Climbing up Mount Huangshan
I woke up on Tuesday by a knocking on the door. The owner told me to wake up so I could get ready for the bus. After I got ready, I went to the hostel office and tried to talk to him about what the plan was. I did not know if I wanted to spend one or two nights on the top of the mountain and I needed to buy a flight back at some point. He told me to go up, stay one night and come down and then fly back that same night. We had some communication problems, so he got on the grungiest computer I have ever seen (the keyboard was covered in cigarette ash and all kinds of weird grime) and used an online translator to communicate with me. It worked quite well to get the main points across.
He walked me to a bus that drove me and a bunch of Chinese tourists up to the base of one of the cable cars. So my hike began up the many stairs of Mount Huangshan. I went up the East Stairs, which were quite packed with tourists going both ways. There were so many Chinese workers hiking up and down the stairs with massive loads across their shoulders. They were carrying everything from vegetables to linens and towels to building materials and garbage. I guess everything that is on top of the mountain is carried up by cheap labor. It was really annoying me because there are three cable cars that go up to the top of the mountain. Would it be so hard to bring a load up and a load down once a day? Then again, I guess it gives people jobs, but I am sure they don't get paid nearly enough. Along with carrying heavy loads, it's not like they have the best shoes to support the weight and climb.
Initially I was really excited to hike up and listen to the sounds of the nature around me, however there was nowhere I went where I did not have to listen to numerous tourists chattering. I finally took my iPod out after I was stuck behind a couple who were playing music outloud on their cellphone. Argh!
I arrived at the top of the cable car area in two hours and then tried to look for a hotel or hostel to drop my stuff off. After looking at a couple of hotels, I found the Shilin, which had an economic room for 200 kuai ($25). That is ridiculous for an economic room, so I thought it had to be pretty decent. The next room up was a single for 1280 kuai ($160), and I was not about to do that. The woman at the front desk showed me to walk outside the building and up part of the mountain to another area where the economic rooms were. It looked like they were trying to hide these rooms from their regular customers. I found the rooms, that consisted of three bunk beds and a single bed crammed into a small space. It was around 10 AM and I was the first one there, so I chose my bed and attempted to take a nap. Unfortunately the mattress was a wooden plank with practically non-existent padding. I laid in bed for around two hours tossing and turning until I decided to give up and move on.
I left my bag at the front desk and began checking out the scenic spots on the top of the mountain. There were so many amazing places to see and luckily the farther out I went from the hotel areas, the less tourists I ran into. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Huangshan was to see the mountains in a sea of clouds. Unfortunately I think that happens between October and May, and I must have come a bit too late, as there were no clouds that low. I was climbing up and down and up and down stairs the entire afternoon. Nothing is flat on the top of the mountain, so anytime you want to see something you have to take stairs. It was starting to get late and I found this one path I wanted to take, but it was entirely down stairs into a valley for 3.5 kilometers. What goes down must come up, and I was already pretty far from the hotel area. I went down for .5 kilometers and then decided to come up so I would not miss the sunset.
Lonely Planet mentioned that to avoid the crowds, Purple Peak was a good place to see the sunset. When I got to the top, there was only one other couple and their tour guide. It was one of those sunsets that looked like it would be very dull but then at the last second was amazing. I attempted to take some photos, but none of them came out quite right.
At this point I was freezing and needed to get back to the economic rooms. It was getting very dark and I needed food and water. I found a little kiosk and bought ridiculously overpriced water and a box of cookies for snacks. I managed to find my way back to the hotel in the dark and went to the shop inside the hotel to see if I could put my photos on a disc. I had already blown through all of my memory cards and the choice was either to pay to put them on a disc, delete photos or not take any the following day. I ended up paying an insane 200 kuai for two CDs! I felt like I was being ripped off at every corner.
I went back to my room naively thinking that I would be the first or only one in the room. The door was locked, so I found a housekeeping lady to open it. I turned the lights on and managed to wake up all six other people that were sleeping in the room. After apologizing, I quietly tried to get ready for bed in hopes that since I was so exhausted I would be able to sleep no matter what the conditions were.
An hour after I got into bed, a couple of the girls starts talking. One of them got out of bed, walked over to the foot of my bed (which was by the door), took out a pot and started peeing (and farting!) in the pot! I thought this was utterly disgusting, but thought to myself, "They must be civilized people, no one wants to sleep in a room with the stench of urine . . . do they?" About five minutes after she was done, another girl got out of bed and did the same, and then another and then another. Four girls peed in this pot that was less than a foot from my feet. EEEW! I was beyond repulsed and just wanted to get out of there. What boggles my mind is why no one would just leave the room and go a little ways to the bathroom. I had not used the bathroom, but I imagine it would be better than having to sleep knowing there is a bucket of pee in your room. I attempted to sleep and cover my nose, but was very unsuccessful.
