Today we headed back to the bus station and caught the public bus to Hua Shan Mountain. The Chinese seem to have perfected the art of extracting as much money from your wallet as possible - there was an entrance fee to the mountain, you had to get a bus up the hair pin mountain road, and then a further ticket was required to ride the cable car! That having been said it was certainly worth the fees!!
Hua Shan mountain has INCREDIBLE scenery - towering, vertical cliffs. The path up the mountain is paved with chains and many, many steps....the only place I have yet found that surpasses the number of stairs at Chamrong in Nepal. The climb was extremely tough on the old leg muscles and creaky ankles...however, we managed to make it up under the time specified in the guidebook and overtaking lots of groups. In places you had to climb vertical steps, carved into the rocks while pulling yourself up on chains - no mean feat! The top of the mountain afforded incredible views and a cold beer. After lunch we headed on to the Dragon's Ridge, the Heavenly Ladder and Wutong Peak.
At three o'clock we had to start heading down and decided to take the cable car. This proved to be quite the adrenaline rush as the car suddenly steeply veers down the mountain. The views are incredible and the 10 minutes it takes to reach the base is an added bonus!! We managed to link up to a bus which took us back to Xi'an after a 40 minute wait. The longer distance private busses here wait until they are full before setting out on the journey!
Once back in Xi'an feeling a little weary we opted to eat in the hostel cafe and watch a movie for the evening! It was a brilliant day ; )
Great to start to catch up with your blog,Nicky;we are reading it in Ireland-off to Cork tomorrow.We have a good hotel here in Skibereen,in south-west Ireland.
ReplyDeleteYou need to add some nice pictures Mom.
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