04.09.09
Posted in Travel at 12:54 pm by Benjamin Ross
This is the 3nd entry in a series titled From the Delta to the Backwoods about my recent trip to China.
After six days of travel by myself, I was met in Hangzhou by my old friend James L. Goode, who is currently working in Wenzhou. I had taken the one hour bus from Linan to Hangzhou, and he had ridden the overnight train from Wenzhou. We met up at the bus station in Hangzhou, from where we set out to Tunxi, the nearest city to Huang Shan, our first destination in Anhui.
If you grew up in the West, you’ve probably never heard of Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), but if you grew up in China, you’ve been hearing stories about it since before you’ve been able to talk. It’s one of China’s 5 “famous mountains,” and by many accounts, the best of the five. People who follow this blog are probably quite familiar with my own attitudes towards Chinese tourism and tourist attractions, yet I had heard enough raving about Huang Shan, that I didn’t want to have to take the flack from all my Chinese friends for visiting Anhui, and bypassing the famous Yellow Mountain.
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| To get to Huangshan, we took a bus from Hangzhou to a town called Tunxi. From Tunxi, a half hour shuttle bus takes you to Huangshan “village.” From the village, you take a taxi up to the base of the mountain. If you are a real mountaineer (or somebody in mildly decent shape) this is where you disembark, and begin the journey up the mountain on foot. For Tex and me, we chose option 2: the cable car. |
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| Apparently the cable car is quite the popular option, because all of the taxi drivers and vendors at Huangshan, who don’t speak a lick of English still manage to finagle the word “cable car” into Chinese sentences. I couldn’t tell you how many times I heard the phrase “要不要去cable car.” |
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| Another note about Huang Shan: March (or any other non-summer, non-holiday time) is the ideal time to go. While walking up the steps to the cable car, we passed a sign which read “from this point it is a 2 hour wait for the cable car.” Fortunately for us, there was nobody waiting ahead. Bottom line: Don’t go to Huang Shan during peak tourist season, unless you like shoulder to shoulder people traffic. |
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| Riding up the cable car gave us a chance to look down at the scenery, as well as consult our trusty map. |
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| oohhhh…..ahhhhhhh |
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| It ain’t too yellow, but it sure does look nice. |
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| Here’s a view from the top of the mountain. I don’t want to sound like a complete Negative Nancy, but the natural scenery at Huang Shan was pleasant, but certainly not the best I have ever seen in China. |
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| Fortunately for Tex and me, we were going to Anhui, from Zhejiang, anyway so a day at Huang Shan fit perfectly into our route. |
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| Now before I go any further, I should probably outline the cost of our little trip to Huang Shan. Keep in mind, these are all off-season rates. The taxi from Huang Shan “village” up to the base was 25 RMB per head. To actually get into the mountain park, you had to buy a ticket which cost 200 RMB. Once we were at the base, a main reason we sped up the mountain on the cable car was to avoid having to stay the night and pay for a hotel room at the top of the mountain, which allegedly costs several hundred as well. Instead, cost of cable car: 80 RMB…each way! Grand total: 385 RMB. By leaps and bounds, the most money I have ever spent on a single day of sightseeing in China.
For a handy comparison, visiting the Great Wall at Badaling costs a paltry 45 RMB. Actually, for the price of a single ticket to Huang Shan (including cable car) one could buy tickets for two people to see the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Summer Palace, and still have a little bit of money leftover for souvenirs. |
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| One of the err…attractions to Huang Shan is various peaks and rock forms which look like animals and household objects. Passing tour group leaders, we could often hear their explanations of how various geological features resembled things like…mobile phones. |
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| Here is the famous Mobile Phone Stone (手机石). As we passed it, a tour leader was asking his group, “Who can tell me what brand of cell phone this rock looks like?” Too bad we didn’t hire a guide. |
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| Once you are at the top of Huanghan, several paths wind through the peaks and vantage points. Other than rocks which look like cell phones, the main attraction is the view and scenery, which for me was the highlight of Huang Shan. As you can see, we had the fortune of arriving at Huang Shan on a beautiful spring day. |
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| Ok, this one’s going on the Facebook. |
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| One for Tex as well. |
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| Another thing I should point out is that both geologically, and economically, Huang Shan probably shares much more in common with bordering Zhejiang province, than it does with Anhui, the province within whose boundaries it lies. |
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| Most of the rest of Anhui we would see was not covered by scenic mountain ranges, but rather flat farmland, blanketed by the marks of civilization. In addition, the flood of tourists who flock to Huang Shan each year has also brought much prosperity to the region, and a booming local economy, dependent almost entirely on tourism revenue. |
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| “A relaxed and happy feeling comes from the harmonious coexistence between human and nature.” |
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| Well, you can probably detect it by the tone of my captions, but by the end of the day, Tex and I both agreed that Huang Shan is not all it is cracked up to be, even if you exclude the exorbitant ticket prices. As much lore as I had heard, Huang Shan really wasn’t too much different from other “famous mountains” which can be found all over the Middle Kingdom. This is not to say that Huang Shan is not a pleasant place to visit. It made for a great day trip along the route to the interior of Anhui, but had planned an entire vacation around Huang Shan, I probably would have walked away disappointed (and broke). And if I had gone during high tourist season, I’m sure I would have been completely miserable.
