Hangzhou & Huangshan

As previously mentioned, the whole Shanghai was in a "working in progress" status, therefore we decided to flee from the noisy city in seek of a tranquil place. We eventually thought about Hangzhou since many Chinese people spoke great things about this city so we jumped on an afternoon train to get there within 2 hours. Our home was the West Lake hostel, a small and neat place. Tired by all this come and go from one place to another, we felt like having a huge pizza, relax and watch a movie in the big sofa. After a good night sleep, the following morning we rented 2 bicycles and went off exploring the famous lake in Hangzhou. It's beautiful, located right in the city centre and just the ideal spot to escape the crowds...we spent a good couple hours riding around it and over its bridges, until we were tired enough to stop for some food, in our beloved Ajisen Ramen (Japanese restaurant chain). Again, we got frustrated because 90% of Chinese people don't understand English AT ALL. We had got used to the mimics and these, combined with four Mandarin words we had learnt, helped us to communicate...either way, we asked the waitress for some water. As she didn't understand "water", nor our gestures, we pulled out an empty bottle we had in our bag, and she looked puzzled..."mmmm what could these two customers be asking for?" Finally she assumed that we wanted our bottle refilled with hot water, and that's what she did. In some way, our request was granted :-). With our bellies full, we went on for some extra cycling and ended up in the Old Street, a pedestrian Chinese-style street full of stalls and shops. Once we were back in the hostel, we didn't move, we were tired from the day and too isolated from any restaurants or bars...plus, we loved the cosy atmosphere of the place, it felt like a real home.

The second morning was already time to leave again, but this time to visit the famous Yellow Mountain, which Peter had recommended us. Chinese people say that "Once you visit the Yellow Mountain, no other in the World needs to be seen" to emphasise its beauty, so we couldn't wait to check it out. To reach Huangshan, we took a bus to Tun Xi, the nearest city where we could have a rest before conquering the mountain. It was a quick 3 hour drive to the city, and we stayed in a low-key International Youth Hostel. The staff in the hostel gave us some good advice for Huangshan and booked us the transport and accommodation for 1 night, so we were ready to walk and enjoy.

We woke up at 5.00 am to have some quick breakfast and be picked up at 6.00 am. Two other guys from our hostel came along but they were definitely not up for any socialising...plus one of them spoke Chinese and he wouldn't even give us hints on where to go once we were up there...nice! Anyhow, once we were at the entrance of Huangshan, we paid our fees and went inside. We saw there was a cable car, but it wasn't working, so we immediately started our hiking upwards. After a few minutes we realised that the hiking was intense, very intense...nothing for amateurs like us. But we were already there...so we took the challenge and continued no matter what. It was hard, really hard to make it to the first refreshing point...3 hours later. The curious thing was that when we arrived, we were sweaty, thirsty and basically dying, and then we met a group of oldies that looked as fresh as a rose...so we were wondering "how come are we suffering this much?" and our question got answered straight away. It turns out, there was another cable car working that we didn't see, so the majority of people took it to reach the first spot to start trekking. Oh well, at least we were proud of our effort and our muscles didn't fail on us! We needed a good half hour rest and a quick snack before restarting the walk. The weather was pretty cloudy and at that altitude you didn't have any views at all, but still it was nice to walk through the misty landscape. We were also told that Yellow Mountain has several spots where couples leave locks and throw the key to symbolise eternal love, and it was truly packed in some areas. Other than Chinese tourists that were visiting the mountain, we saw many men carrying large bulks of anything you could imagine on their backs i.e. water, laundry, fruit, drinks etc, walking the same km we were but carrying around 60-80 kg...we were amazed by these guys and now understand why on earth you pay 20 yuan instead of 3 for a bottle of water...these guys are our new heroes, true ironmen.

After 8 hours trekking, we were wreckage, so it was time to find our accommodation, the Tianhai Hotel. Apparently there are no hostels in the area, but this hotel has dorms meaning you don't have to pay 4star prices, on the other hand it still costs much more than average. We knew we would be sharing the room with other 5 people, and that we would be separated (female&male). But there were other things we discovered once we were there. First, they wouldn't give us a key to our room, which was unbelievable as even in the crappiest places you get your own key to keep the door locked, and when we asked for it they would just say "this is China". Secondly, they wouldn't give us a towel even if we were paying 120 yuan for a night. Well, Nick didn't care if Huangshan was China or Congo, he wanted a key to the room and a towel, so the show began. Nick played the bad cop, speaking loudly, cursing all the time and he even made up he was a hotel reviewer, whilst Sonia played the serene and calm good cop, trying to ease off the tension. The receptionist (who was probably a trainee and was living his first scandal with a client) brought us to the Front Office Manager who in the end gave us a key and a towel to shut us up. And it worked! Still, the hotel was pretty bad, the beds were thinner than the mattresses you find in the trains, everything was expensive and the staff looked bored...not a place we would go to again.

We were lucky that on our second day in Huangshan the weather was incredible and we could appreciate the whole scenery. Our mission was to visit a couple peaks and then walk the whole way down, which wasn't easy either...after a good 5 hours we made it, we were again at the entrance and got back to Tun Xi with a bus. That same evening we visited the main commercial road where we had some dinner and went back to the hostel to get some sleep...we were destroyed after our trekking experience, and Tun Xi is just another big city in China...same roads, same lights, same everything.

Our next destination was Guilin, but getting there by train was impossible (no tickets available). Instead, we opted for a flight from Hangzhou, which meant we had to get back to the Lake city. It was a long journey, but completely worth it for all the beauty we had discovered. After so many cities, especially as big as you find them in China, we were seeking for some natural sights...it was time to hit the Southern part of China.