Mila and I missed the public bus, but in China, this is never a problem. Most tourists go to the same places.
"Hua Shan!" yelled a woman and Mila and me.
"Uh yeah." I replied.
"Come!"
So we followed the random woman couple of blocks and after some point, we stopped her for an important question. "Wait, how much?"
"50!"
"35?"
"50!"
"40?"
"50!"
We though for a moment. Lonely Planet said the public transport was 30 yuan, but this involved finding the bus. Our bus hunting saavy was not great at this early point in the trip, so were were willing to pay the extra $2.50.
"When you get there, tickets, they 110." the woman said. "We can get discount if you come with the tour."
"No!" Mila and I both shouted simultaneously. "we will buy at the mountain." Mila continued.
So, we shared the bus with a tour group filled with middle-aged Chinese and listened to a perky young woman spouts quick Chinese for a good hour. Even though I couldn't understand her, I also couldn't not listen. We were told the trip would take two hours. After 30 minutes, we stopped to buy snacks. Thirty minutes later, a bathroom break. 45 minutes after that, we stopped at a Chinese medicine stand. Just when we were quite sure we would be at the mountain, we then stopped for lunch. Before everyone headed into the restaurant, I asked my English speaking neighbor how close we were to the mountain. Apparently we were only a five minute cab ride from the trail, so we finally abandoned the tour.
Most people take the insanely expensive cable car to the top. Though easier and faster, I don't consider riding a gondola climbing a mountain. There are two foot route to the top, the nearly vertical "soldier's path" and the more gradual, but longer unnamed trail. We took the latter. It started as a consistent uphill climb for a couple of miles, passing through a towering yellow gorge with great views of the monolythic west peak for most of the way. The steady incline soon became stairs. The stairs then became very steep stairs. Despite being on a mountain, it was a hot and humid day. We both needed to rest many times on our way up. I doubt I've ever sweated so much in my life.
At some point, the line between stairs and ladders became blurry. Whatever we were climbing, they were steep, hard, and required a chain to climb. We were not alone in our ascent; other hearty souls were dying with us. One group was even drunk. They were yelling something in Chinese while they climbed and though we didn't know what they were saying, it was funny enough to make us and everyone else laugh. Humor transcends language, especially when fatigued.
It took three hours to reach the North Peak, lowest of the five. This was the terminus of the cable car and start of the climb for most visiting Hua Shan. There was still a lot of mountain to scale.
The trail continued along the Blue Dragon ridge, with steep cliffs on each side. It wasn't as scary as it sounds; it was actually just a bunch of stairs. In fact, the stairs never ended. The whole mountain was stairs. The scenery changed as the stairs shot up. They didn't wind; they only climbed. The view was so amazing, they were constant signs saying, "Walk don't watch or watch don't walk". One could easily see why this was holy mountain. Sadly, quited reflection was impossible. After the cable car there were thousands of people upon the mountain.
The higher up we got, many red ribbons and locks covered the railings. We saw why Hua Shan was a love mountain. Lovers purchase padlock, carve their names onto, then lock them on the chains and railings of the mountain. The higher up the lock, the stronger the love.
We headed straight to the East Peak where we planned to spend the night. We were to book our room, dump so weight from our packs, then head to the tallest peak, the south peak. After that, we'd catch the sunset on the west peak. Mila could not continue.
"My legs are shaking so badly." Her legs were in fact shaking very badly.
Even though I was dead tired myself, I had a vendetta. I wanted to watch the sunset and most importanly, I wanted to walk the death trail.
Originally, to reach the south peak, hikers had to walk along the cliff face plank trail, which is exactly what it sounds like, a trail that is some planks along the face of a cliff. There was a chain to grab onto. Maybe too many people fell thousands of feet to their death, but now it is a paid tourist activity with harnesses. Honestly, it wasn't too scary; the harness was unneccessary, there was ample foot space. The harness did allow for some crazy, half hanging off 2000ft cliff photos.
After my adrenaline fun, I headed to the South Peak where I just caught the lovely sunset. I walked back in the dark, took a wrong turn and had to climb a 30ft ladder in the darkness. By the time I reached the hostel, I could barely walk. The checkin area was swarming with people, wanting to sleep near the famous sunrise spot. We were glad we checked in early.
We were awoken by some loud yelling. Since everyone was waking up, I assume he yelled, "wake up!" No visit to Hua Shan is complete without watching the sunrise from the East Peak. It has a magnificent sunrise, but I've always thought of watch the sun come up as a solitary activity, not one to share with hundreds of people.
The walk down was much easier, but there was a little bottleneck at the ladder I'd climbed the night before. The impoliteness of the Chinese almost made me lose my cool that morning. For some reason, the Chinese detest queing; they avoid it all costs, choosing instead to push their way through people, cut in line, and literally jump over people to get in front. When people do this at a cliff face, it is quite dangerous. It was one of the few time I wished harm upon people. Don't cut in line when you can fall 40ft or knock people over...sorry, had to rant for a second.
Mila chose to take the cable cable car down, but was not bothered that I wanted to walk down the soldier's trail. It was easier than advertised, but I couldn't imagine taking it up. This was actually my favorite part of the trip. The trail was empty, the scenery was superb. There were actually birds I could hear. It was almost like a real hike. If it wasn't for all the people, it could be one of the most incredible places on earth (well, it still is I guess.)
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