A Walk in the Clouds

A new year in China is upon us and that is time for new classes, new friends, new experiences, and new adventures! Originally, Adam and I had planned to travel out to the western province of Xinjiang on the border of Pakistan and India! It is the home of the Uyghur people and has a huge Middle Eastern influence which is why Adam dreams of getting out there. With our stay in America extended longer than we had planned, we realized that we wouldn't have time to get all the way across China before school started so Adam and I decided that our September trip would be a bit closer to home. After tossing around a few ideas, we decided on 黄山(pronounced Huangshan), the Yellow Mountain.

The trip out west would have taken us DAYS.

Yellow Mountain is a bit closer--just a three hour bus ride.

If you are someone who loves natural beauty over architectural beauty, this is definitely a place to visit in China. I've been to a few different mountain ranges now since visiting China--the Himalayas during Spring Festival which you can read about here and ZhangJiaJie in May which you can revisit right here--but I seriously never get tired of seeing mountains. When you look up at them you can't even begin to imagine how old they are... hundreds of millions of years old--they have seen more in their magnificent lives than we ever can. They stood strong at the birth of man, they were there when the Egyptians built the pyramids, they were there when the Vikings pillaged and plundered Europe, they were there when America was forming as a nation, they were there when the atom bomb was dropped, and they will continue to be there long after we are gone. We are just a tiny blip at we gaze up at their existence, a part of their story for just an instant... and if that is not incredible, I don't know what is!

Today, Yellow Mountain is one of China's biggest tourist attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage Site but it has a long and colorful history.

Formed over 100 million years ago, it was originally called Yishan 宜山(Yi Mountain) but in 747AD the name changed by imperial decree to the name that we call it today Huangshan 黄山. With mountains that are so incredible and prehistoric, of course there are legends that surround the mountain!

It is believed that the name Yellow Mountain is not because of the color of the mountains (though they are, indeed yellow) but rather, Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor, who is believed to be the legendary ancestor of the ethnic Han Chinese. Tradition and legend claims that he ruled from 2697-2597BC before ascending into heaven at the Yellow Mountain, hence the range is named after him.

黄帝, Huang Di, the originator of the centralized state, a cosmic ruler, and ancestor of the ethnic Han Chinese.

The fun thing about myths and legends is that no one can ever disprove them and they always add a bit of spice and personality to a location and Yellow Mountain is certainly a place that has personality. It simply captures your imagination. If you ever see old Chinese paintings of mountains shrouded in mist, you're probably looking at Yellow Mountain--it is the epitome of what foreigners think China looks like.

Two paintings from the 1600s depicting Yellow Mountain

Knowing this was probably one of the most beautiful places in China to visit, and encouragement from Other Adam, we decided to make Yellow Mountain our first stop on our year long tour of China!

With this weekend being a holiday weekend (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!), Adam and I went into town on Wednesday to buy our bus tickets to leave Thursday 9/4 early in the morning... 7:40AM early. The bus ride to Yellow Mountain is a little over three hours, taking you out of Zhejiang province and into Anhui province. The bus was completely filled with adventurers, both young and old, ready to conquer the mountain on their holiday weekend. 

We drove through the rolling hills of Zhejiang province and at about the three hour mark, I began to notice that the hills and mountains had disappeared and it was disturbingly flat to be near Yellow Mountain. Eventually, we arrived a little after 11AM in the town of Tangkou (which not so conveniently calls itself Huangshan as well) and--behold!--there were the mountains. We hopped on a smaller shuttle bus that took us high up into the mountain (because nobody wants to walk up the entire mountain!) and we were off on our adventure. 

Following the advice from Other Adam, we hopped into the cable car that took us up into the mountain range. Now, when Other Adam was describing Yellow Mountain while we were all visiting ZhangJiaJie together, he said that you are above the clouds when you are at Yellow Mountain. I thought he was exaggerating! I don't think I was above the clouds when I was hiking in Nepal, how could we be above the clouds in China? I am happy to say that I was wrong... Very wrong.

The cable car might have been my absolute favorite part of the entire trip. It was about a five minute ride up into the mountains and, indeed, we hit the clouds, the sun disappeared, and we could barely see anything! Occasionally, another cable car would appear in the mist and pass us by and sometimes we would spot a looming mountain through the window. It was incredible and we really were up above the clouds.

