Hua Shan

When I flew into Xi'An on Sunday, I met up with Dustin who I studied with in Lanzhou. His brother flew out here from Canada, and the three of us spent two days climbing a mountain. Hua Shan is about a two-hour bus ride east of Xi'An and is a beautiful rocky and tree-covered mountain.



We started climbing at about 8 a.m. on Monday morning, and we reached the top that evening. At the bottom, we walked up an incline, which turned into stairs, which turned into footholds in the rock with a chain to hold on to. The precipices were almost vertical.



We spent the night at a monastary at the top of the mountain. After climbing all five of the highest peaks and using harnesses to traverse some difficult parts, we headed back down the mountain to take a bus back to Xi'An.



Hua Shan is beautiful. When we were climbing the mountain, we were practically the only ones around. But we discovered that there is a gondola from the very bottom of the mountain to the very top. So after a day of rough climbing, we were tired and looking forward to enjoying the scenery. But it was difficult with throngs of Chinese tourists in high heels, dresses, and parasols, yelling on their cell phones. I think the gondola was a bad idea. Also, the beauty of the mountain was partly destroyed by litter. These same make-up clad tourists threw their custard pie wrappers where ever they pleased. It's slightly upsetting.



Even still, I enjoyed Hua Shan and the company of my Canadian friends. But my legs are extremely sore...