Huangshan - Sea of Clouds

A sportive looking guide, Tony, welcomed us at the Tunxi airport, quite worried about our unsportive looks. We comforted him, saying we had the sportive stuff packed in our suitcases and we would not drag our complete luggage up to the mountain. Tony advised us to go to experience a spectacle in the local theater, later in the evening. The driver dropped us at the Huangshan International Hotel. Kurt and I took a walk and explored the little city and had some very local food and beers in one of the tiniest restaurants around. After dinner we had to hurry as Tony made a little mistake and the show started a bit earlier than anticipated.

We could hardly follow our guide walking to the theater so we got a bit worried he would keep the same temp going up the mountain as well. The show turned out to be an amazing spectacle with light effects, changing decors, water falls, dancers, dangerous acrobatics and also a dramatic storyline: men having to leave their beloved wifes for hard labor, only meeting again when they became old.  Satisfied, we headed back to the hotel, packed our gear for the next day and hit our beds early. Tomorrow would be a hard day: conquer around 900m altitude difference and then walk around in the Beihai Scenic Area. Good for about 6h of walking in total.

It took a twisting 1-h drive to Yungu Temple, our starting point. Surprisingly, our sportive looking fellow wasn't that sportive at all, cause he would take the cable car up and meet us at the top. The trail was a neverending snake of stairs crawling up the mountain. While just carrying water/food/clothes for three days was heavy enough for us, workers were carying impossible loads up and down the mountain.

 

Workers bringing down the laundry from the hotels

  The walk up was a bit disappointing, but also fun meeting other people finding their breath again. At the end of the trail, we met our guide again. We visited the planned scenic spots in the area, but they were just too foggy to enjoy (no photo's of this included). We relaxed a bit on the room in the Shilin hotel. Suddenly we saw the clouds opening up. We regained full of energy and went back a second time to all the spots we went before. 

Scenery as seen from the Begin-to-Believe-Peak

Now we could only see the true beauty of this place. And we must admit: we also 'began to believe'. Exhausted after climbing enthusiastically up and down different trails on this mountain, we returned to the hotel. Next challenge: be first in line to enjoy the sunrise. Alarm 4.30AM!

Chinese Early Birds

Belgian Earlier Birds

Sunrise seen from Begin-To-Believe-Peak

Monkey Watching The Sea (Find it)

What a sunrise that was... we headed back for a good breakfast and then we planned a long hike: complete the West Sea Grand Canyon, which starts from the Cloud-Dispelling-Pavillion, goes all the way down, back up again, here and there over a dizzying trail, cross over the Fairy-Walking Bridge, over the second highest point of the area: Bright Summit (1880m), ending up back at the beginning.  

Trail above a bottomless abyss

Fairy-Walking Bridge

The canyon trail was worth our every drop of sweat, although our guide didn't seem to share the same opinion. His energy visibly drained out of his body with every step, while we seemed rather tireless, which I rather grant to our excitment about this place than to our physical condition. 

Coming out of the canyon, we continued over the Turtle Peak. Our guide gave up on climbing Lotus Peak (1864m), the highest point of this mountain. This peak, is surrounded by a group of lower peaks, as such, Chinese people think it looks like a lotus flower in full bloom. The way up involved steep stairs (again), so on the top, our legs started to get a bit sore.

Lotus Peak as seen from Turtle Peak

The mandatory posing at the top

The way down from Lotus Peak to the Jade Screen Pavillion, where our hotel was, had some spectacular views and narrow paths. We were completely exhausted when we arrived in Yupinglou hotel, enjoyed a dinner and sunset over the West Sea. 

View from Lotus Peak to Jade Screen Pavillion and our hotel

 

Unfortunately the Celestial Capital Peak was closed for restauration, so the only thing left to do on the last day was to hike down and visit the Tunxi Ancient Street, for some visiting some old medicine, tea, silk and stone shops.

Tunxi Ancient Street

 
 A writer once said:

 "To enjoy the magnificence of a mountain, you have to look upwards in most cases. To enjoy Huangshan, however, you've got to look downward".

We felt very lucky to enjoy the magnificence of this mountain under perfect weather conditions, but also sad we had to leave this absolute highlight behind us.

Hike on Yongmasan

 

Gyeongbokgung in Winter

Uisangbong peak

April 2010, my last day before flying home. Woke up a bit late, but I decided to do another peak in the Bukhansan park: Uisangbong. This peak is much less crowded and lower (503m) than Baegundae, however more difficult to hike: some sections are a bit scrambling, and you better don't look backwards.

