Hiking Huangshan or How I Made Myself Sore For 5 Days

When Matthew and I realized that our time left in China was limited, we began scheduling lots of weekend trips. One of those trips was to Yellow Mountain, or Huangshan.

Before heading to Huangshan, I wrongly thought that Yellow Mountain was a single mountain. But in reality, Huangshan refers to an entire mountain range in southern Anhui province.

There are literally hundreds of peaks and thousands of ravines in the Yellow Mountains, 72 of which have been named. Heavenly Capital Peak (1800m), Lotus Flower Peak and Bright Summit (1841m/6040ft) are the three major peaks, all rising more than 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) above sea level. That means that at times, I was standing next to a cliff that dropped down over a mile. For this heights adverse gal, the trip was often harrowing.

We arrived Friday night and spent some time exploring Tangkou, the town situated at the bottom of the mountains. That took about 10 minutes because Tangkou is TINY. With more time than we knew what to do with, we took the suggestion of our hotel and headed to the hot springs to relax for a few hours. Heaven. My only regret is that we visited the hot springs prior to ascending the mountain and not after. But soaking in a pool of hot water scented with wine and coconut milk wasn't a bad way to spend a Friday night.

Early the next morning, we joined the masses in line to take the buses into the park. As Huangshan is a national park, the only way to enter is on foot or via the National Express bus. We arrived at the Yungu Cable Car or Eastern Steps and then rode the cable car to the top. I don't remember much of the 12 minute cable car ride, though Matthew claims it was beautiful. I had my head between my knees and was trying to ignore the Chinese people pointing at the foreign girl who was freaking out. Like I said, I don't do heights.

After nearly meeting my death (I'm sure the cable cars are totally safe, but it FELT like I was going to die at any moment), we spent a few moments getting our bearings and then began the hour long hike to our hotel. Some of the best views on Huangshan are sunrise and set, and staying on the mountain meant that we could enjoy them.

We arrived at our hotel only to find there was a small snafu with our room, as in they didn't have one for us. But we were able to sort things out and received free accommodations in the single sex dorm rooms. Not what we had planned but it just added to the experience. We dropped off our bags and started off on another hike.

We then spent the next five hours going up paths that looked like this:

And down stairs that looked like this:

It was beautiful, thrilling, and at times terrifying. The guard rails were only often knee high and a small stumble could send you tumbling over the side of a mountain. Thankfully, while there were thousands of other tourists with us on the mountains that day, the crowds thinned considerably once we were away from the cable cars. At one point, we hiked for over an hour without seeing another soul.

Our original plan had been to watch the sunset at Fairy Walking Bridge, but once we made our way there, we knew there was no chance we would want to hike back the same way in the dark. We instead headed back up the trail, closer to our hotel and settled in for the show.

We could see the masses of people sitting far away on Bright Top, but enjoyed our empty spot along the trail, even if the sun disappeared behind a mountain before it reached the horizon.

As the darkness began to settle, we headed to our hotel for showers and much needed food. We had managed to skip lunch amid the hotel mixup and were famished after over 6 hours of hiking.

Staying in the hostel section of the hotel meant that we had little choice as to when we awoke the next morning. At exactly 4am, the lights in my room came on and everyone began to prepare for sunrise. We slipped on some thermals (despite wearing shorts during the day) and joined the masses en route to Bright Top. Why isn't there a photo of the sunrise in this post? Because there wasn't much of one. Thick fog and crowds of people meant that we couldn't even get close to seeing the sun come up. Back in our rooms, we showered and prepared for another long day.

We spent the next five hours hiking down the Western Steps of Huangshan. While Saturday had given us blue skies and beautiful views, Sunday proved to be wet and foggy. But it meant the trails were fairly empty and the temperatures were moderate on the way down. Around noon, we arrived at Mercy Light Pavilion and happily jumped on a bus back to Tangkou. As our flight to Shanghai was not until much later that evening, we checked into a hotel for showers and an afternoon nap. After we devoured a bowl of noodles that is.

Afterwards, we realized we had walked over 13 miles/21 km, mostly on stairs, over the two days on the mountains. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape (I teach 2 spin classes and run an average of 15 miles a week, plus I'm about to run my third 1/2 marathon in a year), and I have to tell you, Huangshan was no joke. While I never felt unable to make it, I was sore when we woke up on Sunday. And I was even more sore Monday morning. In fact, I found it hard to go down stairs even on Thursday. But the views? Well, they made everything worth it.

