China, Day 7: Hiking Down Hua Shan
My hiking buddies and I atop Hua Shan.
I awoke from my catnap just after 5:00 am to the beautiful gray-blue sky of the impending sunrise. It took everything in me to muster up the energy to roll onto my stomach and snap a few photos of my surroundings, and man were they gorgeous! In the dawn's light, I removed the inscripted lock from my bag, secured it onto a huge chain at the edge of the cliff, and threw my key over the side, hoping my wishes were "locked away" forever.
The gloomy sunrise over Hua Shan.
It was still freezing cold, but once the sun came up, people started moving around again and dispersing from the Central Peak. My newfound friends (I still had no clue how to say their names) informed me that it was time to head to the East Peak....WHAT?!! No way, Jose! I had been climbing this mountain for 9 hours...I was not about to continue. I sadly said goodbye and began my long, lonely descent of Hua Shan.
Wish Ribbons and Locks along the Hua Shan trail.
I wish I could say that I got a second wind on the way down, but unfortunately my mind and body began a steady decline as soon as I left Central Peak around 6:00 am this morning. The entire climb down, which took about four hours, was eerily quiet. Around 7:00 am, I realized that I was completely alone on the trail; I contribute this to the assumption that most of my fellow night climbers took the smart exit aboard the cable cars. Despite my complete exhaustion, I enjoyed marvelling at the beautiful scenery, happy for the chance to see what I had missed the previous night.
A temple tucked away in the trees.
I never want to see stairs ever again...
However, by around 9:00 am, after twelve hours of hiking and over 24 hours since sleeping, my body completely shut down. I had to lean against trees and rocks every 10 meters or so for support. At one point, I passed an old woman coming up, and she took one look at me and motioned that I should eat something. I have no clue why I didn't (as there were multiple vendors selling Ramen noodles on the way down)...I suppose I was just so ready to get to the bottom that any secondary thoughts were completely pushed out of my head. Finally, around 10:00 am, I reached the bottom, hopped on a motorcycle taxi to the bus, and by 10:20 am was passed out in the back of the bus bound for Xi'an.
Making the long journey up Hua Shan to deliver goods...he asked me to take a photo of him!
I arrived in Xi'an around noon. Of course, the first thing any rational person would do at this point is find a meal and a hot shower. In my delirious state, I figured I would go straight out for some more sightseeing...so to the Small Goose Pagoda I went. I cannot really say I remember much about the place, but it was the last thing on my Xi'an To-Do list, so I just wanted to make sure I got it out of the way. I then decided to make the approximately 4-mile walk from the pagoda to my hostel, eventually reaching it around 3:00 pm. Even though I was checked out of the hostel, I snuck in for a long, hot shower and a huge meal, complete with a pot of tea and dessert. Afterwards, I ran into my "almost climbing partners," took a quick, final trip with them to the Muslim Quarter, and headed to the train station.
Small Goose Pagoda rising above the rose garden.
All the train tickets to Beijing from Xi'an were sold out, except for the soft-sleeper tickets. These are basically the First-Class train tickets, and they cost almost twice as much as the hard-sleeper tickets. However, after my Hua Shan experience, the last thing I could handle this evening was people staring at me or kids spitting blood on me. So around 9:00 pm, I happily surveyed my fancy-pants room, climbed up onto my bed, and fell into a deep, much-needed slumber.
The gloomy sunrise over Hua Shan.
It was still freezing cold, but once the sun came up, people started moving around again and dispersing from the Central Peak. My newfound friends (I still had no clue how to say their names) informed me that it was time to head to the East Peak....WHAT?!! No way, Jose! I had been climbing this mountain for 9 hours...I was not about to continue. I sadly said goodbye and began my long, lonely descent of Hua Shan.
Wish Ribbons and Locks along the Hua Shan trail.
I wish I could say that I got a second wind on the way down, but unfortunately my mind and body began a steady decline as soon as I left Central Peak around 6:00 am this morning. The entire climb down, which took about four hours, was eerily quiet. Around 7:00 am, I realized that I was completely alone on the trail; I contribute this to the assumption that most of my fellow night climbers took the smart exit aboard the cable cars. Despite my complete exhaustion, I enjoyed marvelling at the beautiful scenery, happy for the chance to see what I had missed the previous night.
A temple tucked away in the trees.
I never want to see stairs ever again...
However, by around 9:00 am, after twelve hours of hiking and over 24 hours since sleeping, my body completely shut down. I had to lean against trees and rocks every 10 meters or so for support. At one point, I passed an old woman coming up, and she took one look at me and motioned that I should eat something. I have no clue why I didn't (as there were multiple vendors selling Ramen noodles on the way down)...I suppose I was just so ready to get to the bottom that any secondary thoughts were completely pushed out of my head. Finally, around 10:00 am, I reached the bottom, hopped on a motorcycle taxi to the bus, and by 10:20 am was passed out in the back of the bus bound for Xi'an.
Making the long journey up Hua Shan to deliver goods...he asked me to take a photo of him!
I arrived in Xi'an around noon. Of course, the first thing any rational person would do at this point is find a meal and a hot shower. In my delirious state, I figured I would go straight out for some more sightseeing...so to the Small Goose Pagoda I went. I cannot really say I remember much about the place, but it was the last thing on my Xi'an To-Do list, so I just wanted to make sure I got it out of the way. I then decided to make the approximately 4-mile walk from the pagoda to my hostel, eventually reaching it around 3:00 pm. Even though I was checked out of the hostel, I snuck in for a long, hot shower and a huge meal, complete with a pot of tea and dessert. Afterwards, I ran into my "almost climbing partners," took a quick, final trip with them to the Muslim Quarter, and headed to the train station.
Small Goose Pagoda rising above the rose garden.
All the train tickets to Beijing from Xi'an were sold out, except for the soft-sleeper tickets. These are basically the First-Class train tickets, and they cost almost twice as much as the hard-sleeper tickets. However, after my Hua Shan experience, the last thing I could handle this evening was people staring at me or kids spitting blood on me. So around 9:00 pm, I happily surveyed my fancy-pants room, climbed up onto my bed, and fell into a deep, much-needed slumber.
posted by Tiffany Joiner @ 9:28 AM
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