Huashan (or Molly Walks the Plank, Matey!)

This story starts a year ago when I showed Molly a video on Youtube titled "World Scariest most dangerous hike!!" She promptly told me that if I thought she was going to ever do a hike like that then I had probably married the wrong girl.  Fast forward one year….

Huashan (Mount Hua) is one of China's five Great Mountains, and is quite a bit shorter then our last climb of Emeishan (only 7,000 feet).  While walking about the delightful city of Xi'an we realized that Huashan was only a thirty minute high speed train away, and as we had been having so much fun climbing China's mountains, we figured we would go for it!


We woke up early the first day of our climb and hopped the speed train for Huashan. We exited the station, hit the gauntlet of taxi drivers, and started looking for the minibus to take us to the base of the mountain. We had overly friendly taxi driver tell us that there was no minibus that day and we might as well hop in his Taxi to get to the base of the mountain, for a mere 20Y.  After following us for about 5 minutes frantically explaining his story to us we finally arrived at the minibus stop where a bright green bus with the words "Huashan Tourist Bus" stood by waiting our arrival (for a budget friendly 1Y).

We got to the base of the mountain and got fairly confused. As the target tourist audience is Chinese (I'm pretty sure we were the only westerners we saw for 2 days on the mountain), there is very little English spoken and all maps are in Chinese only. We were rescued by a lovely gentleman, Sam, who downloaded an english map to our phone, made sure we had enough water so we didn't have to buy any on the mountain, and even shared his cookies with us on the bus! We took a free shuttle bus to the West entrance, where we were delighted to find that our hike would begin in a beautiful Taoist temple. 




We started our walk up the mountain, which was lovely but quite smoggy. It was amazing how painful  it is to be out of breath in heavy smog, and also amazing how polluted the air could be so far away from a big city! As we walked with Sam we learned about what's its like to be a single 30-something Chinese man in search of a lady friend. He said he wanted a woman who would hike and go on outdoor adventures with him, and be happy with his job as a sales manager for a major telecom company. Apparently that doesn't describe the Chinese women he knows. We recommended he go to California :)

After starting our hike at just after noon, we reached the North Peak (the lowest of the 5 peaks) a few hours later. Over those hours, we covered the most vertical sections of the mountain, on stairs so steep we had to use the iron chains provided to hoist ourselves up (with our snazzy new $1 gloves!). The North Peak is also where the first cable car lets out, so the mountain became clogged with non-hikers, in fancy dress and heels. We continued on in order to make it to the East Peak by dark.




We finished the day at the East Peak, so as to be in the best position for sunrise the next morning. While researching for this climb, we read that food and drink would be super expensive, so we brought 8 PB&J sandwiches for lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch (with some yak jerky and hawthorn gummies in between) and Pocari Sweat powder to make our water work that much harder for us (and the food and drinks were INSANELY expensive, unlike the other mountains we've climbed!!). By the time we got to the night stop, and went to the dining room for yet another PB&J, we were invited to a table of Chinese and British travelers. They were enjoying the biggest, most overpriced, vat of hot ginger soup EVER, and did I mention how cold it was? Molly broke the rudeness ice with, "boy, that soup sure looks good. I can't imagine you'll be able to finish it all. Do you mind if I just go ahead and help myself?" And we feasted on their gifts.

We spent that night in the most expensive hotel night we've had in China ($50 US for 2 beds in a 10 person dorm, in which chatting full volume at 3am was acceptable) for the worst night of sleep. We should have realized what a bad deal it was when Chinese travelers on our budget were renting down coats for the night and sleeping on benches outside instead of in the rooms.

The next morning, we got up at 5am for the sunrise. We lined up at the chains (there is VERY little guarding to ensure you don't fall right off this mountain!) and waited for a seriously beautiful sunrise. And while we waited, we locked our love to the railing. We thought this would be a nice spot for our love to watch the sun come up each morning.





After sunrise, I took the Hawk's Trail to a pagoda in the sky, complete with a chess board! You have to climb down an inverted cliff ladder (attached to a flimsy trusty safety harness…don't worry, Mom) and then meander along the ridge of a small mountain peninsula. At the end is a small pagoda with 2 stone stools and a chess board, and the view is fabulous. Molly stayed behind to take photos and potentially watch her husband plunge to his death. 

Rebar ladder down the cliff

After that thrilling walk, it was time to walk the plank! Going in, I had no expectation of Molly doing the plank walk, and when we arrived, she said she wanted to do it too. She said she didn't come all way to China to not walk out over a flimsy set of boards, stapled to the side of a cliff by a few pieces of rebar.  After giving each other one "last" kiss, we headed down the rebar ladder leading to the plank. At the bottom, it turns into foot sized grooves in the mountain ladder.  Then you walk down the wooden planks around the side of the cliff (aptly named "Ear Hugging Cliff"), and there's a little temple on the end. All along the way, there are more iron chains to grip to (there's no way we'd want to rely on those trusty harnesses!). 