He walked me to a bus that drove me and a bunch of Chinese tourists up to the base of one of the cable cars. So my hike began up the many stairs of Mount Huangshan. I went up the East Stairs, which were quite packed with tourists going both ways. There were so many Chinese workers hiking up and down the stairs with massive loads across their shoulders. They were carrying everything from vegetables to linens and towels to building materials and garbage. I guess everything that is on top of the mountain is carried up by cheap labor. It was really annoying me because there are three cable cars that go up to the top of the mountain. Would it be so hard to bring a load up and a load down once a day? Then again, I guess it gives people jobs, but I am sure they don't get paid nearly enough. Along with carrying heavy loads, it's not like they have the best shoes to support the weight and climb.Initially I was really excited to hike up and listen to the sounds of the nature around me, however there was nowhere I went where I did not have to listen to numerous tourists chattering. I finally took my iPod out after I was stuck behind a couple who were playing music outloud on their cellphone. Argh!
I arrived at the top of the cable car area in two hours and then tried to look for a hotel or hostel to drop my stuff off. After looking at a couple of hotels, I found the Shilin, which had an economic room for 200 kuai ($25). That is ridiculous for an economic room, so I thought it had to be pretty decent. The next room up was a single for 1280 kuai ($160), and I was not about to do that. The woman at the front desk showed me to walk outside the building and up part of the mountain to another area where the economic rooms were. It looked like they were trying to hide these rooms from their regular customers. I found the rooms, that consisted of three bunk beds and a single bed crammed into a small space. It was around 10 AM and I was the first one there, so I chose my bed and attempted to take a nap. Unfortunately the mattress was a wooden plank with practically non-existent padding. I laid in bed for around two hours tossing and turning until I decided to give up and move on.
I left my bag at the front desk and began checking out the scenic spots on the top of the mountain. There were so many amazing places to see and luckily the farther out I went from the hotel areas, the less tourists I ran into. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Huangshan was to see the mountains in a sea of clouds. Unfortunately I think that happens between October and May, and I must have come a bit too late, as there were no clouds that low. I was climbing up and down and up and down stairs the entire afternoon. Nothing is flat on the top of the mountain, so anytime you want to see something you have to take stairs. It was starting to get late and I found this one path I wanted to take, but it was entirely down stairs into a valley for 3.5 kilometers. What goes down must come up, and I was already pretty far from the hotel area. I went down for .5 kilometers and then decided to come up so I would not miss the sunset.
Lonely Planet mentioned that to avoid the crowds, Purple Peak was a good place to see the sunset. When I got to the top, there was only one other couple and their tour guide. It was one of those sunsets that looked like it would be very dull but then at the last second was amazing. I attempted to take some photos, but none of them came out quite right.At this point I was freezing and needed to get back to the economic rooms. It was getting very dark and I needed food and water. I found a little kiosk and bought ridiculously overpriced water and a box of cookies for snacks. I managed to find my way back to the hotel in the dark and went to the shop inside the hotel to see if I could put my photos on a disc. I had already blown through all of my memory cards and the choice was either to pay to put them on a disc, delete photos or not take any the following day. I ended up paying an insane 200 kuai for two CDs! I felt like I was being ripped off at every corner.
I went back to my room naively thinking that I would be the first or only one in the room. The door was locked, so I found a housekeeping lady to open it. I turned the lights on and managed to wake up all six other people that were sleeping in the room. After apologizing, I quietly tried to get ready for bed in hopes that since I was so exhausted I would be able to sleep no matter what the conditions were.
An hour after I got into bed, a couple of the girls starts talking. One of them got out of bed, walked over to the foot of my bed (which was by the door), took out a pot and started peeing (and farting!) in the pot! I thought this was utterly disgusting, but thought to myself, "They must be civilized people, no one wants to sleep in a room with the stench of urine . . . do they?" About five minutes after she was done, another girl got out of bed and did the same, and then another and then another. Four girls peed in this pot that was less than a foot from my feet. EEEW! I was beyond repulsed and just wanted to get out of there. What boggles my mind is why no one would just leave the room and go a little ways to the bathroom. I had not used the bathroom, but I imagine it would be better than having to sleep knowing there is a bucket of pee in your room. I attempted to sleep and cover my nose, but was very unsuccessful.
posted by Ramune at
5/20/2006 08:15:00 PM
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