11/26
Took an early morning flight from Kunming to Xi'an. Kunming is another super fancy Chinese airport. Once in Xi'n, we took a bus downtown to where our hostel is. After checking in (they give you free hot milk, haha!), we went out for a noodle lunch. We then walked around the city.
It's famous as an ancient city, the first capital of China and the start of the silk road. We visited the bell and drum towers, which are beautiful large buildings within the walled city. We had some tea and snacks and then visited the south gate of the wall and the little goose pagoda. We then caught the subway and went to the big goose pagoda area. It was a beautiful area wit a tall, skinny pagoda and a reflecting pool with lots of lanterns. All throughout the city were girls dressed up in traditional Chinese garb, make-up, and hairstyles (similar look to Japanese Geisha) taking beauty photos, but there were especially a lot of them at this location. People were selling props for them and had special lighting for the photos...a big production. The ares was very beautiful with all its lanterns and lights and the classic Chinese style buildings all lit up.
The reason we were there was to watch the music fountain show. It did not disappoint! It was a cool display of water fountains with lights and music in front of the pagoda. We then went to a big diverse night food market in the area. Because the area was so cool, we walked around for awhile checking out all the cool sights and people and drinking tea. Eventually took the subway back to our hostel
11/27
We slept in a bit, then walked to the South city wall gate where we climbed up onto the wall and rented bicycles. We bicycled on top of the wall for the entire length of the wall (~10 miles). It was neat to look down on the city from above. Outside the wall was a moat with walking paths and creation areas between the wall and moat. The coolest was an area with >20 ping pong tables in a row with people playing. But also another area with people singing and dancing as well.
After the bike ride, we got some noodles and then took the subway and a then a bus outside the city to visit the famous terracotta warrior army. This "army" of foot soldiers and horses made out of clay was buried in 210 b.c. along with the first unifying emperor of China (Qin Shi Huang). There are 3 main pits to visit where the archaeological excavations are occurring. The first pit has had over 200 soldiers excavated with an estimated 6000 total (most remain to be excavated). They have excavated soldiers lines up in rows like an army (and how they were buried). The wagons, which were made of wood, have long since disintegrated, but not the bronze weapons that the soldiers carried. Each of the faces of the soldiers is unique! The first pit is the size of an "aircraft carrier" (300m x 60m...length of 3 football fields).
The second pit was also super big, but less excavations have occurred there. We could actually see archaeologists working on excavating as well as running some 3-D imaging sort of equipment. In the 2nd pit viewing area accessible to tourists, they had 5 or so of the various soldiers (ex. archers , generals) that were in glass cases that you could get up real close to in order to see the detail. The 3rd pit was rather small in comparison and was composed of high ranking officers and their horses.
Definitely a a really cool experience and super impressive, especially considering the age of these...several centuries before Christ!
We then took the bus and subway back to Xi'an and wen to eat at the famous Muslim night food market in the Muslim quarter. The Muslim quarter has narrow streets and the food street is very busy with all sorts of foods. We had one of the famous ones where they put breadcrumbs in a bowl and then noodles and soup over it. We also had the famous paomo (Chinese hamburger) where they have some sort of pork and beef between buns: a delicious go-to snack. After exploring the night market with our mouths and and eyes, we headed back to the hostel where there was some live music.
11/28
We took the subway and then a high-speed bullet train (that goes 304 kmh/189mph) to Hua Shan City. After some noodles and "Chinese hamburger", we took a bus to the base of Hua Shan Mountain (of the the 5 holy Taoist mountains in China). There is an ancient stone path going up to the mountain and its 5 peaks. The bottom was a steep path along a little creek, but soon it turned to ALL stairs with some sections of stairs that were 70 degrees and incredibly steep with the steps carved out of the rock. Along the way, we passed various temples and geologic features, all of which relate to a Chinese legend.
