HuangShan 黄山 in the summer

HuangShan 黄山 in the summer 

Huangshan or literal translation "Yellow Mountain" is located in Anhui province, not too far from Shanghai. It is a World Heritage site.
It is one of the most famous mountains in China.
Looks very much like those Chinese paintings of mountains with  plenty of exposed rock and some outcroppings of trees.

We started off from Shanghai, taking a 5 hour bus ride to a town called "Tunxi" where we spent a night.
Tunxi has an "Ancient street" where the place is set up like ancient China.
They also have a "Tea Alley" which sells tea at really good prices from around the Anhui region.
Great place to buy tea as it is so much cheaper than in Shanghai.
Some local varieties are green tea MaoFeng 毛峰， houkui 猴魁(a very big leaf tea) and Chrysanthemum.

From Tunxi, we took a cab ride to the town of Huangshan at the base of Huangshan mountain.
We had booked a hotel for two nights but in retrospect, should have booked a night each at different hotels at the top.
Huangshan is definitely not luggage-friendly.
Do not bring any big luggage up as it is just lots of stair climbing.
We didnt know this so we ended up leaving our luggage with a store proprietor at her bedroom, for a small price(around 10 RMB a night).
Fortunately, she told us and we listened to her.
It was scary leaving our luggage with a stranger but the alternative was a lot worse.
What we should have done is to leave our luggage at the hotel in Tunxi and collect it when we get back.

At Huangshan, we had to change to another taxi to take us into the park itself where the cable car is.
Be sure to get there early before the crowd.

Basically, a cable car takes us up and then we walk up literally hundreds of stairs everywhere.
Dont think I have climbed more stairs before and since then!
It was all worth it though.

Like many Chinese places, the place was jam packed at the cable car location.
As we went off further, the crowds thinned out.

Huangshan is like seeing the Chinese landscape paintings in real life.

Our hotel, Yupinglou, can be seen in the photo below, the one with the red roof.

There are some places which sell food at the top of the mountain but are pricey of course.
We brought some snacks and instant noodles from a supermarket at Tunxi.

There are some railings along the various trails, however, people can go around.
Lots of Korean tourists were there and they seemed fearless of the edges.
Many of them were walking so close to the edge.
We heard a Chinese tour guide say that the previous day, a Korean went too close to the edge and fell off.

Notice the long climb up with the throngs of people.

 If you do want some luxury ride...

There is a section of the mountain which is covered with moist fog

After 5pm, when the cable car shuts down, the mountain became devoid of people.
Seems like most tourists are there for the day.
That was the best time to take in the views, late evening and early morning.

We left Huangshan after 3 days, legs painfully sore but well worth all the stress of getting there.
It is quite an amazing place to visit.

Hope you had fun reading this!

Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟 National Park in Sichuan

Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟

After Chengdu and Huanglong, we headed off to Jiuzhaigou National Park, another World Heritage site.
Jiuzhaigou is about an 1.5 hours drive from Huanglong.
The drive there reminded me of driving through Canada's BC province to Banff national park.
Lots of great scenery and tall mountains with very little vehicles.

There are a lot of Tibetian influence in this part of Sichuan province.
Tibetian colourful flags are very common and there are also places nearby to go horse-riding, Tibetian pastime.

This is the entrance to Jiuzhaigou and the surroundings.
Lots of trees, mountains, nature, so different from Chinese cities.
Best time to be here would probably be in late spring or autumn.

Chinese national parks are very different from western national parks in the way they handle visitors.
There is basically only one route for visitors to take.
Jiuzhaigou is a two-valley system, so to speak and visitors can go up either one of the two.
We chose the western valley.
A bus would bring us to the top and there are bus stops along the way down where people can drop off/get on.  Alternatively, visitors can also walk all the way down, which we did. I dont think we saw other people doing that.
So unlike national parks in the USA/Canada, there are no side trails to branch off.
It is just one straight path down.

Some spectacular scenery on the bus up the valley.

Visitors can rent Tibetan style costumes.
Yes, bargain the price. :)

Following a path down

 What really sets Jiuzhaigou apart are its numerous lakes with crystal clear aquamarine water, calm surface that reflects the surrounding mountains.

Some martial arts films were filmed here, including "Hero" which starred Jet Li.
They were flying off the calm surface, setting off ripples in the water, quite the scene.

 The picture below with the log is supposed to look like a crocodile.
Well, kind of does look like one. :)

 On the way down, there is also a Tibetan style village.

 Tibetan drums

 I like the decor on this bus. :)

 Some "home style cooking" chinese food.
We got around to chatting with the owner who was going to go back home.
Home being somewhere 20+ hours away by bus.
She said that the whole place shuts down in the winter by November as it gets too cold and with very few visitors.

Other than the park itself, there are of course souvenir shop vendors in market stalls along the outside of the park. There is a stream that runs on the outside and hotels and markets are set up along side it.
Try to get a hotel closer to the entrance of the park.

On the main road, there are lots of unlicensed private cars that can take you anywhere along the road for a flat fee of 10 RMB. They just cruise up and down and will honk at people walking the road.
Just flag them down if u want a ride.

Back to Jiuzhaigou airport for a flight to Shanghai.
We almost missed the flight as the Jiuzhaigou airport was a huge mess!
It was jam packed with people everywhere and no queues.
If you do take a flight, be sure to give yourself  plenty of extra time.
We were there 1.5 hours before the flight and almost couldnt make it.

There are direct flights during the main tourist season, otherwise, the only direct flights to Shanghai would be from Chengdu.
Some people take a long bus ride to Chengdu from Jiuzhaigou, rather than fly.

It was a great experience to get out of the cities and see the "wilderness" of China.
Highly recommend this Jiuzhaigou national park!