Notice how it is nice, clear, and GREEN in the first two photos and then nothing but white and a dull silhouette in the last one... Gorgeous!!

 We arrived at the White Goose Ridge Station (seriously, these names rock my world) and it was foggy and about 20 degrees colder. Donning our hoodies, we hoisted our backpacks back up onto our shoulders and began our trek through the Yellow Mountain--our goal was to see it all in less than 24 hours. 

Despite the fact that the bus was completely packed from Hangzhou to Tangkou and then from the base of the mountain up to the cable car, the minute we reached the clouds, everyone seemed to disappear (and not just because it was so cloudy). It was the first time that I visited a tourist attraction in China and I was not immediately bombarded by a sea of humanity. I loved it.

Adam and I walked for a bit, constantly stopping to gaze out at a mountain peeking out at us through the mist. Our first stop was the Stalagmite Peak and behind it was the Fairy Maiden Peak (I told you the names were awesome). We had a difficult time seeing everything clearly, but when a mountain appeared before you out of nowhere whenever the winds seemed to shift even the slightest, it truly was awe inspiring. 

Adam the Explorer, figuring out a game plan to conquer the Yellow Mountain.

Seriously, I feel like I just fell into "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!"

We walked and we walked and we walked and we walked. One thing you should know: when you think you are going to go hiking or visit anything "natural" in China, be prepared to climb nothing but stairs. It seems like the Chinese have never heard of just using natural paths or just slopes. There is nothing but stairs at Yellow Mountain--supposedly, over 60,000 stairs and, after that hike, I might actually believe it! Supposedly some of the stone steps carved into the side of the mountain are over 1,500 years old! We climbed higher and higher and each time we stopped to catch our breath, we were able to gaze out at some incredible sights (even if they were hiding in the clouds).

We had made it to the Pen Rack Peak, Beginning to Believe Peak, The Flower Grown Out of a Writing Brush Rock, the Monkey Watching the Sea, the Beihai Hotel, the Shilin Hotel, and the Xihai Hotel (yes there are at least five hotels on top of this mountain that you can actually stay at). We stopped at one of the rest stations that sell overpriced water, snacks, and canes (you know, instead of actual walking sticks) to figure out what we wanted to do. There was about 4 hours of daylight left and we were planning on spending the night here on the mountain. Aside from the overpriced hotels, you can also camp at Yellow Mountain but you have to do it at designated hotels for about 180元 (that's about $30). However, we have had a collection of expats visit Yellow Mountain before us--Olivia, Other Adam, and Hannah R--and each of them spent the night camping on the mountain and none of them paid; it was like a challenge we had to complete: find a way to spend the night on the mountain without having to pay for it.

CANES. Canes EVERYWHERE.

The map never seemed to match the signs...

We had spotted a few places a bit of the way off the trails to set up camp but me being the pathetic rule follower that I am had no desire to get caught so we continued to try and find the perfect place to hide away for the night. 

Enter the Purple Cloud Peak.

We hiked up the stairs for about 20 minutes before we came to this sign:

Yes sir! That is a CLOSED sign.

At first we were annoyed that we had hiked up all that way just to be told that the mountain was closed (how the heck do you close a mountain, anyway?) but then we noticed that the gate (and by "gate" I mean barbed wire, some chicken wire, and some plastic) was wide open. If people thought that the mountain was closed, that might mean that no one would find us up there (at least that's what Adam thought... me being the rule follower didn't want to go a step further)! Adam fearlessly led us onward through the open gate and up even more stairs. After another minute of climbing, I was ready to call it quits and suggest that we head back to one of the other locations we had spotted along the trail but Adam passed through another gate (this time a legit iron gate) and I hopelessly followed behind him, stopping to close the gate behind me to stop anyone from coming up. 

The top of the Purple Cloud Peak was, indeed, vacant and there was a perfect spot to set up our tent we had brought with us. I was still a bit nervous all night but after Adam discovered a small path that led to the very top of the peak that looked out over the cloud covered mountains, I decided to throw my inhibitions to the wind and simply enjoy the sunset and our celebratory dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches <-- one of my favorites!!

