Another mountain and a big ass wall

Trip Start Apr 07, 2009
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of China  , Shaanxi,
Saturday, June 13, 2009

An overnight train took us from Shanghai to Xian and this was the first non fast train and we were in with the solomites... Anyway the train was still good and all the chinese do is eat non stop.... its as if they are always hungry and they have bags and bags of food with them.
Pulled into Xian and after a sweaty walk carrying the bags it was into a taxi to find the Bell tower hostel which was supposed to be pretty good. Checked in and didnt manage to get too far as it pissed rain for hours. Out for food though which is always good and sorted out tour out for the Terracotta warriors the following day. The Warriors where found in 1976 and are 6000 years old. There are over 2000 of them, some semi restored and some completly restored/ They sit and lie in 3 different locations some still covered by earth. There are a number of horses also although the chariots which they carried have rotted away. Back in Xian which is about 20km away it was time for more food and a drink Bell tower
Bell tower
 . Some of the sights in Xian are not to be missed either, the ancient city wall is the most intact city wall in the world appearantly. It stretches over 13km in a rectangle around the city over 12m high and 16m wide. We started to walk a section and then spotted rental bikes so off we went cycling around the whole thing and all the way you have a great views over the city covered in a haze of pollution. The bikes weigh a tonne and kinda hard to pull wheelies but we had some craic cycling all the way around. A few temples and drinks later and planned out our next challenge... Mt Hua just outside the town of Huashan 120km to the east. We took two days to do the climb which was fantastic. We took a bus from Xian to the town grabbed brekkie and a load of water and started walking the 6km up to the first peak... You pass all the way through a stunning valley gradually climbing until you reach near verticle steps carved into the rock with metal chains to hold onto.
Its a gruelling climb to the top where we met hundreds of day tripers who took the easy option the cable car which goes up through a different valley.... The mountain itself is a holy spot and technically its some kind of pilgrimage...  Worth the pain though, the first peak we hit was the north peak and from there we had to climb to the central and west peak... All of this is climbed on steps carved into the rocky mountain grasping at chains to hold on and avoiding the slow climbers. We stayed in a hostel on the west peak at a little over 2000m .. bed by 8pm and up at 5am for the sunrise which is a tradition on this mountain. It was off then for the south and east peak which are higher again reaching to over 2100 metres. There are all kinds of temples en-route and thousands of pad locks attached to the chains as some kind of offering. The views were fantastic and the climb down was so much quicker and easier and we did cheat and take the cable car down to get us on time for a bus back to Xian... Bought our train tickets for the next destination Chengdu 850km to the south.
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