September 26 (Saturday) – Huang Shan and Hongcun

I passed on the sunrise today…too tired. Paul got up, took one look at the cloud out our window and went back to bed…it was obvious the sunrise would be behind a wall of clouds. (NOTE: after talking to some other hikers later in the day we heard that at the last minute, after most observers had left, the sunrise actually put on a beautiful display…should never assume anything.)

By the time we headed out after breakfast the sky was clearing; this would be our clearest day on the mountain. We headed out via “Beginning to Believe” Peak (love the way they name things) and believe me…the views were incredible. The Sea of Clouds had arrived.  Adjectives fail to describe the beauty of the clouds around the mountains. Peaks were incredibly steep with large portions of bare rock broken by occasional trees growing right out of the side of the mountain. The clouds were below many of the peaks and moved in and out and around the formation…absolutely magical.

   Video in a new window, Sea of Clouds
   




































They say you come to Huangshan for 5 things:  clouds, rocks, trees, flowers (in the spring), and snow (in the winter).  And you must add the sunrise and sunset.  We saw 3 of the 7, and it was gorgeous.  We would love to come back again at any time of year.

Stairs today
Paul – 1600
Mary – 1700 (100 more to get to the ladies room at the cable car)

We only saw a couple of dozen Caucasians out of a few thousand people on the mountain.

After a slow picture taking crawl to the cable car we headed down the mountain and on the Tunxi for lunch.

Huangshan Album

Hongcun

From there we went to yet another World Heritage site – an 800 year old, well preserved village called Hongcun. The village is surrounded by water and has 4 bridges into the town. There are little (~12” to 18”) “canals” of water running along many of the streets that feed into the houses through openings (slots) in the rock foundations of the houses. The water is then used to help provide fire protection. One of the more interesting things we saw was unhulled rice spread over stone surfaces to dry.
   




















 



















Hongcun Album


After returning to Tunxi, we walked the old street again, had dinner, killed time at a coffee shop and then headed to the airport. We departed at 10:40 and arrived in Shanghai about 11:30 pm, not getting to bed until about 1:30. We were both beat but the bed was probably the most comfortable one of the trip. It was very, very firm (as opposed to rock hard).

Comments on Chinese Plumbing and Sanitary Facilities

• All the hotels we stayed at had Western style toilets and toilet paper…just not very much paper and almost never a spare roll. Use it sparingly, ask for more, or carry your own.
• Public toilets are almost always the Asian toilets – porcelain fixture set flush to the floor that you must squat over. They do flush (usually).
• Many public facilities might have one or a very few Western toilets. The Chinese usually avoid them for the ones in the floor.
• The Western style toilet is often labeled as a handicap stall (one was labeled “Deformed Persons End Cage” – the translations can be interesting)
• The Western toilet/handicap stall rarely has any extra space and since the hole in the Asian models don’t take up much space you can assume that the Western toilets (usually the same size stall) will be so tight you can barely back in and get the door closed.
• Most public toilet stalls have toilet paper dispensers but rarely toilet paper.
• Don’t count on the Western toilets to actually flush routinely.
• Many public bathrooms have air hand dryers to dry your hands but most did not work.
• Most public bathrooms have paper towel dispensers but I never found paper in them except for some (not all) hotels and restaurants.
• Sink faucets are often not screwed down so they move a lot when you try to turn on the water. The sink itself also occasionally moves.
• Toilet fixtures are also often quite unstable – sit down carefully.
• The Western toilet seat covers are occasionally missing and frequently quite loose. Again, sit carefully
• Tissue seat covers are totally unknown