Huang Shan Mountain Part 1

To the south of Hefei, in the Anhui Province, is a huge mountain range called Huang Shan. Andi and I took a trip here last week and stayed on the mountain overnight. The mountain range is over 100 million years old, amazingly shaped, and one hell of a climb. I have never seen so many stairs in all my life!! They estimate that there are 60,000 stone steps on the mountain and that they are roughly 1,500 years old.

You can enter the mountain from four different directions. We stared on the south side and exited on the east. At the base of where we started was a temple that they turned into a museum.

There is only one way to get up the mountain: cable car.

The cable car ride takes about 10 minutes, during which you are suspended over sections of the mountain. It is amazing how they construct the poles that stabilize the cars as they go up. Some of them are placed on small little sections of rock that look impossible to get to.

Two views as we rode up.

Some of the stone steps are man-made and are built right into the rock themselves. They also built bannister's out of rock, making the rock look like wood, that line the steps in some sections.

There are several different paths to follow as you move along the mountain. Most of them are built right into the mountain itself.

Climbing this section sucked! :p

Walking isn't the only way to get through the mountain. You can hire two guys to carry you up and down the stairs while you sit in a chair made of bamboo like the one above. It is expensive, however.

As you go along the mountain there are small stores where you can buy food and drinks. There are also several hotels at different sections. To get product to these places, guys pack several things together and then tie them onto a bamboo pole. This is ridiculously hard work and Andi says that they don't get paid very well(they get paid by weight of product). This guy had water, cucumbers, corn, and soda drinks.

With food on the mountain comes trash on the mountain. People walk around and clean up after others, cramming trash into bags. Then it's the long walk up and down to take it off the mountain.

These seven poor bastards had to carry up a motor!!

There are two ways to stay on the mountain. One of them is too sleep in tents which Andi was amazed to see. Chinese people just don't go camping!

The other way is to stay at one of the several hotels on the mountain. We were lucky and were able to stay at the only four star hotel up there. Our entire trip on the mountain was "provided" for us because of how high up Andi's father is in the government here. As my aunt says, "one hand washes the other."