Mountain Marathon

Hey folks,
So the internet guy is not going to let me use the computer w/ the CD-rom today. Booooo... cause I have so many cool pics to show you.

Yesterday we visited Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). It is one big freakin' mountain. If I was still at work at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society -it'd be the Nike Women's Marathon weekend. That's okay - because I got to walk my own mountain half marathon. I decided to opt out the cable car ride up. So I trudged up 7.5km of stairs... not all stairs, but a lot of stairs. I didn't know that the route that I was taking was the porter's route so there were these guys going up all the way with tons of stuff on their back. You know - the suspension kind when you have two loads on each side. So going up the stairs was also an obstacle course esp. when you tried to pass them. They might swing around (not on purpose) and take you out with a massive bag of rice, or towels, or a few cases of beer. The ones to really watch out for were the guys w/ massive bamboo sticks or a metal pipe on their back. I nearly lost my head a few times.

Anyway, the bold and courageous (and crazy) ones finally made it to the top for amazing views. Mist rises up the mountains so sometimes it looks like you're on top of the world - just sitting on the mountain peaks. Again, pictures would do much more justice at this point. We hiked around the top taking in various peaks. We went high enough that my bag of chips that I had was about to explode when I pulled it out of my bag. Like other major Chinese tourist destinations, we had to push our way through tour groups with matching ball caps. If you wandered far enough though - there wouldn't be too many tourists. It was absolutely gorgeous at some of those peaks.

Chinese people seem to have a fascination with what look like life size bonsai trees. In fact, one tree was highlighted as a national treasure b/c apparently two immortals had played chess their once before. They also like taking pictures of rocks that look like things. Turtles, monkeys, and something else that well... looked very much like a... well.... I'll wait until I have a picture and then you can decide for yourself what it looks like... ;)

I was dumb enough to hike down as well. So all in all, I think I must've hiked 25km yesterday. It was beautiful and brutal. I moaned and complained most of the way down.

So today is my 2nd last day in China. We're going to visit one more valley area - our tour guide promised that it'd be flat. Apparently it's where parts of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were filmed. Then it's one last overnight train back to Shanghai. I fly back to Hong Kong on Wed afternoon.

I've really enjoyed my trip to China all in all. The sights were amazing. Highlights - Great Wall, Pandas, Yellow Mountain... but also the people and just being able to interact with them. I've eaten much more red bean flavoured food than I ever have before. And I've never had to bargain so much before. I'm getting a bit tired though of it so I let them rip me off b/c I know that in the bigger picture it's only worth 10-25 cents to me. China is impressive and phenomenal. And this country is totally on the rise. From all the construction, to the preparations for Beijing 2008 which I imagine will be absolutely amazing, the hardworking people, the sheer size and magnitude of everything... it truly is something to behold. I hope all of you will have the opportunity to visit China - especially before it becomes too Westernized.

That's it for now. Tune in next time for John's Greatest Adventure Ever.