Huang Shan (Yellow mountain 黄山)

Yesterday was some day. It began at 2am with watching World Cup finals, which was very dramatic and fun to watch (for the record Zidane was red carded for head budding a likewise retiring Italian guy, and the match ended 5:4 Italy victory in penalty shootout). It ended some time after 5pm，at which time I was scrambling to find a place to watch the Sunrise ...

A lot of fun followed, and I ended my Huangshan trip in high spirit but rather low energy level, which was why I ditched my group headed for Hefei, and went on my own and flew back to Shanghai.

On the ride from Hong Qiao Airport to Pudong, I noticed many new high-end hotels and new serviced apartments in the south west downtown region. I wonder where they would find quality trained staff to service this outburst of luxury accomodation. There must be professional school that produce these members of the new economy, but I'm not sure supply meets demand there. If any one is experience and well-funded in this area, I bet they can make a killing charging tuition teaching the art of serving the 1st world way.

I shouldn't romanize my my breath taking experience on Huang Shan, so I'll work on the pictures first: they're overdue...

Photos finally up...

It was a 4 days, 3 nights trip organized by an agency that does 散客 (ungrouped travellers). I must say the logistics are fairly beefed up: The travel agency schedules for me different partial events of the trip and contracts them to actual service providers, so every whole event of the trip is with a different group.

Day 1 morning was a 6 hour long bus ride from Hefei to Tangkou (汤口), a town at the foot of Huangshan. Praise is that the bus goes fast and makes only necessary stop and the driver uses the break sparingly, which made a 6.5 hr trip only 5.75 hours. Criticism is that the bus is missing a bathroom, and the driver honks profusely, I don't blame the man since many small time villagers still treat state highways as their backyard, and, honking can reduced the need for breaking in many situations. Well it was an uncomfortable, noisy ride.

Day 1 afternoon, I went to 凤凰谷 (Phoenix Valley), and 竹筏漂流 (bamboo raft drifting). The valleys of Huangshan are marvellous but they all looks more or less the same: small streams flowing through special looking rocks, with frequent rapids, falls, backgrounded by hills and mountains. Drifting was a pretty good feeling. In the old days, this is how people moved around in China, very much at one with nature, in a setting behind the inspiration of many poets.Next the driver took us to a free tea tasting session at an affiliated business partner. The girl gave a nice intro on the 10 different types of tea harvested on Huangshan did such a good job that some of us gave in and bought some. They were at a premiun to the market (villagers homes of scenic sites), but I bought some 一叶参, which is good for people who fatigue from thinking. This particular tea look like large pebbles, each scrunched from a single leaf. A one person serving is about 1/3 of a leaf, and can last 8-9 days. This is one of the special teas that can be served overnight (over-week for that matter).

Day 1's events yielded extra income for the agency as the advertised "free afternoon" as promoted became "make more money afternoon". Well, one figures one can't go anywhere by oneself without a car in the middle of somewhere that might as well be nowhere. I spent an unplanned 150 RMB plus the 26 RMB tea.

Day 2 was both visually as well as culturally rewarding. First of two village stops was 宏村 (Hong Cun - Hong Village), a well preserved mountain village special in many ways. I've got some captions that tell the story at http://ethan.fotopic.net/c1019137.html

Hong Cun was truly beautiful. A large cohort of art students almost live here: Heavenly views, flowing lifestyles, in historic technology.

2nd village was 西递 (Xi Di - Xidi Village), which is more or less the same as Hong, but in somewhat different style and Fengshui.

... to be continued.