I have appreciated China's most beautiful water in Jiuzhaigou Valley. This summer holiday, I planned to visit its most beautiful mountain. My friend recommended Huangshan Mountain and I indeed went there.

Climbing Huangshan Mountain

Day 01 I took a train to reach Huangshan city first. Getting out of the railway station, I found many buses and privately-owned mini-buses running to the Huangshan Mountain. I shared a mini-bus with a foreigner traveler (for I didn't want to wait for the bus to be fully occupied while the foreigner had too much luggage, which made the driver didn't want to take him). About 1.5 hours later, I reached the Transfer Center at the foot of Huangshan Mountain, and then changed to the site shuttle bus to Ciguang Pavilion in about 20 minutes. At about 12:00, I began climbing the mountain. Unfortunately, it started to rain soon after. Took out of the raincoat and put it on, I continued climbing. I was just more careful, for the road seemed slippery.

Sea of Clouds

I didn't have time to see beautiful scenery of the mountain in the rain. Also, the raincoat smothered me and made me very uncomfortable. But there was no place to have a rest, I could only keep climbing. Around 1600, the rain finally stopped and the sun showed up. I was so excited and took many beautiful pictures.

Waiting for Sunrise on Huangshan Mountain

At 18:00, I reached the Beihai Hotel, where I booked a bed (120 yuan per one) before head. I paid another 30 yuan for a shower. Everything was much more expensive up there. Be very tired, I went to bed early.

Day 02 I got up at 04:00 am, in order to see the sunrise. However, I waited and waited with other visitors till 05:30, the sun didn't show up. It was fog that day. We just left disappointedly.

Isn't it like a fairy tale world?

I had planned to tour the West Sea Grand Canyon that day. But after consulting several tour guides and the safe guards, I gave up. They all said it was too foggy to appreciate the scenery down there and there was a great chance tourists would get lost in the canyon, which was dangerous. Rather disappointed. After a simple breakfast, I got down the mountain along the same route. Luckily, walking in fog offered a special feeling too, a feeling of walking in a fairy tale world. There was an old Chinese saying "It's easier to go up the hill than to run down" which I couldn't agree anymore. My legs hurt very much after one night rest. But no pay, no gain. It was the universal rule. Around noon, I went back to Ciguang Pavilion and took the bus down the mountain.

another pic of this fairy tale world

This was not a very satisfying trip. I strongly recommend tourists to go there in sunny days. But someone says two thirds of the year is foggy on Huangshan Mountain, so another difficult problem to deal with. I may go there the second time and have an adventure in the West Sea Grand Canyon. Good luck with my next trip.

By EDISON (travelchinaguide.com)