Hushuan Mountain

After some more driving we arrived at our destination, Hushuan Mountain, one of China’s five holy Taoist mountains. We were curious as to what this hike would be like compared to hiking on the Great Wall, and when we asked Tony what it would be like, his response was: “This is one of the most dangerous mountains in China.” So much for a leisurely afternoon stroll. We took the cable car up the mountain and quickly realized this would be quite a different experience that the Great Wall. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists at the top of the mountain. And they were all Asian. One thing about Asians is that their sense of personal space and what they consider rude is completely different than what we think. Lines are non-existent, hovering over someone or walking extremely close to them is the norm, and pushing people to get by is totally acceptable. Our plan was to hike from the north peak of the mountain to the western peak and to try to make it back to the cable car before it closed at 6:30pm. As we made our way to the north peak, I got the lay of the land. We were literally walking on top of the mountains, and there was one, narrow path connecting the two peaks. Every now and again there was a wider area and there were numerous vendors selling things like hot dogs on sticks and tea. The cable car dropped us off right below the north peak so to reach the top only took about 15 minutes. Atop the peak we were able to get away from the crowds and enjoy the beautiful views. I quickly noticed that some of the fences were absolutely covered in locks. People believe that if you buy a lock, engrave it with you and your lover’s name, and lock it up that your love will last forever. They were also covered in red ribbons, because red is a lucky color in China. For the next two hours we hiked over to the western peak. At times the path was so narrow that you literally had a sheer cliff straight up on one side and a sheer cliff straight down on the other. It reminded me of the time my parents and I were in Peru and were hiking near Machu Picchu—we were on a similar path there and my mom was so scared that she literally clung to the side of the mountain, and my dad called her the “granite magnet.” This was definitely a time to be a granite magnet. There was one part, called the Dragon’s Back, that was a series of about 500 steps going straight up. This time we were on the top of a narrow cliff, so if you slipped you could have your choice of which side you would rather fall off of—left or right. Luckily, there are chains you can use as railings to help you climb and that give you a small sense of security. Tony told us that up until a few years ago these chains didn’t exist, and without them I can understand why the mountain was considered one of the most dangerous in China. We made it about ¾ of the way to the western peak but then had to turn around in order to ensure we would make it to the cable car before it closed for the night. If we missed it, we would have to WALK down the valley, which would have taken about 5 hours. We were all happy to give up our quest for the western peak and head to the cable car. As we got closer, we realized that everyone must have had the same idea because a line of people snaked around, up and over the mountain to get into the cars. It looked like a line at Disney World. Like I have said before, Chinese people don’t really do lines and we were getting pushed forward from the people behind us—even though there was nowhere to go. We didn’t want to be crowded for the next hour as we shuffled forward to the cable car station, so we had the boys created “the Great American Wall” to box out the people behind us and to give ourselves a little breathing room. Their three bodies created a blockade wide enough to stretch across the whole path and our plan worked out perfectly. It was actually quite funny to see, because we were not crowding the people in front of us and had probably about 3 sq. ft. of personal space for each of us, but immediately behind the boys the Chinese people were crowded together and were literally all touching. You could tell the people behind us were getting annoyed and I just wanted to say to them, “There’s nowhere to go!” Our strategies for keeping the other tourists out of our space entertained us for the 45-minute wait, and eventually we made it to the cable cars. After our afternoon spent at Hushuan Mountain, we once again piled into the van and headed back to Xian to call it a day. Pictures: Hushuan Mountain; Love locks Video: A porter signing and hoping to get a few bucks from visitors for doing so