Not sure if you have heard but the tourist attractions in China are renowned for having multiple stops so that fees can be imposed for each one of them to earn tourist dollars. Since our tour package covers the tickets, it doesn't quite matter, although the key word here is inconvenience.
Convenience store within the shuttle bus station. Good for you to stock up on some food/snacks but what's most important here would be the hiking stick, cheapest of which was priced at just 5 RMB (about S$1.00).
Let's hop onto the bus! Two by two seatings in a 35-seater bus were a squeeze, and it didn't help given that it's winter and most of us were heavily padded up to protect ourselves from the chill!
Views along the shuttle bus ride.
We can see the cable car ropeway from the above! While you can climb up the mountains yourselves, it would take you three hours, whereas the cable car ride would only be a mere 10 minutes. You decide.
In event of earthquake, there's only so much it can do.
To be honest, the terrain looked so fake; I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my real eyes! We were so blessed that the weather was good on our first day! Can't say the same for the second day though.
Arrival at Cloud Valley temple stop even though I didn't see the temple. To be fair, my mind was focused on just Huangshan; am already past the age of going through every religious abode when I am overseas since it can be so time-consuming!
p.s. can through China apps like Wechat.
Or so I thought / assumed.
No woah, a line of shops await us to make purchases! That's why even my China friends were commenting that many nature reserves in China are over commercialized. To me, you can choose to ignore and forge ahead!
Cable car station queue! Like not many people right? Reason being it was already 2.00pm and most people would likely climb up the mountain in the morning.
Riding precautions.
Our handy carry-on luggage. As transportation is not that straightforward in the mountains, we were already advised beforehand to have a smaller piece of baggage to bring up the mountain for our hotel stay. These two bags were for four of us!
Up the mountain, on the cable car!
p.s. no video as the windows quite dirty.
I must say the scenery was breathtaking! The mountains at Huangshan don't have that conventional look; either snow capped or filled with trees. From near, they were essentially like over-sized rocks that had speckles of pine trees growing on them!
A lot of people assumed mountains in China are damn tall since Mount Everest borders both China and Nepal. China is a huge country and Huangshan, notably one of the most famous in ancient China, is actually less than 2,000 meters at its highest peak!
At 1,865 meters, its highest peak was only about 65 meters taller than Mount Ulu Kali, the highest peak of Genting Highlands in Malaysia! Well, the view didn't feel the similarity for sure.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site was also known for its never-ending staircases, and that can be a challenge for old folks! Hence, there's a sedan service which cost about S$100 per trip. It's also at this point that we left our luggage for a porter service that send them to our hotel for the night.
Continuing our hiking journey!
We were pre-warned; it shall take three hours.
What surprised us was the long line of customers waiting in line for their cable car journey back to tangkou town! With just capacity for eight persons in one cable car, I wonder how long would be needed to clear the queue!
After encountering so many fellow hikers, it's sobering to come to a path where there's almost no one! It's like everyone has left to descend the mountain!
Chanced upon a few sedan chairs and since we were alone; my elder sister and I decided to give my dad a ride on the chair! Given inexperienced us, we could only hop up and down, like rocking my dad!
Video here!
A feral cat! Hm..... it seemed more common to see cats than dogs in China's nature reserves. When my elder sister was in Huashan last year, I also noticed they found a few cats roaming along the mountain paths.
The White Goose Ridge!
The Peacock Pine (孔雀松).
Looks like a headless peacock to me.
Long line of hikers again.
Again, likely going down the mountain.
White Goose Villa / Hotel, where many people would take a breather before continuing their journey to the iconic stop along this route; the brightness summit.
Continuing our hike.
Alpine meadow; appeared to be more like a dry patch of grass and what it needed most would be cattle to clean it up!
Came to another viewing platform. Seriously, after endless walking, and being surrounded by the same kind of scenery over and over again, there's only so much and so long you can marvel.
Still breathtaking though.
This rocky clearing piqued my interest; would it be a sudden drop at the edge? Exciting, yet a total nightmare for acrophobics like I.
Rest station for drinks and food. Menu pricing for reference; a burger cost about S$7.00 and a coke was about S$3.00.
Love locks! Pragmatic me doesn't really get love locks as you would take more than just locks to maintain a relationship; and for a non-local, I doubt I would be back to search for the lock!
A helipad; didn't know it's so big!
Aside from catering for emergencies on the mountains, I also wonder if its proximity to the above building was a consideration. According to a friend who had been to Huangshan as part of a TCM trip with Chinese counterparts, his accomodation was the above, and for me, it looked more like a fortress than a hotel.
Way we came up from.
Just wondering how he would operate the chair sedan since it's a two-man job. Maybe his partner is taking a piss somewhere.
Goods transported by the porters outside the building I mentioned earlier. Turned out it was a weather station, and also housed a villa; latter of which was a Chinese name sometimes used for accommodation in China.
Highlight of this hike was the peak behind my dad and elder sister. No prize for guess what's the name of the peak!
Name: Lotus Peak!
Video of the surrounding for your viewing pleasure.
What kind of fence and handrails would you prefer at nature reserves? I would prefer more natural materials, instead of hard, moulded concrete.
How many animals can you see from the above?
I saw a small tortoise, and the mouth of a carp (fish).
Unlike our pathetically small Bukit Timah Hill, Huangshan is a lot bigger! Hence, we could only conquer maybe only a third or lesser in the less than 24-hour allocated to us.
The end-stop for this particular hike would be this photo spot with lotus peak in the background, where everyone was queuing patiently for their turn.
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Our family of four for this tour.
With some time to spend, let the crazy daredevils attempt to go up slightly further for more panoramas! Daredevils are simply my sister and I.
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Climbing all the way up!
Beautiful sights in front of us. Well, standing at this height doesn't quite differ much from where Alex and my dad were waiting for us though.
I didn't even dare to go up to the above level.
My sister did though; she is a true-blue daredevil.
This hook would be used for rock climbing?
Can you spot Alex and my dad? My dad is actually daring too but now that he is older; we are also afraid he would over-exert himself. Since his ordeal at Similan Islands, he was also more careful.
Making our way down! If the weather was rainy, I would strongly discourage anyone from climbing up as going down will likely result in slips and falls, and those would be a big bummer for tourists like us.
Most day hikers would have already descended the mountain but for some overnight stayers who happen to be avid photographers, this would be the best time to avoid the crowd!
It's a permanent rubbish spot?
Ending day 1 at Huangshan!
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Map of Huangshan
As above.
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