Huangshan, China (中国, 黄山) – 2011
Shawna and I took a trip to China’s mystical Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, as it’s called in English. We met a few funny characters while there, also ate quite a few Snickers to keep the grumpies away. A lot of people wanted their pictures taken with us because we’re white, and therefore rich. Here are some of the magical sites we saw!
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- View from the cable car we took halfway up the mountain. We balked at the price when we first saw it but it was actually worth it. Actually part of the reason we balked was the fact that it was twice as expensive for us because we were foreigners (Chinese pay a different price).
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- Shawna, staring off at some peak…probably inspiring if you’re a poet or whatever.
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- Nothing but net…whatever that means in this situation…
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- Mountains are so awesome. I want to see a time lapse video of these mountains forming. I looked for one on National Geographic but I couldn’t find the video anywhere.
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- When I look at these photos I can vividly experience the way the air felt up there, the temperature, the crisp quality.
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- The senses seemed to be keener up here, not sure if I was just so “in the moment” or if it was the fresh air or even a spiritual connection to nature…
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- I don’t know if the handrail exists to encourage you to go out there or not…but look at the angle of her feet. Getting to this little look-out spot was incredibly dangerous even with the rail there. I don’t know what kind of crazy people thought it was a good idea to make it accessible to everyone (there were many people wearing sandals, some wearing business suits throughout the hike). Also, props to whoever actually put the rail there.
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- A view of our hotel, the Beihai Hotel. Two nights cost more than what a month of rent costs where I’m living now.
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- After looking off this peak a guy we met told me it was so beautiful and it would be the perfect place to commit suicide. He said you wouldn’t feel a thing if you jumped…for multiple reasons I don’t think he’s done it before.
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- Not sure exactly what that sign was trying to say.
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- The mountains never seem to end. Another layer would keep appearing in the background. I’m not sure what the building on the right is.
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- A bunch of people meditating at one of the highest spots at Yellow Mountain.
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- Shawna just hanging out in the clouds.
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- People constantly wanted their photo taken with one of us.
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- One-handed corn snack. In America we use two hands usually and roll the corn. In China you use one hand to eat corn and the other hand to push people who are in your way.
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- Scary climb. Just seeing it from a distance kind of freaked me out for a minute.
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- Unbelievably steep stairs. Besides being steep and uneven, they were also wet. The lady in front of us was probably in her late 50s or so.
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- Here’s Shawna pointing out a rock she found…
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- This one was called Turtle Facing the Golden Sun or something like that. At the top it does kind of look like a turtle’s head. Most of the peaks had names but I am not sure of their genders.
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- More stairs…this path was closed. At the very bottom about where the stairs start, maybe you can see that little black square, that was a man and his son having lunch at the bottom of the stairs. This was pretty awe-inspiring.
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- This man is carrying raw meat and some other goods on the left side. On the right side he is carrying eggs and vegetables. At a higher resolution you can see individual sweat beads on his back. There were tons of men carrying things up the mountain like this. Some men were carrying cases of water, jugs of oil and other food items. The majority of the men doing this looked to be over 40-years-old. I suppose they could’ve aged more quickly if that was their career, but I’m not sure that is the case.
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- A view facing away from the mountain from the city below. The walk down the mountain from the top took us four and a half hours.
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- From the city below, facing the mountain.
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- Time to reflect upon our accomplishment…or a window…either one, same thing.