Then you have to come back. And the worst part is that people are going both directions, so if someone's coming, you have to decide between you who is going to hug the mountain and who has to be on the outside. Usually, girls make a pretty easy case for getting to be on the inside. But Molly ran into one guy and there was a little cut out of the cliff next to where we were going to pass, so she went to snuggle into it, and he dove in first, rolled up in a teeny ball, hugging the cliff. He was oddly more scared than she was!

Along the way, Molly made me take tons of photos to prove to her dad and brothers that she actually did this. And yes, rest of the day was spent making terrible pirate jokes!

You know this is no green screen when you see my forearm :)

After the plank walk, we were suitably exhausted and ready to spend all the rest of our money to take the cable car to the bottom (and it was seriously a lot of money!). It was an incredibly hike, with super friendly travelers along the way, and we really recommend climbing your own Chinese mountain!

WE DID IT!!

For more photos from our trip to Huashan:

Huashan, a set on Flickr.

Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

Arriving in Xi'an at night was quite an experience, the city was bubbling with life.  We were dropped off a few blocks from the Bell Tower which is a massive and impressively lit Pagoda set in the dead center of the city. Apon arriving in Xi'an we did not really know what to expect, other than a day trip out to see the Terracotta Army.  We were met with the pleasant surprise of a walkable old walled city!

The wall itself is about 40 feet thick (wide?) and 8 miles around. You can walk, or bike, along the top of the wall, a pricey activity which we obviously did. Word to the wise: before spending a whole days worth of sightseeing money to rent bicycles in a cobblestone situation, check to be sure they do not use the least comfortable cycling racing seats imaginable. It will not make for a comfortable ride. However, after bitching about our sore parts for a bit in the scorching sun, we remembered that we were cycling on a 600 year old wall in China, and then we were happy again!

That evening, we took in some of the sights around Xi'an: the Bell Tower and Drum Tower (gorgeous from the outside but beyond our budget to go in) and the nightly water show outside the Wild Goose Pagoda. We had heard that some travellers at our hostel were "not impressed" with the nightly water show, but if you can imagine enjoying the water show outside the Bellagio in Vegas, but bigger, closer, and in front of a 1300 year old pagoda, this free show is for you! Oh, and bring an umbrella. It gets a bit...misty.

Nightly water show at the Giant Goose Pagoda

Obligatory Photo of Tomb. See? Totally not worth the visit.

The next day, we joined a tour at our hostel to go out to see the Terracotta Army, built for the Emperor Qin Shi Huang in around 210 BC. The tour started with a trip to see the actual tomb mound where the emperor is buried. If you have to pay extra for the trip to see his tomb, don't bother! Our delightful tour guide kept saying, "there is nothing to see there. Don't get excited!" and then when we arrived at the side of a big green hill, she pointed to a tomb marker and said, "take your pictures and we'll go see the army!" Since we're rule followers, we took our obligatory picture...see?!

We got back into the van and made our way to see the army. We had read in guidebooks to do see the pits backwards (so that the most complete, impressive pit is saved for last) and it was the perfect way to do it. Our favorite things we learned along the way:
- Of the thousands of soldiers and horses found in the 3 pits, only one has been found completely in tact, and has been thus named the Magic Archer.
- We had heard that each soldier had a different face, but we were surprised at just how different all the figures were, from different pants, shoes, hairstyles, and faces. We were told many of the faces are modeled after the carvers, as they used each other for inspiration to carve. 
- I was impressed by how much you can decipher about each figure, based on the shape of his shoes (less powerful soldiers had flat toed shoes, whereas generals had toes that pointed up significantly), marital status (men who were married had nails carved in the bottoms of their shoes because their wives made the shoes for them), etc.

Here are a few of our favorite photos:

 

Check out the different outfits, hair styles, and shoe toe heights!

The sheer number of figures was amazing!

Hand cut noodles...yummy!

Other than the wall and the army, Xi'an has some really fun food! There is a significant Muslim population in Xi'an (and a really fun Muslim Quarter) and their food is a cross between Chinese and Middle Eastern food. One of the most common dishes in town is a hand-cut noodle dish topped with a variety of ground meats and vegetables, and finished with a pungent broth. Delicious!!

Overall, we really enjoyed Xi'an.  If you want to visit china and have a limited amount of time, Xi'an provides a unique, well-traveled, but very authentic experience with a lot of very well preserved high impact sights very close by (Terracotta Warriors, City Wall, Giant Goose Pagoda, and Huashan...post to come!). 





More photos from our trip to the Terracotta Warriors:

Terracotta Warriors