weekend trip: Huangshan

One of the goals during our stay in China has been to travel and explore Asia as much as we can. With this sentiment in mind forms the basis of our spontaneous weekend trip to Huangshan （黄山）.

My wife's co-worker was planning to go to Huangshan with relatives and asked us to go. This was last Wednesday and we were to go on Saturday. Visit a place in China with a legendary status that we have never been? Absolutely.

Huangshan has a special place in Chinese history as it is often acclaimed in Chinese art and literature. It is known for it beauty and spectacular scenery. One of the most surreal and beautiful sights is the "sea of clouds" (云海）. Since the peak is above cloud level the ebb and flow of the clouds between and through the ranges can be observed at these mountain tops.

Huangshan is about a 6 hour bus ride from Shanghai or an 11 hour train ride. Why the difference? This is because Huangshan is on the western side of a mountain range and since Shanghai is east of Huangshan, there are quite a bit of mountain terrain between them. The railways of China has been in existence for many number of years while the highways have only been developed on a mass scale recently. This means that the railway track were built around the mountain range in the distant past, while newer technology was available to build the highway through the mountain range.

We decided to break up the trip by leaving Shanghai for Hangzhou, another place of legendary status in China that is situated at nearly the half way point between Shanghai and Huangshan. This affords us a shorter bus ride Saturday morning and more time and energy for the hike.

There are 3 trams that takes visitors up to the peak. These trams rides can fit up to 6 people and takes about 10 minutes to go to the top. When we reached the top the, the Huangshan revealed itself in a surreal way. It had rained earlier in the day and the peak was intermittently shrouded in fog throughout our 2 day visit. Certain lookout points revealed views of the clouds shrouding and moving between the peaks. Other areas offered stunning views of deep gorges on artificial concrete trails cantilevering off the side of the mountain.

Our first day and a half consists of hiking on trails that were sparsely trekked, that is probably because we were no where close to the more famous areas of the peak. This afforded us the feeling that we were really in tuned with nature. One trail we hiked on - the Western Steps was a 5 hours hike that was physically grueling as it interval between climbing and descending steps. This was also where we saw the deepest gorges. By the end of day two we descended on to the more touristy side of Huangshan. It was every bit the China tourism nightmare. The trail was narrow and there were throngs of people clogging up these trails. Some parts of the trail was hazardous as there were too many people trying to climb and descend on the same trail. We were so busy dodging people that I don't remember seeing anything worth remembering. It was a good thing that we got to this area to take the tram down the mountain and we only spent about 1 hour in this area.

Overall, if one were to visit Huangshan and hike off the beaten trails one will be rewarded with the best that nature has to offer.


Logistics:

In visiting Huangshan, one should plan to stay overnight for at least one night. Lodgings are available at the peak and at two different points at the base of the mountain. At the base of the mountain there is a small town called Tangkou (汤口）which is right outside the front gate of the Huangshan recreation area. This is about 20 minutes bus or cab ride to the trams. Accommodations here are spartan by western standards, with rooms available for around 80-100rmb. The other area at the base of the mountain is the city of Tunxi (屯溪), which is about an 1 hour cab or van ride away from Tangkou. As this is the main springboard point to Huangshan, there are hotels of all types and the area airport is located here as well. If budget permits, I would recommend that a visit to Huangshan should be spend overnight in hotels at the peak. Hotels up there are 3 star quality and they run about 1000rmb and up. Dorm rooms costs about 220rmb but the rooms tend to be dirty and uncomfortable. The quality of all accommodations at the peak do not justify the price, but the walk to see the sunrise at 4:30 in the morning might. The tram to the peak of Huangshan costs 80rmb and the entrance fee to the Huangshan recreation area costs 202rmb.

To get to Huangshan from Hangzhou, there are buses available for 100rmb from the west bus station to Tangkou (3.5 hours) or 85RMB to Tunxi (2.5 hours). From Shanghai, there are buses available from the Hutai street station to Tangkou (6 hours) for 130rmb and 100rmb to Tunxi (5 hours).


Here is a map of the Huangshan area:

http://www.maps-of-china.net/tourism_map/h_touristmap1.html