Hai before sunset today, so we took up an offer for a dingy backroom dorm in White Cloud Hotel. Bargained from 300 to 250 for exclusive use of the 6-person room. By the time we settled in, the sun had disappeared behind a thick wall of dark clouds. No Huang Shan sunset memory for us.

	Hundred Step Cloud Ladder - Down

The accommodation was extremely basic, damp and freezing cold. But no other rooms were available in that area - I stubbornly commanded my rubbery legs to take me to all three hotels in the area for verification, much to the lament of the guy trying to sell us the backroom for he had to follow me everywhere. Already my right knee started to throb painfully going up down each staircase. Today we must have mounted nearly three thousand stairs. I was hoping it will recover by tomorrow.

In the tiny room, we each had a turn at taking an acrobatic bath in a pair of flimsy plastic facewash basins. Following that with a warm but very mediocre meal at least chased away some of the mountain chills. By 9 we were both tucked into bed with three layers of bedding above and below. We were not to miss the famed sunrise tomorrow morning.

3 bunk beds	Bath tub
Only source of hot water	Hallway

minibus to mountain 10Y. breakfast 5Y. State bus up mountain 10. Cable car 65. HS entrance 200. Bag storage 10. Fast food lunch tray 25. Watermelon slice 5. Zhong 4. 500ml water 10. 500ml grape drink 12. 6-bed room no shower 300. Massage chair 1Y/min. 2 dish 1 soup dinner 120.