Hello Loyal Bloggers,
We left Hangzhou for a quick but gorgeous 3 hour bus ride to the town of Tunxi. It was here where we based ourselves for a hike up Yellow Mountain, or Huangshan in Chinese. Tunxi itself is small but has a nice "Old Street" which gives a glimpse into the China of old. Other then that it is nothing more than the entrance way to one of the more beautiful places we've ever seen. Yellow Mountain is actually a collection of peaks that rise up above the clouds in dramatic fashion, making it one of China's most spiritual places. After a short sleep in Tunxi, we took a 6:45am bus to the base of the more difficult of the two major hiking routes (The Southern Steps). This was one of the most difficult hikes we've ever done, being considerably steeper than anything we've done in the Adirondacks or anywhere else. We ascended about 4,000 feet in 3 and a half hours. It was intense but beautiful. You'll see the pics. The highest summits stand more than 6,000 feet above sea level. We hiked about 10 kilometers the first day, literally climbing through the clouds until we reached our hotel on Bright Top Peak. It was amazing. What was more amazing were these local men carrying supplies up the steps on their back's. You'll see the picture, but we cannot understand how these guys do it everyday. There are cable cars that go to the top, but we guess the government doesn't want to use them for supplying the hotels. We were exhausted with just our tiny backpack and took it easy before getting an early dinner and calling it a night by 9pm. We were up by 4:45am the next morning to catch another fantastic sunrise while using the complimentary parkas our hotel gave us. It was still freezing. Later that day we had an absolutely perfect day walking around the highest peaks before descending the Eastern Steps on our way back to Tunxi. We hiked a further 12 kilometers this day but it was much easier. It was more or less flat on top and then obviously down the whole way. We would recommend this to anyone making a trip to China. It really is a stunning site to behold.
From Tunxi we took another bus 4 hours to China's most "western" city, Shanghai. We ended up spending 6 nights. We stayed at a great hostel in a perfect location directly across the street from People's Park. There was a lot of kids from across the west who were staying there looking for permanent jobs in the city. We became close with several of them. It was your normal group of American, British, French, and German of course. VIP restaurant is all we have to say. We consumed quite a few Tsingtao's our week in Shanghai. It wasn't hitting us hard,however, since 600ml bottles were 30 cents each. It was nice to slow down and stay in one place for a while. We did manage to make it out into the city and see the major attractions. It's a very modern place with all the amenities. It's got the European architecture in the Bund, and some great Art Deco throughout. This would certainly be the easiest place to live in China as a westerner. People speak a little English and there is a lot of business done. It's fashionable and all the other things you would expect from a leading world city. With that said, it isn't anything too unique. Either way we enjoyed our time here. We also shaved Pat's head. Lastly, we took a day trip outside the city to the ancient water village of Luzhi. It was a little touristy, trying to show the way life used to be, but it was still charming and worth the trip. We enjoyed the best dumplings of the month at this tiny mom and pop place in the middle of town. It lies about 55 miles outside of Shanghai, but we got there in 20 minutes due to the state of the art bullet train we took. It got up to 332 kph (206 mph)! The experience was worth the trip alone.
Our last blog on Asia will be the next, documenting our time in the ancient capital of Xian and the current capital of Beijing.
Until then.
Much love and admiration,
S&P
We left Hangzhou for a quick but gorgeous 3 hour bus ride to the town of Tunxi. It was here where we based ourselves for a hike up Yellow Mountain, or Huangshan in Chinese. Tunxi itself is small but has a nice "Old Street" which gives a glimpse into the China of old. Other then that it is nothing more than the entrance way to one of the more beautiful places we've ever seen. Yellow Mountain is actually a collection of peaks that rise up above the clouds in dramatic fashion, making it one of China's most spiritual places. After a short sleep in Tunxi, we took a 6:45am bus to the base of the more difficult of the two major hiking routes (The Southern Steps). This was one of the most difficult hikes we've ever done, being considerably steeper than anything we've done in the Adirondacks or anywhere else. We ascended about 4,000 feet in 3 and a half hours. It was intense but beautiful. You'll see the pics. The highest summits stand more than 6,000 feet above sea level. We hiked about 10 kilometers the first day, literally climbing through the clouds until we reached our hotel on Bright Top Peak. It was amazing. What was more amazing were these local men carrying supplies up the steps on their back's. You'll see the picture, but we cannot understand how these guys do it everyday. There are cable cars that go to the top, but we guess the government doesn't want to use them for supplying the hotels. We were exhausted with just our tiny backpack and took it easy before getting an early dinner and calling it a night by 9pm. We were up by 4:45am the next morning to catch another fantastic sunrise while using the complimentary parkas our hotel gave us. It was still freezing. Later that day we had an absolutely perfect day walking around the highest peaks before descending the Eastern Steps on our way back to Tunxi. We hiked a further 12 kilometers this day but it was much easier. It was more or less flat on top and then obviously down the whole way. We would recommend this to anyone making a trip to China. It really is a stunning site to behold.
From Tunxi we took another bus 4 hours to China's most "western" city, Shanghai. We ended up spending 6 nights. We stayed at a great hostel in a perfect location directly across the street from People's Park. There was a lot of kids from across the west who were staying there looking for permanent jobs in the city. We became close with several of them. It was your normal group of American, British, French, and German of course. VIP restaurant is all we have to say. We consumed quite a few Tsingtao's our week in Shanghai. It wasn't hitting us hard,however, since 600ml bottles were 30 cents each. It was nice to slow down and stay in one place for a while. We did manage to make it out into the city and see the major attractions. It's a very modern place with all the amenities. It's got the European architecture in the Bund, and some great Art Deco throughout. This would certainly be the easiest place to live in China as a westerner. People speak a little English and there is a lot of business done. It's fashionable and all the other things you would expect from a leading world city. With that said, it isn't anything too unique. Either way we enjoyed our time here. We also shaved Pat's head. Lastly, we took a day trip outside the city to the ancient water village of Luzhi. It was a little touristy, trying to show the way life used to be, but it was still charming and worth the trip. We enjoyed the best dumplings of the month at this tiny mom and pop place in the middle of town. It lies about 55 miles outside of Shanghai, but we got there in 20 minutes due to the state of the art bullet train we took. It got up to 332 kph (206 mph)! The experience was worth the trip alone.
Our last blog on Asia will be the next, documenting our time in the ancient capital of Xian and the current capital of Beijing.
Until then.
Much love and admiration,
S&P
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