黄山

This past week I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Huangshan mountain. I can honestly say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. For those of you who don't know what Huangshan is, it was the mountain that was shot for the movie Avatar. The view was absolutely amazing.
There were 12 of us on the trip. Among us were 4 continent representations, 6 different languages and a range of Chinese speaking abilities. We had one native Chinese speaker with us. I arrived Thursday, as a friend and I came a day late so that we could get some homework done before we arrived. To get to Huangshan we had to wake up at 4:00am and get a taxi to go to the bus station. From the bus station it was a six hour drive to Huangshan. Luckily traffic was light that day. The bus system was a little more complicated than we had anticipated and it stopped several times along the way. My friend and I kept trying to figure out what stop was ours but we ended up asking people around us if they were going to the same place, luckily they could understand my chinese. A lot of our traveling that day was based on blind faith. When we finally got to the base of the mountain we had to take another bus to get to the gondola that would finally take us up to the top of the mountain. From the gondola we had to find our friends who were waiting at one of the canyons. My friend and I walked up two miles worth of stairs until we finally found our group. It was one of the most exhausting days of my life, but the view was completely worth it and it was part of the adventure.
Once we were up the mountain, my friends and I decided we were going to climb up a little further and camp on the peak of Huangshan and then see the sunrise. We climbed up 90 degree angled hills until we reached a point flat enough to pitch our tents. We rented two tents for the 12 of us and got settled in (it was so college). We stayed up most of the night because we were freezing and our tent was pitched on a bit of slant so we were basically sliding down the mountain. I have never had so much fun in my life. We watched the stars and the moon and the backdrop of the mountain, something I find impossible to do when I'm in the city. I've never witnessed such beauty in my whole life. Finally, around 5:15am, we got out of the tent to see the sun rise, we sat on the edge of a cliff eating our rationed snacks and laughing about how none of really slept the whole night. By 6:00am we packed up our tents and made our way down the mountain.
We then decided that it would be fun to climb down the whole mountain instead of taking the gondola. We climbed down over 10 miles worth of stairs until we finally made it back to the base 4 hours later. You can imagine how badly my calves hurt right now. But to be able to see the vastness of the mountain was experience I will never forget.
I am back home safe and sound now, and this week I am going to a Kesha concert. I swear my life is never dull here!
Love from Shanghai
Maddie