Grasslands Extreme Marathon

The first weekend in July, fresh off a trip to the US, we boarded a plane with some friends for the Grasslands Extreme Marathon in Xiwuqi, Inner Mongolia.

Getting there was a bit of an adventure, so I'll save that for another post. But the half marathon itself? Well, that was also rough.

I should start by saying that Inner Mongolia is simply stunning. We left Shanghai among some intense pollution and grey skies. Inner Mongolia had none of that. Blue skies, fresh air, and rolling hills. Yes, I said hills.

Simply put, this was not my race. Having trained on the flat roads of Shanghai, I was challenged by the constant change in elevation. Additionally, it was hot. I don't do hot well. Previous years had seen more moderate temperatures, but the day of our run was quite steamy. This course isn't one for personal records, and I certainly did not set one that day.

But the scenery was beautiful. At numerous points along the route, we were greeted by sheep, cows, and horses, all seemingly immune to the race taking place around them. 

For someone who usually runs in the city, seeing endless green in front of me was a nice change. However, it also meant limited water stops and non existent bathroom facilities. For most of the race, the only spectators were the previously mentioned cattle.

Despite a less than ideal personal time, I enjoyed the Grassland Marathon. Would I do it again? Probably not, but it was a nice way to see an area of China that I otherwise might have missed.

Interested in taking part in the grasslands marathon? Registration is already open for the 2015 race.

Cambodia: Angkor Wat

We visited Cambodia in February during the Spring Festival. However, I've written very little about the trip. Unfortunately, I don't remember most of it. And what I do remember about those first few days, I sort of wish I could forget.

One of the spots I do clearly remember was the Temple of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built by the Khmer King during the 12th century (113 BC), the site has served as a Hindu as well as Buddhist temple.

We awoke early and gathered ourselves for a sunrise view of the temple. We had hired a guide who helped us find our way through the vast darkness and waited for the first rays of light to appear.

Slowly, the outline of the temple became visible directly in front of us. As the sun rose, so did the giant towers of the temple.

Ankor Wat is nothing short of breathtaking. As someone who has toured a fair amount of temples and ruins, I can easily say this is the most impressive one I have visited. While walking around, I was awed by the size of the structure and by the simple fact that I was privileged enough to be seeing it.

In my opinion, Ankor Wat is best toured with a guide simply because the history surrounding this place is immense. Your inner nerd will thank you.

$20 USD will get you a single day pass to tour Ankor Wat as well as the surrounding temples in the Angkor Archeological Park. 

Roofied in Cambodia

As you are probably able to deduce from the title of this post, I was drugged in Siem Reap. But before you get too concerned for my well being, you should know that I know the person who did it.

It was my husband. 

Ok, maybe that doesn't make you feel any better. How about if I told you it was an accident? And that he was trying to treat my food poisoning?

Maybe I should back up a minute and try to explain this a little better.

Only a few short hours after arriving in Cambodia for Chinese New Year, we were partaking in a sunrise tour of Ankor Wat. The colors were vivid, the views incredible, and all seemed right in the world.

Except for my stomach. What started as a slow churning progressed to full nausea as we walked about. At our second temple, the smell of incense set me off and I desecrated the ancient temple grounds with the contents of my stomach.

Fast forward a few hours and my body was still attempting to eliminate the ill advised street noodles I had consumed the night before. With nothing left to purge, I was vomiting bile and quickly becoming severely dehydrated. 

As this wasn't my first bout of food poisoning, we knew that getting anti nausea drugs into my system would help immensely. My loving husband went to a local pharmacy and explained my condition. The pharmacist handed him packets of Ciprofloxacin (for infection) and Lorazepam (for nausea).

Lorazepam is a Benzodiazepine (benzo, for short), a class of drug commonly used as tranquilizers and sleeping pills. Benzos are used to sedate hospital patients but can also cause difficulty with concentration, dizziness and difficulty with walking. Oh and it can cause amnesia. You may be more familiar with other benzos like Valium and Rohypnol. In the U.S., Lorazepam is a controlled substance. But in Cambodia, my husband was able to purchase it for a mere $5.

So yeah, my husband sedated me for two days. I had trouble staying awake, was unaware of what was going on, and couldn't walk myself through the airport. In fact, I have no memory of the photo below being taken, or even visiting that temple. On the positive side, I can say that taking the Lorazepam did stop me from vomiting. So there's that.