Hua Shan and the Great Disaster

Hua Shan is one of China's five holy Taoist mountains. It is made up of North, South, East, West and Central peaks of varying heights - all around 2,000m. It's about a 2-hour drive outside of Xi'an. Sounds good right?





Well, I followed the Bible's advice (backpackers refer to the Lonely Planet guide as the Bible) and went to the train station to catch a minibus to the mountain. I succeeded in finding the right bus, with the right characters in the window, and an English boy loitering nearby. Great! Then, the English boy told me that he had been there for an hour and a half. At one point, there had been 10 people assembled who all wanted to go to Hua Shan. The driver wouldn't go without 20 people. Period. It didn't seem to bother him in the slightest that this meant it was likely that he wouldn't make any money that day. He was happy sitting in the shade of his van, smoking cigarettes. After waiting for an hour, everyone but the Brit boy left, yelling at the driver as they decamped.



I'd been there for about 15 minutes when a group of 3 more tourists showed up. We were now: Christine (30, US); Michael (18, UK); Barbara (27, US); Kristof (21, Germany); and Alon (21, Israel). Kristof had been in China for a year studying the language and after some group discussion and 20 minutes of fruitless waiting, he went off to research: trains, taxis, and private minibuses. In the end, he found a minibus that would hold 7 and cost 350. Now, we needed 2 more people. Kristof went into the bus and came out with a young Chinese couple who also were tired of waiting for the world's laziest bus driver. By then, there were 11 people waiting to go to Hua Shan, but the driver didn't seem bothered in the slightest to be losing another set of customers. I did feel bad for the 4 people left waiting to be joined by 16 others.



The drive was fine, passed in general discussion. I think that most young backpackers get a huge kick out of being able to be a temporary expert on their country. The information exchanged in these chats is suspect, but it's still fun to hear someone else's worldview. At the site, we were dropped off at the Western entrance, to climb the mountain. First though, the Chinese couple invited us to lunch. Hah! Another life goal crossed off of the list. I have been invited out to eat in China. There was loads of food and tea. Many vegetarian options. I also learned that it's considered rude to stick your chopsticks in a bowl of rice. Who knew?



With heavy bellies, we set off to be holy seekers after wisdom. The first hour or two was a nice, gentle, easy ascent on a paved road on the side of a stream that became a gorge. There were plenty of shops/cafes along the way, each of which had its own dog or cat. There were also temples, caves, and other points of interest. Then, we slowed down. Barbara is quite petite (short legs) and a smoker, so she did not move very fast. The delay at the station and then our banquet had pushed us back so that we'd only started at 4. There was no question, we'd be hiking at night. Not to worry though, many locals prefer to walk at night, starting at around 11pm and arriving in time for the sunrise.



The path became steeper. Stairs and stairs and temples and more stairs. We made it to the north peak. It was around 8 and fully dark and we decided that we all (Barbara voted with the group) felt like continuing on. We made for the Central Peak as the closest hostel site. After 2 and a half hours in which we went up stairs so steep and treacherous that we had to use all four limbs to ascend them, and many smoke breaks for B, we arrived at the hostel to find it no longer operating as a place of rest. It was 10:30 and we were no longer feeling quite so perky. We trudge off to the East Peak, hitting even steeper stairs along the way. Luckily, all of the stairs had chain railings to hold onto during the climb.



We finally made the peak. Of course, we'd been aiming for a hostel, not the peak. Obeying the "no jumping" sign at the top, we all collapsed and waited for Kristof to go find the hostel and report back. He really got a huge kick out of being the go-to guy. He wouldn't allow anyone except our Chinese friend to accompany him. Anyway, they found the temple/hostel and we arrived, had dried noodles, and were all asleep by one o'clock.



This was quite late considering that the main thing that one climbs a Taoist mountain to do is watch the sunrise. Sunrise was at 6am in early to mid-September. We got up at 5:30, had a wet wipe bath or not as each individual preferred, and headed back to the peak.



There are 4 factories grouped around Hua Shan. This results in a permanent haze around the base of the mountain. This made for a slightly disappointing sunrise. It was beautiful - I was thrilled to be there experiencing that moment, but man, as sunrises go, that one was a dud. I did get some great cloud pictures though, so all was not lost.



After the main event, we settled in for a breakfast of crackers, mooncakes, and dried kiwi. The discussion turned to a blanket condemnation of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and Michael started raving about political prisoners. Yes, you're supposed to be passionate when you're 18. No, you're not expected to be precisely well-informed. It was still incredibly boring to listen to at 30. I've had those discussions. They were about the Middle East, but same difference. I found that I had no desire to engage and instead, I bid adieu to my chums of the climb. I was heading back early anyway to catch my 8pm train from Xi'an. They planned to stay all day, hiking and possibly staying another night, so we would have separated soon in any case.



Within 10 minutes, I'd found a toilet and a cup of coffee, decision affirmed. I made it down to the north peak, and lingered there, climbing the whale at the top of the peak and posing for pictures. I really wonder what people are going to do with all of those pictures of me. Then, I took the cable car back down the mountain, arriving at the eastern entrance. From there, I got the shuttle bus to the visitor's center, took a taxi to the Xi'an bus location, caught the bus going to Xi'an and snoozed for an hour and a half while being stared at by a local farmer who found my every breath fascinating. The other bus riders were much more polite about staring, and snuck peeks when they thought I wasn't looking.



The bus let us off somewhere in the north of Xi'an. As far as I know, it was nowhere near the train station, my only landmark. I wandered. I tried my bank card, to find that my account was still frozen (questionable activity). I found a woman who spoke English who found a bus for me that went to the South Gate which was where my hostel was located (oh yeah, central Xi'an has city walls, with cardinal gates and streets).



My afternoon was a bit trying, especially on such a limited amount of sleep. OK, back at the hostel, I showered, talked to Greg, went online to make sure that the world hadn't ended, and then, at 4 o'clock, went to pick up my train ticket. I'd booked through the hostel and they hadn't received the ticket until the night before. Since I was hiking the mountain, they held it for me along with my pack. When I asked for my ticket, the girl at the counter located it, looked at it, asked me what time I was supposed to be going, and then started screaming in Chinese to her associates. Finally, she turned to me as said, "I think you'd better hurry!"



"Why, what time is the ticket for?"



"2:30!"



"Umm, then there's no point in my hurrying, is there?"



"Oh."



"What do you suggest that I do? I booked an 8pm soft sleeper, here's my receipt."



It turned out that there were no sleeper train tickets to be had for the next three days. The girl tried to convince me to buy a hard seat ticket and upgrade on the train. Hah! No one can upgrade on the train. It's a myth created to get annoying tourists out of travel agent's hair. I've spoken to quite a number of travelers who've been told to upgrade on the train only to spend 20 hours sitting in a seat in a carriage filled with Chinese people staring at the crazy foreigner who doesn't know enough to get a sleeper ticket. I declined the hard seat and asked what my options were, emphasizing that this was their fault.



In the end, I got a plane ticket for the morning, using my deposit for the train ticket toward that, and a comped dorm bed for the night. I tried for a single, but the best that I could do was a dorm. I quietly stated, repeatedly I'm afraid, "I am not happy." That was my experience with Shuyuan Hostel. I'm afraid that I absolutely would not recommend it to anyone. Crappy rooms, awful tours, and inept travel booking services.



I slept, felt a little better in the morning, had a big breakfast, and set off to reboard the airport shuttle and head off to Chengdu. Hopefully, a change of scenery will change my luck.

For my pics of Xi'an, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/christine7world/XiAn