Sunrise At Hua Shan

Best sunrise ever!

Hua Shan was probably the coldest and most tired 24 hours of my life but also the most beautiful. We arrived in the town of Hua Shan shortly after 3 and made our way to the base of the mountain with the idea to cheat a little bit and take the cable car half way up the mountain so that we could at least get a few hours of shut eye before getting up early to make the rest of the hike up to watch the sunrise from the East peak of the mountain. We got on the cable car which took us to the North Peak where we decided to crash at for the night at a very basic and chilly hotel room (yes this is China, there are hotels on top of the mountain). We watched the sun set from the North peak then went to bed to get a few horrible hours of sleep. We were told the sun would rise around 5:30 so we set an alarm for 3 so that we could we ensure we made it up to the east peak for the sunrise (it's a long, steap hike up). We were up and heading out by 3:15 and made the chilly walk up. We were the only ones on the path for quite some time until we met a group of younger Chinese men who were climbing up for the same reason as us. We continued on up with them and made it to the top as it was still dark. At the top of the East peak, it was extremely chilly and there was a mercilessly strong wind blowing. We took shelter behind a large rock and huddled together for warmth but after a half hour of that and the wind cutting through to our bones, we decided to try and find somewhere a bit more sheltered from the wind as there was still no sign of the sun rising.

We walked a little bit down to the East Peak hotel, which shall I note if I were to do it again in the middle of winter I would of chose to stay overnight there so that we could have sat in a warmish hotel room waiting rather than outside in the freezing cold wind. We took shelter in a corner outside the hotel which honestly was still freezing. I have honestly never been so cold in my life and sat there shaking hoping to God the sun would make its appearance soon. It didn't and we sat and sat and waited. Nathan went to use the port-a-potty and came back announcing that since it was insulated it was actually quite warm in there. Out of desperation of warmth we decided that we would stand in the toilet and wait and hope to keep warm. Yes, you read right, the two of us stood in a port-a-potty for 45 minutes to stay warm. We stood there laughing at how ridiculous our situation was and I kept tapping my toes hoping they would unthaw. Once again, I feel the need to reiterate that I have never been so freaking cold in my life..I was starting to debate whether this whole endeavor was in fact worth it. Trust me when I say after what felt like an eternity, we exited the toilet and were pleased to see that the sky was finally starting to turn blue. We headed up to the top of the East peak to brave the wind and watch the sunrise.

There was not a single cloud in the sky and we had a front row seat to watch as the sun broke the horizon line to light up the world for the day. Sitting there watching I couldn't help but think that this beautiful scene is a daily event and how unfortunate it is we don't get the chance to marvel over it as often as we do.

We sat there, slowly but surely unthaw ing with every inch closer the sun got to rising over the top of the mountain peak and when it finally did, every single person up there shouted out in joy! The day was finally here and the beautiful sun was going to warm us all up! As the blanket of darkness was gone, we we able to get a proper glimpse at the scenery was around us and man was it breathtaking. We began to understood why Hua Shan was one of the five holiest Taoist peaks in China.... It was absolutely beautiful! Once the sun was fully in the sky, we set out to explore the various peaks, each just as stunning as the last then headed back down to have a much needed hour nap before making our way down the mountain. We headed down by foot this time to make up for not hiking the way up and man was it killer on the legs... By the time we made it to the bottom we had climbed up 1000m and down 1800m. Needless to say we we tired..but the day wasn't over yet!

Our "overnight" train ( a very light phrase) to Pingyao wasn't leaving until 11:30pm and since Hua Shan is a shady little town with nothing to do, we had to sit and wait in the train station with absolutely nothing around it but decreed dodgy shops for a very very long time. Of any train station to have to spend time in, this was the last one I would have chosen but there we were exhausted from the previous 24 hours and not being able to sleep. I at least had my book to keep me occupied but poor Nathan had nothing but a dead phone. He entertained himself by telling me the precise number of ceiling tiles on the roof. He was pretty fortunate that we were in a country like China which happens to be the most entertaining place to people watch and by the time we boarded the train he had observed quite a few comical stories to tell me.

We boarded our train at 11:30 and arrived in Pingyao at 6 am sharp. We thankfully were able to check into our hotel room and crashed hard.

Hua Shan kicked our butts and we were hobbling around with sore muscles for the next few days but it was totally worth the pain, sleep deprivation, and near hypothermic conditions. The photos I have are beautiful but they still honestly don't do the mountain justice. It was absolutely magnificent up there and we had an amazing time! It's going to be extremely hard to top that sunrise!