Huangshan

Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, is one of the sources of the iconic Chinese paintings of the steep peaks floating above clouds or pine trees growing out of rocks. We rode the cable car up this morning, leaving most of our luggage at our hotel in Tangkou, the town at the base of the mountain. Visiting here is a little like going to a national park in the States, but with a lot more people. There was a bit of a scrum getting on the cable car but things smoothed out after we were on the mountain.

Everyone visiting here is on holiday and pretty much everyone is in a good mood. Lots of families and couples. There are tour groups at all the sights we visit and Huangshan is no exception. They are cute - everyone in the group wears the same color hat. That is the Chinese tour groups I am speaking of. We haven't noticed any foreign tours on Huangshan.

The place is truly beautiful but we have to walk up and down many, many steps as we move around on the mountain. There are paved paths everywhere but they mostly consist of steps. Still, it is a real privilege to be able to experience Huangshan.

A group that probably doesn't feel so privileged are the porters who carry everything up and down the mountain. There don't seem to be any roads up the mountain and there are several hotels up here. The porters walk with very heavy loads up and down the stairs - fresh things up and trash down. They stop and rest a couple of minutes every few dozen steps. I wonder how the materials to build the hotels came up the mountain, though.

Tomorrow we will go back down and spend another night at the base of the mountain and then make our way to Changsha on the way to Zhangjiajie, another place of natural beauty.