Me vs. Mount Haungshan
http://www.filmloop.com/x?B3fxhVmeNWlr2/Nl4kKJnTcmPksu7Vtp

I have to appollogize. There are no pictures because Blogger doesn't seem to be able to post them. Try clicking on the above link to see a loop I created. Let me know how it shows up.

For two days over my National Holiday vacation Marie-France and I decided to go to Huangshan in Anhui province. It was nice to get out of Suzhou and out of Jiangsu province...but it would have been nice to have something other than a hardseat. Because we were told we were going to have to work throughout this week (and were told we weren't last minute) we did not have time get good train tickets (you need at least 2 weeks advanced purchase for the holiday). We were stuck on hardseats for 10 hours. It was horrible, but it was a Chinese experience. Since I can sleep just about anywhere I wasn't too bad, but my ass was killing. They aren't exaggerating when they say hard. Luckily, after about 5 hours many people had left and we were able to sprawl out and sleep for a bit.

We were met and the train station by the man running the hostel we stayed at. After checking in we hired a driver and went to visit some Chinese villages. The first village for 600 years old and was still being lived in. It was great to see the day to day life of rural chinese. The second village was old as well (I'm not sure of the timeline), but it was very nice and had a canal running through it. We finished our day of exploration with a trip to the 47 archways. I am sure this place has a great name, but once again its in Chinese and I don't know it. There are pictures of it all over Huangshan, so I guess it's pretty popular.

After having a nice homecooked meal (very Chinese and very good) we played a little Ma Jong (Chinese card games played with blocks-not cards) and passed out in our gorgeous room ($10 each!!!!!)

The next day had us off to Mount Huangshan. Because the driver is not allowed to drive up the mountain, you get dropped off at the bottom and board a bus to the entrance gates. At the gate you buy your tickets to enter or for the cable car (3 hour line). I was very confident and took the stairs up. When M-F backed out 1 hour in (she wasn't feeling well) I was on my own with 7 km left to go.

After my washroom stop (very nice) on the way up I was getting a little tired, but I still had 3 km left to go. I think stopping made it harder, since the more I stopped the harder it was getting, but it also could have been the fact that I was still climbing 3 hours later. Once I hit the top I was thrilled. I had never put myself through something so physically gruelling before. I was so proud, but the feeling was short lived. I was exhausted and looking forward to the climb down. As I am learning in China, nothing is done until it's done.....Mountains included. Though it was the first rest stop it was not the 'top' (in fact, the real top was another 7km up and completely out of the question). What no one had told me was that the West side of the Mountain (I had gone up the East side) was much much harder, since it was a series of several peaks. Peaks mean up AND down. Though I had thought I was done the torture was only just beginning.

After having a little breakdown in the middle of one peak (I had discovered that I still had 1 km left to climb up this 1 peak-that's another hour-)I saw a 3 year old crying, and after giving him a tissue I decided to suck it up. It was the mountain or me...and I wasn't letting the mountain win. Once I hit the first major scenic area I met 2 girls who had been climbing since 6:30am (I started at 8:30am), so I realized I wasn't doing as poorly as I thought. It could also have been accounting for the pain I was feeling. Turtle Peak was the next one, then Lotus peak...each of which was more challenging that the next. I felt bad when I saw and 80 year old woman on the top, but the hordes of people stopping EVERYWHERE to rest kept me sane. The climb was hard and I wasn't the only one feeling it. (I saw a few Chinese girls crying into their boyfriends' shoulders. )

Once I was half was down the mountain (5 hours later), I decided to take the cable-car down. I was exhausted, but I also thought I'd wasted enough of Marie-France's time (eventhough I found out later that she had gone exploring in the city and felt fine). I'm glad I took the cable-car, if only for the experience. It was scary being suspended in the air that high up, but it was amazing.

Though I hated the climb while I was doing it, I knew I'd be glad I did once I got off.....It's true. I am so happy that I climbed that mountain!!!!! The truth is, I think I'd even do it again---going to the top next time!! Of course, I will also train for it a bit if I ever decide to do it again.

The 2 days away were perfect. The ride back was really hard, since the train only got more crowded, but I had my earplugs from Mat (I LOVE that man!!!!!!!!!!) and slept wonderfully. I managed almost 8 hours (intermittently of course) and I feel great. My legs were a little tight, but I bought a treadmill and after using it for about an hour things are feeling much better.

There's one more day of relaxing before I head into a 6 day teaching week (we have to make-up a day for the lost ones for the holiday---don't ask, I don't understand.). The good thing is that I know I can do it. I climbed 8 km up a mountain---I can teach for 6 days.