9 mountains - 23.5.11 (Day 6 - Shanxi Mt Hengshan 山西恒山)

Set my alarm at 6 but the bed held me tight for 20minutes more. Quickly got ready and went down to the dining room for breakfast.

I just ordered whatever the owner said. First came a slightly cold veggie, next some watery rice, and then two big buns. By now, I already advised the old lady to press the stop button, but she still generously stressed that I could top up anytime. Then, a slightly spicy veggie was served! I thought I could still manage these. But that was not all yet! No matter how many times I told them, the dishes kept coming!! Soon a boiled egg was served and finally two huge fried puff!! I thought I could keep my can drink but the staff sneakily opened up for me while I was busy trying to finish my meal. During my struggle, the two staffs would take turn to ask me if I need to refill my watery rice and the bun!! I asked if they usually eat that much as well and, they replied yes!!

I gave up finally and left the fried puffs untouched for them to keep. When the bill came, all these were just for rmb16!!! They were preparing for breakfast themselves as well. The boss offered me a ride to the bus station, and I almost tempted to take up but didnt want to interrupt his family mealtime.

I quickly went back to my room and opened the curtain, it was so sunny and hot outside that I had to take off all my cold wear and packed up again!! I checked out and gave the rmb40 deposit to the old lady at the counter as tips. Their service was great and sincere. The place was so clean and it was way worth more than that money!!

I rushed to the bus stop with 15min left!!! Made it on time and after just a short while, we hopped into the bus which was heading to Datong. Heng Shan was supposed to be along the way.
I noticed two taoists inside the bus!! And many of the rest were speaking in some language that didn't sounds like Chinese at all! After updating my over-due blog for a while, I dozed off.
When I awoke and saw the bus attendant, I asked how long more to Heng Shan. To my shock, he said the bus did not go there!! I tried to reason but obviously it was useless. At this time, my friend was calling me. I was conned by the restaurant owner!! I checked with a passenger next to me. When I told him my destination, he said there was a small town that I could switched bus. I thanked him and informed the bus attendant immediately.

I returned my friend's miss call and got another big shock of the day! He told me one of our friends in Hk received a phone call from a stranger asking for ransom for my release!!! I was amazed how the stranger could have my friend's contact and his relationship with me!

I reached the town, Yexian after 2.5 hours ride. I was then directed to the other bus which was again going to another town, Hunyuan, where I was told there were buses to Heng Shan. I was relieved to find out that the two taoists were going to my same destination too! At the bus stop, I met two Portugeses trying to get to Wutaishan! I think Domingos and Joanna were amazing. They speak no Chinese and yet ended up at this place!! They were from Datong, where they could have made it directly to Wutaishan actually. I tried to be the translators between them and the locals. They ended up taking a cab there. Joanna was working at Macao and I thought maybe we could meet up if I would go to Macao and we exchanged contacts.

View outside Xuankong temple

The short hike up to Heng Shan (Shanxi)

About half an hour later, the bus took off, and as usual when it was full. After 40minutes, we were dropped of half way to be transferred to another taxi driver who brought us to Xuankong temple! Appearing to be very nice (I'll tell you why I said "appearing" very soon), the taxi driver looked for buses for us to go to Heng Shan. The taoists decided to walk up. I should had followed them. There were no buses that go there at all!! Some bikers offered a staggering rmb150 for the round trip. Running out of options, I picked up the taxi driver's offer for rmb180!! I thought of reaching there and pay him some amount before informing him that I would not follow him back when I started the hike.

Temples at Heng Shan(Shanxi)

He lied that the cable car station was at the foot of the mountain, which in fact it was half the way instead. He lied that the trip to the foot of the mountain was 12km, which instead was only about 1km away!! He also lied that the hike to the peak from the cable car station was 3 hours which in fact it was less than an hour!! The 3 hours hike would be from the foot of the mountain.

On the way to the cable car station, we met the taoists from Huashan again. I said if we could picked them up without a cost since we were already on the way up! The taxi driver nodded and even claimed the taoists owned it to me!!
When we reached the cable car station, I paid him and thought of letting him know later that I would not follow his car back. I should had paid him lesser than rmb80!!

Taoists taking a break..

