July 3, 2004 (Huang Shan)
This was the big excursion to Huang Shan, or Yellow Mountain, in Anhui Province. Clarence told me before I had left that this was one of his favorite places to have seen in China, so I was pretty excited. The mountain was a three hour bus ride from where the boat docked, so we breakfasted (I love that as a verb) at 5:15 a.m. and then got on the bus at 6. This was another painless ride, and the ride through the countryside was pretty breathtaking: verdant fields of rice patties and ponds filled with lotus flowers and water buffalo trundling along...all with the mountains in the background. I mean, really: that's just ridiculously pretty, it leaves you helpless in its wake.
 
We were in one of those huge air-conditioned tourist buses with these enormous side mirrors that popped out in front like little antenna. Since we were pretty much the largest vehicle bumping along the pot-hole filled road, our driver was pretty liberal with his honking in order to notify people that we were coming. I would say that he honked every 20 seconds out of 60. Some of reasons that he honked:
 
1. Vehicles in his way, going slower than he liked...which was every other vehicle.
2. Vehicles backing out of whatever alcove they were nestled in.
3. Bulldozers parked in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
4. A man squatting in the middle of the road for no apparent reason.
5. Cows.
 
We finally arrived at Huang Shan at about 9, and then took a steamed up cable car to the top of the mountain (many people walk up, but the Victoria Cruiseline didn't fool themselves in thinking that this was a hard-grit bunch), and then were free to wander up and down the paths of Huang Shan for a couple of hours. It was rainy and misty and foggy that morning that we were there, so we didn't have a whole lot of visibility, and still the place was pretty amazing. Steep paths, deep crevices, knotty trees poking out of the green scrub of the rock--it was like a dreamland. Steve commented, after looking at a picture, that it looked "scary / dreamy / psychedelic" and he was about right on target there. Here is a shot from the mountain, and also here, here, here, and here. It was seriously pouring by the end of our time there. The Cruise people outfitted us with these surprisingly hardy umbrellas, but I was completely soaked through by the time we got to lunch.
 
One more thing: the paths on the mountain were often steep and copious and many people needed to take a breather every once in awhile. My mom, though, who has been loyally doing her Denise Austin exercises every morning at the crack of dawn, was like a little ant, tirelessly scrambling over each and every crevice. So, while I give my mom a hard time for her blind devotion to Denise Austin (whose soft crooning voice I find a bit creepy), I was impressed by the results of all of her work.
 
After a lunch where I needed to wring myself out before I got to the table, we headed back down in the cablecar for the bus to get back to the boat. Once we got onto level ground, it had stopped raining and the weather cleared up a little. I took a quick shot of what the mountains looked like with a bit of the mist. There were some stunning views as our bus climbed up and down those mountain hills, but it was impossible to get a good shot.
 
All in all, a thoroughly good visit, and one that I'm glad to have made.