Before sunset, we arrived to the top of North Peak. All along the top of the mountain are stunning views of the mountain ranged with its huge granite rock races that rise steeply from the valley floor. Super impressive due to the dramatic cliffs. From the North Peak we could see a bit of the sunset, but it was mostly cloudy in that direction. The moonrise, however, was spectacular as it was full and red from the pollution/haze below. We climbed up a granite spine (known as the dragon's tail) with stairs carved into the rocks. Cliffs fell away below on each side. We kept going up in the darkness, which was no problem, and not because we had our headlamps (which we did), but because they have lights illuminating the path the whole way up from the bottom so that pilgrims can hike up in the middle of the night in order to reach the summit for sunrise.
We continued up to East Peak where we stayed in a dorm. We had noodles with a Chinese family and then went to bed in the warm room: it was very cold outside.
11/29
We woke up for the sunrise to watch from the top of East Peak. It wasn't a great sunrise due to clouds, but there was some red glow. We then climbed down the "sparrow hawk flipping over" path to the Chess Pavilion. It's a vertical wall to access the chess pavilion, so there have been steps carved into the rock and iron chains installed; however, you still must wear a via ferrata style harness. The chess pavilion is really cool because it sits on this little granite knob jutting out from the mountain and is only reached by that very exposed sparrow hawk flipping over path. On the chess board is the position of the last game played there by some emperors or sages of Chinese legend. After climbing back up we went to our hostal for a breakfast of noodles and tea, which helped us to warm up.
We then climbed up the "sky ladder", which was a vertical rock face with carved in footholds and iron chains--but no harnesses. It was crazy to see some of the Chinese people who did it who neither seemed to be in shape nor coordinated. From there we climbed Central Peak and then South Peak, which is the true summit at 2,155m (7068ft).
After the South Peak we did the famous "plank walk to the sky", which includes traversing some steps cut out of the stone on a sheer cliff face with the bottom 5,000 vertical feet below. You then get onto the plankwalk itself, which is a narrow plank that you must walk on, also with the same long, precipitous drop. Of course we had harnesses with fall protection as on would have on a via ferrata. The experience was definitely exhilarating, and I think Elisha was pretty scared (she almost didn't go as we had to wait for a long time to go, which meant she had a lot of time to think about it).
Many people, especially bloggers call this "the most dangerous hike in the world" (if you want to see for yourself, and see the pictures, then google most dangerous hike in the world and Hua Shan). However, it have to totally disagree. (A) it's not a hike, it's a via ferrata, and it's not more dangerous than any other via ferrata. In fact it was extra safe as they had guides and professionals actually put the harness on you. (B) It's not dangerous as you have fall protection, and they have really fool-proofed the cabling system so that you can't possibly even unhook. There are many by far more dangerous hikes where people die or are injured regularly (ex. Longs Peak trail).
After that amazing experience, we headed to the summit of West Peak, then it was back to North Peak to complete the circuit. Up on the mountain there were many great views, breathtaking overlooks of sheer cliffs, and interesting, challenging--and perhaps scary to some--trails cut into cliffs and ridges. Also, little hotels, eateries, shrines, and temples dotted the mountain peaks. Additionally, there were cool "buildings" carved out of giant boulders or the mountain itself. We also took some photos in traditional Chinese garb at one of the viewpoints. A few of the young Chinese tourists could speak a little English, and it was fun to meet them. For the plank walk I was 001 (#1) and Elisha #2, so we got to go first. 006 knew a bit of English and could translate some of the directions on the plank walk for us. Even though most in our plank walk group did not know English, it was fun with them and almost a bonding experience since everyone had some fear to relate to each other with.
We headed back down again following the same trail that we ascended the mountain by (some, or more likely most take the cable car up and down), of course including those crazy steep sections with small stairs carved out of the rock. We finished in the dark; the path lit up by the lamps for the sunrise walkers. We took a cab to the train station, then a high speed train to Xi'an, and then the subway to our hostel. We got our free hot milk and then headed out to a night market area for dinner.
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