9 mountains - 26.5.11 (Day 9 - Sunrise at Mt Hua)

Sunrise at West Peak!

Sunrise at West Peak again!

I was too tired to be bothered by the noise outside. It reminded me of those days at my grandma house when the kids were in bed, but we could still hear the adults talking outside and wondered why they could stayed up late while we had to sleep early!!

My alarm rang at 4:30am. I lazed for another 15minutes. The young couple just woke up as well. The 3 late comers already left at 3am as they mentioned last night! They were walking to the East Peak to view the sunrise. The hairstylist preferred the sleep more.

Highest peak at Huashan!

Huashan great view!

I went up to the West Peak's summit first. It was still early around 5am. Soon the young couple joined in. It was not very cold actually even at this hour. There were just the 3 of us most of the time. Only a few more turned up at 5 plus. Most of the people went to the East Peak.

Bird-eye's view!

Another Huashan great view!

More Huashan great view!

Around 5.25am, I saw a glimpse of the sun which was covered mostly by the clouds. Another unlucky day. There was a little hole among the clouds. I witnessed it passing through that until it emerged from the clouds. We all went back to our room a little disappointed. I washed up and ready to set off again at 6:08am. The couple decided to rest for a while. The hairstylist had already awoke but not leaving yet. I bid them farewell and moved on to the South Peak, the highest at Huashan. Here was where the previously dangerous trek of tiny planks were. I paid and geared up with the safety features. Glad I didn't give it a miss! It was pretty fun walking along the tiny planks.

Still Huashan great view!

After that I had a short breakfast stop and then walked to the East Peak. By now, everyone from there had already moved to the west. The place was very scenic. I came to another adventurous trek, the famous slope with only a small opening on the rock for your feet to support on!! It was cool!! I felt like Ethan hawk again in Mission Impossible 3. Surprisingly the descend was easier than the ascend to me.

Dare devils!

At the East Peak, I met a young guy from Shandong. YiQiang was 25 and married. We chatted and descended together around 10:30am. At the South Peak, we separated and exchanged contact. He was taking the other path to a temple to get his phone charged, while I wanted to pay the Taoist temple a visit on the same route I hiked up yesterday.

Fun planks!

At the temple, I couldn't see any worship area. There was a locked area. Probably that was the place since the taoists I met at Heng Shan were not back yet.

Still more Huashan great view!

I moved on but my knees were getting weaker and weaker!! About 4km more, I changed to my slippers. I reached the river again and chose a spot to dip my feet. It was just as refreshing as the first one I had at Taishan.

I managed to reach the foot of the mountain by 1:50pm. So there was still time for me to catch a cab to the train station to take the 2:18pm train to Xi'an!

The adventure was fun!

Really steep... steps!

At the ticket office, the staff said there was a 2:30pm train instead. I also asked for the trip to Emei but unfortunately all the sleeping berths for the day were sold out! I bought the sitting ticket anyway only to regret not checking for the following night. I thought it would be hellish to sit for the whole trip of 19 hours!! I went back to ask if I could exchange but the staff wasn't very willing to help and directed me to do it at the Xi'an station.

Inside the train, there were staffs actually selling belt!! We were at Xian in 2 hours.

Still another Huashan great view!

Immediately I went to the ticket counter to change my ticket. Came to the counter but was directed to another ticket office, which I couldn't quite figured out what she said. She advised me to be quick because there were only 2 tickets left for the sleeping berth. I quickly walked to the other ticket office available and thankfully managed to change the ticket with no extra charges but just to top up the difference. I was impressed by the service provided. Next was to find a decent hotel and get cleaned up!! Went to the one recommended by the book which was just in front of the train station.

Wonderful Huashan view!

Fun steps!

Quickly I cleaned up my bags, pants and jacket; washed the socks and handkerchieves, and finally had a great shower. After that, I walked out to look for food. I was too hungry and just marched into the first stall I saw and had some big serving of rice with three meats and three vegetables for only rmb20!!

On the way down to the planks!

I was so full and decided to take a walk. I just walked and walked. Passed by many shopping lots and departmental store and felt like I was back in Shanghai already. Reached the Bell tower and stopped at Starbucks for a cup of latte! Through the Drum tower, I walked further and came to the Muslim district area. The place was huge with many shops and stalls and many tourists and locals too. It was my food heaven because everywhere was mutton, mutton and mutton!! Saw so many specialty food, but I was still very full. I made a turn back to where I came from. I didn't realized I had already walked for 3 and a half hours!! Half way back my legs couldn't take it anymore and took the bus back to the hotel.

Updated my blog and watched TV till 1am before I was willing to go to bed!