We just sat there on the rocks watching the clouds slowly blow by, sometimes obscuring our vision of the mountains and sometimes granting us a fleeting peek at the rocks and trees all around us. The sun slowly dipped behind the clouds before we could watching the sky change colors in the sunset. It got cold and as the world was doused in the blue hour, we changed into our warm clothes and burrowed in our sleeping bags in the tent to see if we really could make it through a night at Yellow Mountain without getting caught.

I've slept outside before... many times. I grew up camping, I used to do Sleepout for the Homeless in high school, I've been backpacking with my dad, and I even slept outside in a pagoda on Easter this year (you can read about that crazy experience here) but the night I spent on top of the Purple Cloud Peak at Yellow Mountain was the craziest night I have ever spent outside. 

The tent was pretty warm at the beginning of the night but eventually the cold night air got to me and I had to pull a blanket over me; there was nothing to stop the cold coming up from the rocks beneath us (you can imagine it wasn't very comfortable). At one point in the night, I woke up from the roar of the wind. I laid in my sleeping bag just listening to the wind soaring between the hundreds of mountain peaks of Yellow Mountain, almost sounding like thunder. It would be distant, hidden behind the sound of a nearby waterfall and grow louder and louder as it grew closer and just when I thought it couldn't get any louder, the wind would hit our tent and shake it back and forth. There were times that I was actually a little nervous--Olivia, Adam, and Hannah had all been down on the ground during their nocturnal stays... We were at the very top of a pretty impressively high peak... Not the best decision we ever made...

Despite the uncomfortable bed, the cold, and the wild wind, we made it through the night like champions and we crawled out from our tent to find that some of the clouds had let up to reveal to us our surroundings for the first time in over 12 hours of being on the Purple Cloud Peak.

Look! There are actually mountains there!

With the sun (kind of) shining down on us and at least a few more hours of hiking to get back to a cable car station, Adam and I ate our breakfast and took down our camp, congratulating each other on a successful illegal camping trip.

Yes... that is the edge of the mountain...

As we were walking down the path we had climbed up the day before, we heaved a sigh of relief when we saw that the gate that I had closed the day before were still shut but not locked--we were free to continue on! Ah, but things could never be that easy, now could they? Remember: there were two gates we passed through. As we made our way down to the second makeshift gate, I noticed that it was now closed and my stomach dropped. Uh-oh... I hadn't been able to close it the day before because the hinges were so rusted. As we got closer, we realized that not only was it closed but thick wire coils were knotted around to keep it locked shut. Definite uh-oh.

I noticed a small hole along the ground next to the gate and, using my boots, I pushed some of the barbed wire aside to try and make an opening big enough to crawl through. I made it through fairly easily, the hood on my sweatshirt catching for only a second and then it was Adam's turn. I'll leave the sight of Adam crawling through a tiny hole through barbed wire to your imagination... all I'll say is that he made it through unharmed. 

Yes, THAT is what we had to crawl through!

With that inconvenient obstacle out of our way, we were back to innocently hiking through Yellow Mountain, trying to appear as not guilty as possible! We planned out our course of action to try and find the cable car: travel down from the Purple Cloud Peak, to the Flying Over Rock, to the Brightness Top and the Steelify Mite Peak (I have no clue what they were trying to say there), up to the highest peak called the Lotus Peak, and then down and out at the Jade Screen Pavilion. It looked all downhill on the map and we figured, how hard could it be? The answer: HARD.

It was almost entirely uphill. The only other person who knows how much I cuss when I am sweating and forced to travel uphill is Hannah R from our time hiking in Nepal; I am not good at it and I hate it (it is two days later and my legs are still in pain). We stopped often to catch our breath, drink some water, and blame one another for forcing us to come to Yellow Mountain. We were also very mature and stopped to test the amount of echo the Yellow Mountain gives off. It turns out, it is quite an impressive echo. 

As we continued to hike down from our camp site and continued onward to the Brightness Top, the cloud/fog/mist became ridiculously INSANE. We could not see anything beyond the trail--no trees, mountains, monkeys, or birds. Even along the trail the mist was so thick that other hikers would just pop out of nowhere just a few feet head of you. The pines were dark and looming, the mist cold as it wrapped around you, always moving slowly. 

