We had had discussions about going to Hua Shan with some graduate students from Computer Science. That didn’t work out due to changes in schedules on both sides. Also, they were planning to do the climb at night to be able to reach the peak at sunrise. That did not appeal to us. We wanted to spend a night on the mountain. Fran’s department arranged a trip for us, making reservations at the simple hotel on the North Peak. They sent two graduate students to accompany us, though they had not been to Hua Shan before. We met them at 8:00 on Saturday morning and took a taxi to the train station. There we asked around and located a mini-bus. The bus made a couple of stops. One was to see a presentation about the traditional medicines grown on the mountain and a chance to buy some of them. It probably would have been interesting if we understood Chinese. Our guides gave us the general outline about what was said. The other stop was a quick lunch stop.
There are two approaches to Hua Shan. [Chinese proverb: “There is one road and only one road to Hua Shan,” meaning that sometimes the hard way is the only way.] The west entrance involves 10 kilometers of walking on a road before you start climbing. We went with the east entrance, where the bus brings you to the base of a cable car that goes up to the 1500 meter North Peak. Our plan was to walk up to the North Peak, then climb to the four other peaks the next day and take the cable car down.
We started the climb in the early afternoon. The path consists of stone steps with rough chain link handrails in the narrowest areas (we wore our bicycling gloves for hand protection). Physically, it is more like climbing the steps of a skyscraper than trails at home. However, the temperature was about 95 degrees and there was not much shade. We brought lots of water, including some bottles that we froze and some Gatorade that we got at the fancy department store in downtown Xian. There are plenty of refreshment stands along the way where you can buy bottled water, the Chinese equivalent of Gatorade, and other drinks or snacks at a premium price.
We reached the North Peak before 4:00 PM and rested at the hotel. Our room was basic, but comfortable and clean enough. Because water is scarce on the mountain, there were neither showers nor sinks available for washing. In that sense the experience felt like camping, but we were sleeping in a big tent!
After dinner at the hotel restaurant, we spent some time talking with our guides. We were a bit surprised to find that they both think of Japan negatively, but like the U.S. It seems that Japan’s WWII behavior in China has not been forgotten, and is emphasized in school.
We saw a beautiful sunset and watched the sky become resplendent with thousands of stars, including the Milky Way galaxy. This was the clearest sky that we have seen in China. The fresh air at Hua Shan is a treat!
Our guides had both been planning to get up at 4:00 AM to watch the sunrise. Fran and I made sleep a priority. We did happen to wake up a bit before sunrise (our room faced east) and went outside to watch the sky become rosy. Ironically, our guides missed the sunrise because they had stayed up late watching the European soccer championships on the television in their room.
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