Updated:10:59 a.m., Wednesday, January 12, 2011

HUANGSHAN, China — For first-time visitors to China, Beijing and Shanghai are the default destinations. But for tourists who like to mix city travel with outdoor experiences, two natural landmarks in China stand out: Yellow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge. Both are among the country’s most popular and significant attractions, akin to the Grand Canyon in the U.S. Yellow Mountain — Huangshan —has been an icon in Chinese culture for centuries. Tiger Leaping Gorge, about 240 miles from the Tibetan border, is one of the deepest gorges in the world.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Hiking-China-Yellow-Mountain-Tiger-Leaping-Gorge-952345.php#ixzz1Asr82mbO

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The first thing you notice about Yellow Mountain is that it looks like an old Chinese ink painting. Bonsai-like pine trees grow among its 77 peaks, some of which rise 1,000 metres above sea level. Rock formations, with tinges of a beautiful yellow, twist around like ink strokes on a page. Lingering wisps of cloud that float and hang overhead, watching over each and every peak, as far as the eye can see. Huang Shan has inspired the Chinese for centuries, — over tens of thousands of poems have been written about the mountain and a school of painting is named after it.

It was my first mountain. Along with six good friends, we first took an overnight train from Beijing to the city of Hangzhou. The next day, we made our way to the mountain, climbed more than seven hours to the peak, and slept in a hostel at the top. We had just a few hours sleep, all seven of us on bunk beds packed into one room in the hostel, because we had to wake up early to watch the sunrise. Afterward we made our way down (which was just as strenuous as going up, taking about 7 hours, too) and spent the following days exploring villages in Anhui province. (It was back to Beijing after that for the Jay Chou concert woot woot!)

Climbing Huang Shan was very intense and physically demanding — there were times I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep climbing. My legs were shaking violently, I was hurting all over, sweating like crazy, and I had trouble catching my breath. Just imagine – 7 hours of these painful symptoms!

But I had really good friends with me to cheer me on — and somehow I made it. And oh how it was worth it.