You always hear the expression, "The Mists of Time," and I seriously feel like I was trapped inside the mists of time. You lose track of time, the day could have been the morning or the afternoon. There was really no sense of time or space, just your own personal journey. The mists would keep the mountains hidden until just the exact moment when the clouds would lift the veil for just a moment, just for you to gaze upon the magnitude of the Earth, and then just as your eyes are beginning to adjust and take in the sight, the mist takes the mountain back as if it was all theirs to keep. 

I know I was in the middle of China (believe me, every time I saw someone on their cellphone, talking or I heard the oh so annoying and ear piercing chatter of a tour guide reminded me of that constantly) but occasionally, we would be walking along a narrow path, nothing but pine trees around us and the clouds blinding us and I couldn't stop myself from feeling like I had taken a wrong turn back at the Immortal Overturns the Desk Peak and I had landed in Transylvania and I had to watch out for strigoi, vampires, and werewolves. 

Seriously! Spooky!!

 We got painfully lost a few times, thinking that we were close to the cable cars (seriously, China needs to learn how to put signs at forks in the path) and always climbing up stairs (so many stairs!!). We finally arrived at the Brightness Top where Adam and I decided to get medals to boast our accomplishment (we had gotten similar ones at ZhangJiaJie so it seemed appropriate).

Ignore the dog on the left... that is what sleeping on a mountain and not showering for three days will do to you...

Praying that we were close to the exit (I felt like that kid in The Pagemaster), we continued on once more, up and down the stairs. We kept passing hikers that still looked fresh and happy--they must have just arrived meaning we're close to the cable car... Right? Wrong!

We continued to wander, reached way too many signless forks in the path and had to guess which way to go off of the map that was almost 10 years old and far too artsy to actually be functional. Since we were so tired, we decided that we didn't have to go to the highest peak... we had nothing to prove... Until the path we were on brought us to the Ladder in the Clouds which lead directly up 1864.5 meters (luckily we only had to climb about 20 meters) to the highest peak. We had no choice but to bite our tongue from screaming, take a deep breath, and dig deep, crawling our way to the top of the Lotus Peak, the highest part of the Yellow Mountain.

As we reached a rest area about 10 meters away from the top, we were greeted by a chorus of excited, "Oh laowai!" (AKA: foreigners). We sat to catch our breath for a minute before our pride got the better of us--we had made it this far, we were going to reach the summit of this peak if it killed us, dammit! Leaving behind the tour group at the little snack stand, Adam and I marched up the final staircase leading to the top of the Lotus Peak... Only to be slapped in the face with yet another CLOSED sign.

Curses! The government has blocked me again!!

In the end, we pushed ourselves as far as we could. Even though we technically didn't make it to the summit of the highest peak at Yellow Mountain, we still pushed ourselves pretty hard. We survived the hoards of Chinese tour groups, survived a night on top of the Purple Cloud Peak, and eventually found our way out of the park... without ever wanting to push each other off a cliff!!

The Great China Tour 2014 Part 1: SUCCESS

First trip as an engaged couple ♥

We ended up unofficially banding with a group of four guys who seemed just as lost as we were and rejoiced just as much as we did when we spotted the sign for the cable car which was still ridiculously hard to find because, again, no sign at a fork in the road! Adam and I grabbed a celebratory Fanta (that was all I was craving during the entire hike) and we rode the cable car down the mountain, leaving the misty clouds high above us and returned to the sunlight below.

Once we arrived back at the tourist center in Tangkou, Adam and I sat in cushioned seats, relaxed, breathed deeply, ordered a couple of Huangshan beers, and ate the most delicious dumplings I have ever had in my life (all I had to do was climb a mountain to earn them)!

We earned our lunch!!

I've only been in China for a week now and I've already managed to travel somewhere new. I always love going on adventures and visiting new places and coming into contact with new people--even if it's just the girl who helped us buy our bus tickets back to Hangzhou or the kids who asked to take a photo with us as soon as we got off the cable car. I saw things that I have never seen before--clouds wrapping around mountains, trees, and even me. I slept on the edge of a cliff, hundreds of feet off the ground, with the wind whipping around me. I became a part of Yellow Mountain's story--a story that is millions of years old--even if my part of the story was only an instant.

