Yellow Mountain Part II: Let the Adventure Begin!

Now for the real adventure.... Yellow Mountain. This Chinese rave about this mountain. They say things like "You will find viewing another mountain no longer worthy after you visit the Five Sacred Mountains. Nor will you find viewing the Five Sacred Mountains worthy after you visit Yellow Mountain". Don't ask me who said that. They jury is still out on it being the most spectacular scenery EVER, but it sure was nice! I read that they filmed, at least some of, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the mountain.

It was really beautiful and it was a different experience than hiking up any mountain of been up in North America for a few reasons. First, I wasn't hiking on a dirt trail. All of the trails have been laid out in stone, mostly stone steps since you are usually going up or down. I think this was originally done by some emporer so that he could go up the mountain. And by going up the mountain, I mean sitting in a sedan chair whilst someone carried him.

Secondly, there`s a shop every 0.5 kms or so selling drinks, snacks, kitch, batteries (thank God, mine ran out!). Not only are there small shops, there are numerous hotels throughout the area, some located within an easy walk of a cable car. So you run into people in dress shoes and fairly formal attire along the trail, which is a bit funny.

Thirdly, there was music (or should I say muzac) and public service announcements being broadcast from various locations along the way. It was quite annoying. The English portion of the announcements had to do with not smoking in the non-smoking areas. It was very loud, I could hear it from quite far off, and it was interspersed with the song Please Mr. Postman from the 60s.

Here are some interesting things about the mountain. I`m pretty sure everything that goes up or down the mountain is down by sherpas. That means if you are building a hotel, people carry everything you need up the mountain. When I was there, 300 meters of fiber optic cable were being carried up in 100 meter sections by about 40 men, or so, per section. It looked like hard work.

I also saw mattresses going up the mountain. Who knew one man could carry two twin mattresses up the side of a mountain. There is a constant stream of sherpas going up the mountain bringing food, Christmas decorations, you name it. When the come down, they are literally skipping down and I swear some were singing! They must feel like they are walking on air.

It looked like a really hard job. Going up the mountain and walking behind them I could see they had calves the size of my thighs. But even with legs of steel it was hard. You could see it in their faces and they would have to stop frequently and rest. They typically carried two loads, each at opposite ends of a long stick that they carried on their shoulder. They used another stick to help with the carrying and to use to rest the load on from time to time.

Once I was up near the top I started noticing sedan chairs for hire. Wow! And they started at only 100 RMB (about $15) depending on how far you wanted to go. I know what this lady is thinking. That sedan chair is looking pretty good right about now!

Have you watched The Amazing Race? Do you remember when they went to China? Remember the locks? Here they are!

Yellow Mountain was great. The senery was beautiful and even though I went in December, once the sun came up it was beautiful and warm. I`ve seen pictures of the trail during peak season and it doesn`t look like my cup of tea. Too crowded! Here are some random pictures of my day at Yellow Mountain.