How to get there:

From Gupabal Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit No.1, take City Bus No.704 bound for Bukhansanseong Fortress (북한산성). I recommend to have the Korean translation with you when looking for the bus.

Once in the park, it is nearly impossible to get lost with the good signposts.

Steep section

When going up here, I teared my pants a bit apart

View towards the top

Right underneath the top

Baegundae in spring

April 2010, Junseong and me did a hike towards Baegundae (백운대) which is the highest peak (836.5m) in the Bukhansan national park north from Seoul.

How to get there:

We took the subway towards Suyu Station (Line 4) and there is a bus stop near exit 3. Fomr here the blue bus #170 is the one you need. Get off at the end (where most people get off). There is road packed with outdoor shops which leads to Doseonsa Temple and Baegundae's trailhead. As there is not much to see on this road, besides being a warm-up, there is also a small bus from the temple that can lead you there.

Entrance to the trail

Beginning of trail

Ascent to Baegun shelter (looking backwards)

This park is beautiful and because it is so nearby Seoul, it can get quite busy. Indeed, per year, this park averages 5 million visitors and it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the national park with the highest number of visitors per square meter.

Getting closer to the peak, I experienced my first traffic jam on the mountain. The parts towards the peak are a bit steep from time to time, but it is mainly the sheer amount of people that make it difficult. At some places, really have to watch you don't put your feet on somebody's hand.

My first traffic jam on a mountain

The traffic jam was building up, as after this ascend it goes to a more narrow ridge.

Ridge near the top. No more traffic jam

Don't look down

As the peak is quite prominent compared to it's surroundings, the view from the top was more beautiful than I first expected from its height. You have a clear view on Insubong peak, which is a place for wall climbers and also on Seoul.

View on Insubong peak from Baegundae

View on Seoul from Baegundae peak

Highest point!

As it was a sunny day, the granite at the mountain top heated up a little bit. Time to lie down, relax and enjoy the view on one of my favorite cities!

Time to relax a bit and enjoy the view

Bukhansan in winter

3rd January 2011, Injeong and me did a winter hike in Bukhansan (북한산) national park which is lying north of Seoul. This park offers some amazing views on Seoul and has beautiful, smooth granite formations.

The trail we planned was from west to east, combining Bukhansanseong Fortress with a climb towards Baegundae (836.5m) the highest point of Bukhansan, and going down towards Doseonsa Temple. At bottom of page, I put some information on how we get there.

As it is winter, it is strongly recommended to buy crampons to walk on ice, because with all the ice on the granite it can get dangerously slippery. The last days were really freezing, as demonstrated by the partial frozen river below. The day of our hike, it was around -5 degrees.



Pretty cold as the river is frozen


Bukhansanseong Fortress was built with a wall spanning about 8,500 m, built specifically to stop foreign invasion. It is nice to follow this winding road up and down.

Wall of Bukhansanseong Fortress

Wall of Bukhansanseong Fortress

View on Seoul

Some parts are quite slippery, so it was surprising to see people walking around with normal sneakers, we saw some people falling. However, they would have had difficulties getting closer to the top.

Last meters to Baegundae peak. Slippery!

Made it to the top!

Panoramic view from Baegundae peak

How to get there:

• Bukhansanseong: Gupabal Station (Line 3). Exit #1. Bus #704 bound for Bukhansanseong Fortress. Get off at the Bukhansan Mountain entrance bus stop. Most probably it is when all the people get off.
• Doseonsa Temple: Suyu Station (Line 4). Exit #3 and Bus #170.

Jiufen Mountain Village

Together with my friend Cheng-Hung (a.k.a Paul) and his girlfriend Maggie, we did an afternoon trip to Jiufen (九份), which is a small mountain village right at the coast in northern Taiwan. It is about one hour by car from Taipei.

In the past, this village only counted nine families, so for each time a shipment would arrive from town, the village would request nine portions (Jiu fen) of it. Later, this also became the village name. Jiufen was a bit isolated until gold was discovered and people rushed in, booming the town. After gold mines were empty, the town declined again until a movie picture made it popular amongst the bigger crowds. Now it is a tourist attraction with local shops, teahouses and of course its nice scenic area.

The main street was extremely crowded, I was too busy watching around to all the food stall that forgot I brought my camera with me. However, here you can see some of the shots I did take.



Old street

Teahouse

More teahouses



Main temple in Jiufen

Dragon detail on Jiufen temple

Sunset view, just amazing.

Panoramic view