I live for moments of feeling so small and insignificant and yet so infinite and unstoppable, too. I hope you have moments like that in life as well.

It was a good return to China and here's to many more adventures in the Middle Kingdom. 

中秋节快乐!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Don't forget to eat a mooncake!

 

 Until Next Time, 

Amanda

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!!

This last week, I spent about half my class introducing my students to the holiday of Easter. Focusing less on the "He is risen" side and more on chocolate bunnies and Easter egg hunts (hey, I want to keep my job), it was just as fun bringing my students Easter as it was talking to them about Halloween and Christmas. We had a brief overview of Easter, a trivia game where the kids fought like crazy for the candy I brought in for the winners, and we watched parts of the movie "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" (which I had no clue actually existed prior to last week).

Easter is one of those holidays that really has no reason to come to a place like China... and it really hasn't. Religion aside, (at least where I am in Hangzhou) there is no endless winter and definite spring (it's been in the 70s for weeks now and it really only snowed a few days back in February), there is no love for super sweet candy or chocolate, and the Chinese don't really have a concept of doing things "for the fun of it" or "the beauty" behind things like Easter egg hunts or coloring Easter eggs. Eggs are made for eating... why on Earth are you coloring them? My students were slightly traumatized when I told them that colored eggs were more than safe to eat... I still don't think they fully trust me...

I finished my classes up on Thursday and had all day Friday to get into the Easter spirit.

Prior to meeting up with Adam for lunch, I biked down into our town to the grocery store and did some last minute shopping. My mom had brought me an Easter basket and had hidden it in my kitchen... It would just be wrong for me to have a basket and not Adam! I bought some of his favorite candies, cookies, and drink, and made him up an Easter basket (it was my very first time ever making up an Easter basket for anyone and I had so much fun doing it). I like to think that he enjoyed it ^_^

Friday night, Adam and I decided to stay in town instead of heading down town (we knew what we were getting into for the rest of the weekend and we wanted to have at least one night to relax). We joined forces with DH, I brought my egg coloring kit and he brought his cookie dough and we had a nice little Easter/Good Friday gathering. We colored probably 30 eggs (we're still finding glitter everywhere) and DH made his famous cake batter cookies. Combine that with some (not so) good wine, a movie, and good conversation and we had a nice, relaxing way to ring in the holiday weekend... The calm before the storm...

Saturday was the big day that we had been prepping our Chinese friends for--the big Easter camping trip! Many of our students have lived very sheltered lives and have barely even heard of camping (especially the ladies who are basically little precious China dolls). Sleeping outside, a fire, the cold, marshmallows... we filled their heads with everything that makes camping so great and so awful.

We met at James's apartment that usually seems so nice and spacious... but with easily 30 people filling the room, I quickly found my place in the back corner trying to get away from the crowd (Sadly, they don't have a library, a pet, or parents to sit with and talk to).

We ate dinner together and got them to color their own Easter eggs (the amount of "Oohs" and "Ahhs" coming from them when mine and Adam's eggs were unveiled made the glitter all worthwhile). The foreigners scurried around, trying to collect as many tents, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and blankets as we could (Adam and I had our sleeping bags, pillows, and blanket packed deeply into my backpack where no one could find it... MWUAHAHA!!).

We piled on the backpacks, passed out sleeping bags and blankets, grabbed gallons of water and headed out the door, down the road, and up the hill to Laoheshan.

It was an interesting trek up the hill (I used to call them mountains but Nepal ruined that for me!!). It had stopped raining (for the time being) but it was already dark, the slope/steps were uneven and wet, we were all carrying a lot of supplies (I had two gallons of water in my bag... it was WAY heavier than what I carried through the Himalayas!), and I don't think our students are too active (most of them study, play video games, and watch Korean dramas... the most active they get is badminton or basketball) so about halfway up the hill, we were getting, "Can we take a break?" and "Can you slow down?" I was definitely kicking myself for not wearing a tank top... I was sweating when we took a break at the top! But Adam with his trusty headlamp on led the way through the dark and, eventually, we made it to the very top of the hill.