So the taoists and I walked up to the mountain together. He said he would be staying up at a temple and offered me to join him along! I thought why not the adventure and took this opportunity to call the taxi driver! He acted he could not hear me well and kept saying he would wait for me. I just sent him an sms instead!

Failing to hike up from the foot of the mountain, I was already pretty down and decided to let fate and the taoists decide my course for the rest of the day.

It was only a short hike to the highest point at 1777m. There was a path to the peak at 2016m but the gate was closed. I met two young guys there who sneaked in. I wanted to join them but I couldn't leave the taoists behind. There was actually a path that went all the to the town, Hunyuan. The map also showed there was a such a back road. I hoped the young guys managed to find all the way to the town.

Lake view from Heng Shan (Shanxi)

It was unfortunate that many of the people around these tourist spots would not tell you the hiking path because they wanted you to pay them for the ride up. Heng Shan at Shanxi, was even more so because the place was pretty deserted and less popular compared to the other mountains. But the taxi driver mentioned the entrance fee would be increased from rmb55 to rmb130 in June 2011!! This place was just a sea of hungry touting taxi drivers!!

The taoists were actually looking for their master. Unfortunately, the master was not in town. As a result, we did not have a place to stay and needed to descend.

View from the top of Heng Shan (Shanxi)

When we were back down to the cable car area, the taxi driver, who sent us up, saw us and shouted from afar!! He dared to ask for the money from the taoists!! He claimed they had not paid for the ride up!!! I was so pissed off and almost wanted to give him a taste of my Shaolin's tiger punch!! He still had the guts to say they had no trust. The male taoist was also very frustrated and created a scene!! One of the other taxi driver was trying to provoke the taoist and looked for a fight. A more reasonable taxi driver then walked up to us to offer rmb80 to send three of us down to the town. We bargained to rmb60. Imagined the rmb180 I would be paying for a rmb40 bucks job!! I had already paid double the amount to come up!

Soon, we realized the cab was actually hired entirely by another guy. The taxi driver collected rmb100 from this guy and rmb60 from us for a trip not more than 5km!! He was chicken enough to ask us not to tell this guy that he collected the money from us!! Along the way, he was still trying to give his grandmother reasons for such 6-stars-rated fares charged by the taxi drivers, while the rest of us just kept quiet in the car!!

The taoist was really a nice and sincere guy. He said if this would happened at Hua Shan, a report to the complaint department would had revoked the license of these touting taxi drivers!! He appreciated those foreigners who tour in China . He added that a lot more foreigners used to visit Hua Shan but the amount dropped significantly due to these few bad eggs!! The guy who came down with us was a very forgiving person too. The uncle told me he already knew the taxi driver would had collected money from us too.

At 3:35pm, we departed in a bus to Datong. Along the way, there was one whole stretch of trucks like 100m long going at 5km/h !!! In the fact, the trucks were covering both lanes of the road at times. I pitied those driving from the other side of the road! Surprisingly, they didn't honk the hell out of their frustration!!!

Due to the traffic congestion, we only reached Datong around 5:30pm. Took a public bus to the train station and departed with the taoists here! We exchanged contact. He gave me some advice on the traveling! He told me to look for him at his temple and offered that I could stay and eat there anytime for as long as I wanted!! I thanked him very much!

The ticket office was really testing the patience of the others including myself. Directing us from one new window to another and another. Initially I was in a line and after 5minutes or so, the counter closed, just like that!! I had to start a long queue all over again.

Finally when it was my turn, I couldn't get my desired tickets too. I thought I might as well just take whatever that comes my way!!

My 6-berth bunk!

My train was 11pm. It was 6:30pm. I walked to a noodle shop for my dinner and asked for an Internet cafe. The lady directed me. I passed by a nice looking hotel showing rmb60 for 3 hours outside the hotel. I checked in and the room was really nice and clean! After my wonderful shower, I was too lazy to go out for the Internet cafe. So I just sat on the bed watching CCTV5 while updating my blog until 10pm. I checked out and sat at the lounge till 10:30pm before I walked over to the train station. When it was time to board, everyone just ran for their lives to the train. I wondered what were the allocated seat numbers for!!

I was allocated the middle berth of the 6-berth coach. Unlike the 4-berth, there was no door and the space was tighter. There were two ladies in our berth. It was a lot noisier here. I wondered if I could sleep at all!!