Wed 13/6
We had a lazy day today at the hostel after our big day yesterday and in preparation for our big hike up Mount Hua Shan tomorrow. It was a movie day in the bar which was a bonus so watched 4 films! Two we had seen and two we hadn't!

Thu 14/6 (Today)
Set off from the hostel early and got public transport to the mountain with the dutch guys. They were quite fit especially compared to us smokers so they made their own way and we stuck to our own pace. Mt Hua Shan is one of the worlds most dangerous mountain climbs but we went by the most popular route to the North peak, think it is more dangerous round the top at the other peaks. It was a 6km walk which was meant to take us 3-5hrs. The first 4km were the easiest as it was mainly uphill paths and some steps (I wouldn't class it as fairly easy like lonely planet did!) The last 2km were all steep, steep, steps, most of which were only the width of my foot but thankfully there were chains to help climb them! Some of the steps were practically vertical! We now understand why it is so dangerous! Glad we were going up and not down! The scenery was beautiful! Well worth the hike! Cam was chuffed to bits as on the way up we saw a snake in the wild for the first time! I got a fright and let out a small scream coz i was behind and it was coming towards me but fine after it disappeared! Great view too as it went right down the path next to us! Too fast for a photo tho! We met up with the other guys at the top, it toke us 4 hrs to do the hike and i don't think they arrived much before us! They were staying overnight and doing the rest of the walk and we got the cable car back down (thankfully not enough time to walk down!) We were very much looking forward to treating ourselves to a steak when we got back! Sat and had chinese tea with the owner of the hostel when we got back which was really nice! With the hostel being new we are getting lots of freebies coz they are trying to impress! The chinese tea was actually very good too!