We quickly set to work setting up the tents so the girls could figure out who would be sleeping where. The Adams, DH, and I began putting up some of the tents before some of the girls came over, curious to learn how to pitch a tent. We quickly showed them what to do (since it's one of the easiest things to do) and they were excited to help. We got six tents up pretty quickly and I was proud to say that the top of Laoheshan quickly transformed into what looked like a hobo camp!

Next it was onto the most important thing after shelter (or before, in my opinion): fire. I've heard so much talk of fires in China (Adam and I had a failed attempt in a bucket on his balcony) and finally after almost eight months of living in China, I have finally had my first fire!! It took awhile to get going since it had been raining all day. Other Adam and I scrounged around to try and find dry(ish) fire wood and he was able to find enough to last us the night... the fun part was trying to get it to actually start burning. Sadly, we didn't have too much paper (some tissue and post-it notes) so eventually I busted out my eight page Life List and had them use that to start the fire... Seems fitting somehow.

How many men does it take...?

 Once the fire was finally going, the crowd gathered (not sure how many of them have had a fire outside before). We sang songs (nothing tests your memory like someone starting to sing "I've been working on the railroad"), told stories, taught them out to make s'mores (those did not last long AT ALL!), and we just sat around the fire with our umbrellas, refusing to let the rain chase us away.

Campfires, songs, food, an Easter egg hunt, and huddling under umbrellas... We lasted for about 4 hours in the rain before people began to pass out. Sadly, all the tents were filled with lovely Chinese ladies so the gents and the Americans got to sleep out in the open under the pagoda looking out over Hangzhou (you know, through the pollution). The room in the main pagoda quickly filled up with the gentlemen so myself, the Adams, and the Hannahs made our way back down the path to another pagoda and made up our little hobo camp. It wasn't much, but for the night it was home.

It was a long, uncomfortable night. The minute I rolled on my side and was laying on my hip, painful memories of National Holiday came flying back. At one point the rain was coming into the pagoda so I slithered down into a ball, cowering under my sleeping bag and my three layers of shirts (thanks for the third one Adam!).

Around 3am we had the oh so charming and subtle men of Hangzhou come up the mountain and start shouting while they did their (freakishly early) morning exercises... I wish there was a way for me to describe the noise in print but I can't. You could hear it coming up the path, get softer as the dude walked further away, and get loud again as he walked by where we were sleeping. Uffda... it was in that moment when I thought, "I think I could find my way back to James's apartment by myself... I wonder if they would let me in?"

Luckily morning came with a wave of old Chinese people who seriously have nothing better to do than wander up this hill at 5am and stare at us while we are slowly waking up... Glad we could add a bit of entertainment to their usual, monotonous morning routines...

We gathered back at the top of the hill for some much needed coffee... so needed, I even had some.

Gathering all of our equipment, we all headed back down the mountain, the old people watching the parade of crazy foreigners and the exhausted Chinese students carrying blankets and sleeping bags.

After a stop at McDonald's (remember: no judging!), the Adams, DH, and I returned to the warmth and crowded chaos that was James's apartment for a great Easter brunch complete with hard boiled eggs, DH's cookies, cinnamon rolls made by Karin, french toast made by Other Adam, and the famous "egg bake" that I have heard so much about from the Midwesterners.

It was an exhausting weekend. We were home by 1:30pm and I spent the majority of the rest of my Easter unconscious in my bed (sadly, I am the only one in our little group to work on Mondays and it stinks!!) but I did enjoy myself... even if it didn't really feel like a holiday.

Easter is a tough holiday for me. I haven't really felt too connected with the holiday for a few years. It was fun when I brought my college roommate, Miaomiao, home with me one year but that was the last memorable Easter I had. Last year, I worked and it was awful with so many crowds and people actually asking for "an Easter miracle" (this is Easter, not Christmas, mister)... This year didn't really feel like Easter but I did enjoy myself.

I hope everyone back home had a nice, blessed Easter surrounded by friends and family. That is one thing that being over here for so many holidays has shown me--how nice it is to be able to celebrate with your family... this distance has shown me how lucky I am to be blessed with my amazing family back home. Whether you celebrate the true meaning behind Easter or whether you just enjoy the feeling of winter turning into spring and sharing happy memories with your family, I hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Until Next Time,
Amanda