China...Huaibei to Mount Yao

   From Huaibei, Anhui south to Suzhou was a 1.5 hour train ride. Kalina and I waited 2 hours at the Suzhou station before we boarded the night train to Pingdingshan. The crowded station was gross, many people were throwing their food scraps on the floor, spitting, and smoking. I had to use the washroom and when I went in the stench was overwhelming, I had to turn around and leave without relieving myself. Once the worker opened a single gate the chaos started when crowds rushed the gate, pushing and pulling each other. We got down onto a bottom platform and raced along with the others, workers were yelling at the passengers, they seemed to be saying, go, go, go. For us we were rushing to get into the sleeper car while most others were making sure they got a bench seat.

   Once in the train we sat for 20 minutes before it made a late departure, turned out there was absolutely no hurry. The train left around midnight and I only managed a couple of hours of shuteye since the bunk was basically a thin mat on plywood. By 5:30 I could gaze out of the window and see the landscape, which consisted of small cities, farmland and many villages. There was a lot of industry and the waterways looked very dirty.

                           


We arrived at Pingdingshan, yet another coal city where more than half of the 5 million residents have jobs related to the mining industry. We took a local bus to get to a long distance bus station where we finally boarded a bus that took us to our destination. The 11 am bus was full so we had to wait until 1pm before boarding the bus for the 3 hour ride to the base of Mount Yao.

                         

 The scenery was good as this bus traveled through many small villages to drop off and pick up passengers. In the distance I could see the Spring Temple Buddha which is the tallest statue in the world at 128 metres (420 ft), it took more than 10 years to build; at a cost of $55 million.


                        

 The bus trip was great for gawking out the window until we got to a spot where a road crew was demolishing a bridge. 

                          


All of the traffic was diverted down to a river bed, that is where we stopped.

                          

For 30 minutes we stayed there, many people got out of the bus, cars, and trucks ahead. I went for a walk to see what the problem was and the dilemma ended up to be two small boulders that made the turn for trucks coming up from the river bank too difficult. So many people from this small village were crowded around until finally someone found a pry bar and moved the boulders. There was so much yelling and chaos over these two rocks, the traffic was backed up for several kms., thank goodness it was not the rainy season.

   Kalina and I found a hotel for 80 RMB in a small village at the base of the mountain with no hot water; it was cold at this higher elevation so washing up was quick. After the long haul the day before with only a couple of hours of sleep it was easy to pass out.

                           


At 7:30 am we left the hotel to ascend the 1,000 metre's (3,000 ft) up the mountain by foot; there were so many cement stairs, the first flight had about 400.

                                       

 On most of the Chinese mountains there are both stairs and chair lifts, which most Chinese take. We walked about 6,000 steps in total to get to the top and the view was excellent, we were high enough to be above the clouds. The first couple of thousand stairs there were very few people, once we got to the first chair lift drop off the crowd became thick. So many people wanted to get their photo with a foreigner, I was the only one I saw on the mountain that day. I did not mind about 20 photo's but each time I stopped there were several people waiting in line to get their photo with me; I told Kalina that we should keep moving to make sure I did not get stuck in front of the Chinese tourists camera. The people were very friendly but our mission was to get to the top.


                                        

  Since we got to the top around 12:30 we had some time to take in the scenery, there were nice views from up there.


                          


                          


                          


                                         

    Once we rested and felt fulfilled with our reward at the mountain summit we made a plan to go down. We spotted 2 young couples who shared the bus with us, we had dinner with them the night before; they told us that they had climbed up a different route, so we thought we may as well take advantage of some new scenery. There are 3 chair lifts that go partially up the mountain and then an express lift that goes all of the way to the top. The trail that they took came up by the express lift so we headed to that part of the mountain, about 500 metres. We did not see a trail so we headed back in the direction of the peak; again we saw these 4 people and again they explained to Kalina in Chinese where the trail was. We returned to the chairlift and this time we noticed a dirt trail so we started to descend.

  We ended up to find cement stairs after about 10 minutes so that was intriguing. Eventually the stairs split in two directions so I left Kalina sitting while I ran down the one staircase that ended at a small temple.

                     


 I took a couple of photo's and went back to the junction. We walked about 2 hours down these stairs until we ended at another park gate entrance. It was evident by then that this was the old entrance to the mountain and we were in trouble. There were no people around but there were two guys lazing around a small tourist information hut, they showed us a map of the area and we could see that it was about 30 kms. to get around to the other gate that we entered in the morning; it was on the other side of the mountain. One guy said he would take us around by motorcycle and that we should wait outside. Kalina heard them talking, it seemed that one of the guys wanted to rip us off for 500 RMB, they knew we were stuck.

  Actually we were not completely stuck.....at 6pm we turned around and headed back up to the top of the mountain. Both of us were so tired and it was hell to try to salvage enough energy to make it back up. Our drinking water had ran out half way down the wrong side and we had to keep stopping to sit down. The last half an hour we walked in the dark, but seeing the lights from the chair lift building give us hope. Once we made it back to the top there was one shack where a shop owner/caretaker of the mountain stayed. Kalina and the lady of the shop were trying to think of how we could make it back down, using the stairs in the dark would have taken us about 4 hours; if we could have handled it. An aha moment came to the lady when she suggested that although the chair lift was stopped for the day they were not allowed to leave anyone with a lift ticket on the mountain. This lady had lift tickets in her small shop so we were able to buy a 60 RMB ticket for 100 RMB and it was a win, win for all of us. This ANGEL made 40 RMB, which was great for her, we were able to hear the chairlift start up after she talked to the workers on the radio

   After 14 hours of abusing our bodies we ended up sitting in the chair lift; it was dark and the sky was filled with stars.....it was a fabulous chair lift ride. Not only was the scenery spectacular, we came to the realization that we would get back to the hotel after enduring the mix up in search of new views. I had guessed that we walked up about 10,000 stairs and down about 2,000 steps ( the other side of the mountain had a trail system). Thank goodness that Kalina was so strong willed, fit and young. I learned early on in this mountain adventure that if you go off the beaten trek in China it is so useful to have a translator.

   In the morning I was a bit stiff as we left the hotel and took a taxi, then bus, to Pingdingshan. Once we arrived at the station it was very crowded; again the workers opened just one small gate and the crowd pushed to get through. The madness was very chaotic as men pushed women with small children so that they could perhaps get a seat on the train. There are seat tickets and standing tickets, if one gets on soon enough then they may find a seat for her/his long trip. Kalina and I ended up meeting many locals as we shared our seats, as they did with us. I learned to tough it out like the locals on the slow train, it is crowded, smells, and the washroom (WC) is disgusting....but there is little choice at times, since not all areas in the country are serviced by the fast train. The next day I reminisced about my experience, both the rewards and the set-backs......I was ready to go again.