I just got back from climbing Wu Tai Shan. Wu Tai is a mountain about an hour south of Xi'an. It's a popular travel spot, and it has about five Buddhist temples on its peaks. Last week one of my friends suggested that we go and climb it. the thought of being back in some mountains had me ready for anything.
Saturday night we went out and bought some stuff for the trip. Snacks mostly, but I also bought a small two person tent for 200 kuai. Normally I wouldn't drop 200 kuai very quickly, but I was thinking too much of how much fun I would have in the mountains. I still don't regret it because it packs up small, and I plan on getting some more use out of it.
On Sunday, Jean, my Chinese friend, and I set out in the morning and, after a couple long and bumpy bus rides, arrived at the bottom of the mountain just before noon. I was bouncing off the walls (or trees since we were outside) with excitement. These mountains were MOUNTAINS! I still think that the hills of West Virginia might be taller, but these just had a mountainous aura about them. They were very steep, and had lots of rocky areas.
There were three ways to get up the mountain. You can take a small van up a twisty road, you can walk up the twisty road, or you can walk along some through the valley where the path disappears about half way up.
Guess which way we went.
That's right! Trekking through the middle of the woods!
We started up at about noon, just me and Jean. After a bit, we were joined by three other people. A married couple with their niece. A while later we were joined by two other girls. The aunt and uncle and the two girls were all in the military, though I fear for the Chinese army if the two girls have anything other than desk assignments.
The first part of out journey lasted about three hours, usually with a break every hour of the way. After that we rejoined the end of the car road, and had lunch at a small, conveniently placed noodle restaurant. From there we said out goodbyes and started the second part of our hike. he stairs.
We've all seen movies with the temples at the top of a mountain and a long straight flight of big stairs leading to the top. These weren't like this. These stairs we large stair shaped rocks that had been placed along the mountain. There wasn't a straight line any where. Everything was switchbacks and curves around the side. From the noodle place, it took us another two hours of stair climbing to reach the first temple. From there it was fairly easy to get to the other two we went to. The going was still slow since the paths were narrow and high up. We got to the last two just as they were closing, and so we got to look around without any other tourists.
The view from the temples is amazing. Even with the pollution surrounding Xi'an (happily absent in the mountains) we could still see the city lights. The small towns looked beautiful from so high up. It was breathtaking. I really can't describe what it looks like. It's something that really has to be seen.
After we left the third temple we started wandering down the road looking for a flat, rock free, place to set up our tent. We found one just a little bit farther down the mountain than the noodle place. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.
Also right next to a a bears tree.
Yup. We had apparently decided to pick a spot next to a tree that a local bear likes to sleep in. Barely 30 minutes after we set up our tent, one of the guys who works on the mountain came by and told us that we'd have to move so we didn't bother/get bothered by the bear. He took us to a place a bit farther down the road. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.
Also right next to a path used by wild pigs.
Don't worry. He gave us a couple rocks and told us to just chuck them at the pigs if they bothered us. Ha ha! You gotta love China. In the end it was a cold, but uneventful night, with nothing more than a chicken coming by our tent.
We packed up around 10:00 this morning and took a van down the road to the base. We were both too tired to walk. From there we took two buses back to town. Neither Jean nor I can decide what mountain we want to go to next. Next month. After we've recovered.
On a side note, my Chinese skills seem to have gotten another boost. I was (in horribly broken Chinese) able to convey to the taxi driver on the way back, that I had come from Wu Tai Shan, had climbed for 5 hours, had lots of fun, and was very tired. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was still a little bonus to my great weekend.
See that small building in front of the cloud? That's what we walked too.
This isn't the top. This is the noodle restaurant where the road ends and the stairs begin. The people on the road are the group we were hiking with.
We finally made it. I got this piture of two of the temples from atop the highest temple.