Of all the notable mountains in China, and a UNESCO world heritage site; Mount Huangshan is the most famous and today we climb it! We really must be crazy- we have already been called this by a number of Chinese in our hostel, who are of course sensible and taking the cable cars up all the way!
We were dropped at the base by a lovely local named Simon Cheng who had helped us find our hostel the day before. He had planned an extensive route for us up and down the mountain, and organised an over night stay in a tent at the top for us. In return he wanted us to have breakfast at his family restaurant before we left. Reeling us in with banana pancakes with cinnamon and real coffee, we were sold!
Dropping us at the base Simon wished us luck and left! It took us all of the morning to reach the top, the trek was arduous and the heat blistering. The views from the top though were absolutely more than worth it!
Checking into our tent and a quick lunch which consisted of beer and popcorn we set off to explore the top of the mountain, which the Chinese have named - The Grand Canyon!
None of us have ever seen such magnificent sight in all of our lives, the sky was so clear and the views around us were just out of this world.
Spending the rest of the afternoon here taking it all in, we were greeted by many friendly Chinese tourists who were astonished that we had made the climb and not taken the cable cars all the way -We are definitely appearing in many photos on Facebook China! Later we climbed the peak and watched the sunrise which was by far the best Ash and I have witnessed on our travels. Headed back down to our base grabbing a quick Chinese dinner and film before an early night.
After 4 hours sleep huddled up in our tent we woke for sunrise up on the peak. What a beautiful sight.
Deciding tiredness would hit us hard if we went back to bed for a couple of hours before making our way back down the mountain, we decided we would set off right away after sun rise.
Absolutely shattered and legs trebling we had completed the trek and Mr Cheng awaited us with a huge smile at the bottom, whisking us away in his beautifully air conditioned car and popping us on the bus to Hangzhou!
Although we are all knackered the last two days really have been so incredible. We now head to Hangzhou for a quick tour of The West Lake and a well deserved chill.