Had I grown up hearing stories about the Yellow Mountain since I was a little kid, I probably would have appreciated it more. But to me, Huang Shan was just an over-commercialized tourist trap, with some good, but not spectacular scenery. |
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| After riding down the cable car, and taking the bus back to Tunxi, Tex and I spent the night exploring what is possibly one of the most affluent cities in Anhui. Behind the central downtown area (pictured here) is a street (老街) which has more tourist knickknack shops than any single street I have ever seen anywhere in China. Along the back streets are overpriced restaurants, with decent food. |
With Huang Shan offically crossed off our list, and all of our touristy sightseeing behind us. Tex and I decided to officially start our journey to the backwoods of Anhui. We bought tickets for the overnight slow train to Hefei, the provincial capital, and our jumping off point in Anhui. This is where things would start to get really interesting (not to mention, ridiculously cost-effective). More to come.
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Tang Tang
said,
April 9, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Last year, went my friend and me arrived in Hangzhou, we had to take a decision on our next destination. We were hesitating between Nanchang in Jiangxi province and Huang Shan in Anhui. We opted for Nanchang and after reading your impressions of Huang Shan, I think we made the right decision to go to visit 八一广场 and 滕王阁。
Tina
said,
April 9, 2009 at 7:24 pm
We were actually thinking of going to Huang Shan before we move back to Chicago in the summer but now thinking we may opt for Lu Shan or Tai Shan, unless of course you have a better suggestion.
Andy
said,
April 9, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I went to Tai Shan and Qufu, Confucius’ hometown. It is a nice place but like any other Chinese tourist trap so you just have to be in the frame of mind of where you’re going.
Bottom line: If you want to enjoy tourism in China as a Westerner, go to random places that most Chinese would never consider going.
Kate.Shen
said,
April 10, 2009 at 1:56 am
你说对了：
我们中国古代地理学家徐霞客有一句话 “五岳归来不看山，黄山归来不看岳(yue4)”
东岳泰山（1532米），位于山东泰安市。
西岳华山（1997米），位于陕西华阴市。
南岳衡山（1512米），位于湖南长沙以南的衡山县。Heng2 shan
北岳恒山（2017米），位于山西浑源县。Heng2 shan
中岳嵩山（1440米），位于河南登封市。Song1 shan
ZHU Xiaoping
said,
April 10, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Well,it seems we went to the same place at different time.I just got back from Anhui,and I did climb Huang Shan on foot! The process is exhausting,and I really feel disappointed because the scenery isn’t as good as imagination.I stayed in a hotel at the top of the mountain for a night,not to mention the ridiculous experience and the expensive cost.I’ll say you made a right choice to take the cable car.After this trip ,I think I won’t climb any mountain on foot in 2 years!
CHRIS
said,
April 11, 2009 at 10:04 am
It reminds my days in Huangshan. NICE PHOTO
rp8
said,
April 12, 2009 at 1:06 pm
From your photos, obviously the air polution has taken its toll on the scenaries. I climbed the mountain in the summer of 1984. Then the visibility was so good you could see probably 50 miltes away if not more.
I forgot the cost of entry ticket, but it costed 2RMB at the top for sharing the buncker bed in the same bed with a stranger!
There’s no cable car then.
One of the horror stories was that you would often see a camera on a tripod, but there’s nobody around. The owners had fallen off the cliff while taking their final pcitures.
Thanks for the blog entry that brings back a lot of memories.
A friend from Fuzhou, Jiangxi
Rebekah
said,
April 13, 2009 at 1:31 am
Another great trip report, Ben! Thank you! Posted it to ChinaTravel.net. Keep them coming!! Rebekah
Tex
said,
April 16, 2009 at 6:24 am
I was a little disappointed as well. Our cable car option was also due to carrying our packs with us (we were unsure if we were staying at the top or not). Our time was also slightly limited. I don’t tend to cable car on my trips, but the view was quite splendid so I’m glad we did it.
h
said,
April 21, 2009 at 3:01 pm
FYI: Huangshan is not one of Five Mt(Yue).
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E5%B2%B3
But 五岳归来不看山，黄山归来不看岳.
Jon
said,
July 6, 2009 at 11:54 am
First I would like say that you are correct that the tourist areas of Huang Shan is not all that exciting. I went in 2007 during the peak tourist season and the tourist sections were packed with throngs of people. Not very exciting, the scenic spots were crowded and the view was mostly blocked. However, the scenery was much improved once we got on the back roads. Hardly any people at all, even during peak season. The reason is because the back roads take longer to travel and more stair climbing, so tour groups do not even attempt to access those areas. However, it is still easily accessible with stairs all the way and you just need a good tour map.
So your assessment of Huang Shan only presents a partial picture, taken from the vantage of a day tripper. I would encourage your readers to take the time to explore Huang Shan in depth. Take the opportunity to enjoy a sun rise, see the cloud mountains and climb fish back peak (not accessible by cable car).
To make an American analogy, I would contend that the south rim of the Grand Canyon has great views but it is still very touristy, with lots of people milling about. However, after spending 5 nights down in the canyon, surrounded by just my fellow campers and sleeping on the banks of the Colorado, I have grown to appreciate the Grand Canyon’s natural beauty so much more.
I would recommend your readers to spend a few more RMBs and few more days. You’ll enjoy Huang Shan much more.