| Objective: Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain Where: Anhui Province, China Distance: 9 miles (roundtrip) Trip Length: 2 trekking days | 2 half days on trains |
Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, is a mysterious mountain range in Anhui Province, China. It is famous for its ubiquitous mist, creatively named rock formations, and distinctive pine trees. Visit the source of inspiration for generations of artists and poets.
Train Ride from Shanghai to Huangshan
My cousin Zheng Zhen, sister Jennifer, and I are on our way to catch a train. Zheng Zhen’s father drops us off at the Shanghai railway station where we will then travel to Tunxi.
We board a hard sleeper train. Each train car has a hallway with about ten alcoves, and each alcove has two opposing triple bunk bed stacks. Our afternoon consists of refilling water bottles from a coal-heated samovar at the end of the car, and playing cards. We jump off the train at Nanjing and grab four bowls of beef cilantro noodles for ¥20. We also have a snack of fresh lychees Jen has brought from Zhangjiagang. Good night. The train rocks you to sleep.
At around 1:00 a.m., we arrive at Huangshan Shi (Tunxi) train station. Our tour guide walks us to a hotel right across the street. I stay up until 2:30 a.m. to watch Germany beat South Korea in a World Cup elimination match.
An Early Start
At 6:45 a.m., Jennifer wakes us up, and our guide leads us to a bus. We have already bought breakfast before boarding, so we quietly eat our fried noodles in our seats.
Take the Eastern Steps or a Cable Car?
We transfer to another bus that drives to the base of the Eastern Steps. This ginormous staircase is 7.5 km to the top. At 9:00 a.m., we begin our ascent. I generally dislike steps, but even without steps, the journey is extremely steep and strenuous.
There are many laborers carrying massive loads. Amazing! Some even lift enormous wooden walls.
Unglue your eyes from the stone steps above – the scenery is magnificent. The mountain ranges seem to pop up out of nowhere. As you climb higher, you notice mountains surrounded by a sea of clouds and topped with distinctive pine trees.
Fortunately, shade covers most of the trail, so it’s cool for the most part. But it’s very easy to overheat when the sun is out. Everyone starts out strong, but near the top, you need a break after every few steps. On the other hand, Zheng Zhen is having no problems. He is bounding up and away with ease.
Many couples attach padlocks to the trees along the path. Each lock symbolizes their eternal unbreakable love.
We reach the top of the Yungu cable car line by noon. (Wait, we didn’t have to walk this segment?) For lunch, we have bowls of noodles, as well as granola bars, individually-wrapped sweet hot dogs, and lychees.
After lunch, we walk up and down stone paths leading to many mini-peaks. The sun is finally shining at full strength, so it is difficult to seek relief under the scarce shade.
Whimsically Named Rocks
A lady tells us to view the famous rock formations from the sunny bridge. They all have witty and imaginative names. We spot one famous rock group, “Guanyin and her Three Disciples.” There is another outcropping representing the band of heroes who went on the “Journey to the West.” Two people play xiang qi (a game with pebbles on a chessboard) with an onlooker behind each player. At one spot, we see a mountain that looks like an ink brush.
We stumble upon a flower named ling dan miao yao, a miraculous cure found only on Huang Shan.
After a full day viewing the mountaintop’s splendors, we find a hotel room for our hiking crew at ¥108 each. Then, we all play cards until 4:00 p.m. Eventually, we take a stroll along the side of the enormous valley.
At 5:30 p.m., dinner includes winter melon, bean curd knots with pork, green beans, green bell peppers, and scrambled eggs. We quench our thirst with ice tea. Back in the room, the four of us play cards for hours. Then, we watch a very violent police/martial arts movie as well as the Brasil-Türkiye World Cup match. After that, there is an insect infestation – first, a giant mosquito, next a fly, then a moth.
Watching the Sunrise at Bright Peak
At 3:45 a.m., we wake up extra early to watch the sunrise. It is very cold at first. We wear jackets and carry flashlights. But after climbing for a bit, I feel comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts, even with a cool breeze. We reach the top of Guangming Ding (Bright Peak), and wait for the sun with a big group of people. The crowd’s anticipation is building. Although it’s kind of gloomy, whenever the sun makes a brief appearance from behind the clouds, everyone cheers. As the clouds drift away, you start to see your surroundings on Bright Peak’s summit at 6,102 feet (1,860 m).
Trekking up to Lotus Peak and back down
Next up is a short trek to the tallest peak of the Yellow Mountain range. Lianhua Feng (Lotus Peak) is 6,115 feet (1,864 m), just a hair taller than Bright Peak. At 7:45 a.m., we take a break, and enjoy some coconut juice and chocolate. Up to the present time, we have always been climbing higher.
Now it’s time to turn around and begin our descent down the Western Steps at 8:30 a.m. This staircase is much longer and steeper than the Eastern Steps route. While this may be true, we race down in just two hours. It’s pretty quick, but not as fast as some soldiers who are running down the staircase.
A Lightning Storm in Huangshan City
We take a taxi to our bus for ¥5 each. On our way to the hotel, we stop briefly to look around at a jade shop. Our next stop is a tea shop where we sample green tea, oolong tea, lazy man tea, and red tea. That really hits the spot.
We reach our hotel and play cards until dinner. But dinner will have to wait because of the storm. The rain is very heavy. After the weather finally subsides at 5:30 p.m., we visit the restaurant next door. The table has plates of chicken, eggplants, onions, tofu, bamboo shoots, squash, and winter melon soup. At the store across the street, we stock up on supplies for tomorrow’s train journey.
Back at the hotel, Zheng Zhen gets a cleaver from the hotel lobby and cuts huge wedges of watermelon. I must have eaten at least a quarter of the melon, and seeds fly out of the window. Soon after a flurry of lightning bolts, the city’s electrical grid goes dark and then everyone falls asleep.
Train Trip from Huangshan to Shanghai
We leave our hotel at 7:00 a.m. for the train station. We board train car 1, and depart at 7:54 a.m. I grab a refreshing orange yogurt drink. Then we play cards for hours (notice a pattern here?). For lunch, I sample a can of sweet congee with red beans, longnan, barley, and rice. When we aren’t playing cards, we grub on sunflower seeds (gua zi), chocolate-filled cookies, citrus-syrup candy, and honey lemon tea.
During lulls, we translate words and phrases back and forth. At Suzhou, our friend Angela, who was on the same Huangshan tour, exits the train. She basically translated most of the guided tour for us, which has been very helpful. Like she said, “we’ll have good memories” of our trip. With Zheng Zhen along for the ride, getting around is so much easier. Did I mention that Jennifer hauled a Lonely Planet guidebook and bulky digital camera all the way up the mountain? Upon arrival at Shanghai, Zheng Zhen’s father is already waiting for us at the train station. Back at their home, Zheng Zhen’s mother has prepared an incredible feast for us. This is the best reward for our efforts on Yellow Mountain. We enjoy braised pork, soy beans with bean skin threads, squid with savory vegetables, cashews, richly-flavored eel, and wonton soup.
