Our native group thought we were a little strange for eschewing the cable car for our own feet. Why would you want to sweat your way up the mountain when you could be carried? The hike was great. I sweated out the grime of the city and expelled the smoke of a million scooters. We passed waterfalls and great stone carvings as well as we wound our way to the top of one of the most beautiful mountains I have been on. Cable car? No thanks.
The yellow mountains are the classic images of China silk paintings. There are the great white granite cliffs and gnarled trees bent by the breath of a thousand years. They are the swirling mists of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon along with the inspiration for countless gardens of the Orient. The pictures only serve to remind me of what it was like there. I am sorry that along with these words they are all I can give you to take you there. The bus trip could have been twice as long and the journey still worth it. The Hotel at the top however was another story.
Katie pulled back her bedspread to be greeted by a series of Rorschach bloodstains on her sheets. Not being in the mood for a personality test, she was unhappy to say the least. Cigarette burns mottled the floor and the carcasses of bugs clung to the walls. I later found a pair of socks in the closet and the shower was a trickling pipe over the tiled bathroom. Home sweet home.
After leaving the “hotel”, the next day was as wonderful as the hike up. The day was clear and we hiked around the natural sculpture of the mountain. We hiked down and got on the bus with the rest of our group, but the adventure of the day was not over.
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