Visited xian, china from 21-25 June, 2019 and this blog is about day 3 of my trip there. was expecting super hot and humid weather since it was supposed to be sweltering hot in xian in summer and the temperature can go up to 40C in the day time. but I guess we had the weather on our side during the whole trip. although it was raining on the first 2 days we were there, the rain was just light and did not cause us much trouble to move around albeit some wet shoes and socks. on day 3, when the rain cleared, our decision to go to mt Huashan was the right one. I had read about the famous plank wood walk on the edge of the rock mountain cliff before this, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would be able to get on the planks and do the walk. those who are keen to do this walk, must check the weather before going because this activity is highly dependant on the weather.
as our base was in the city centre in xian, we chose to take the bullet train there. another mode of transport is via bus but personally, it was not worth it because the bus trip will take you 2 hours. by bullet train, the journey is only about 40 mins from xian north railway station to Huashan north station. the fare is only around 55rmb compared to the bus which is about 35 rmb. you can get your ticket when you get to the railway station.
this is a photo of china's bullet train.
a look inside xian north railway station.
inside the bullet train. everyone is allocated a seat. this is a coach in 2nd class. it is comfortable enough for the short journey. 40 minutes passed very fast and soon we arrived at Huashan.
this is how Huashan north railway station look like. from here, we took a cab to the ticketing office to buy all the tickets one need to buy to get up to mt Huashan. the fare of the cab is 20rmb from the railway station. you still have to walk a bit to the ticketing office after the taxi drop off.
tickets to buy are- entrance ticket, bus ticket, insurance (10rmb). visitors can only get up to mt Huashan using their bus. when buying the ticket, the ticketing assistant will ask if you are taking the hiking route or the cable car route. we chose to take the cable car route to the west peak. the cable car ride to the west peak is the longest. another cable car ride one can take to is to the north peak.
for those who want to take a more scenic route, the west peak cable car route is recommended. but be prepared to pay more too. some blogs recommend taking the cable car to the west peak, then walk to the north peak which will take you 2 hours of lots of steps and then take the cable car back to the base from the north peak. this is a cheaper way. I did not do this as I did not have the time to hike to the north peak after doing my plank wood walk.
the gate to the cable car station to the west peak....and already lots and lots of steps are greeting you. there is a coaster ride one can take (30rmb)to get to the cable car station. highly recommended for ppl who hate walking and can't take those endless flight of steps.
buy your cable car ticket when you reach the station. you can only buy one way ticket. $$
the cable car ride took about 15 minutes to reach the west peak and it was a spectacular ride all the way to the top. the view was out of this world and it seemed to come out from Chinese brush paintings. one does wonder at the engineering feat taken to build this cable way and the calculation taken into consideration when building. the steepest cable car ride I have ever been on so far.
this is what one can expect from the cable car ride. you feel like you are floating above all these mountain peaks.
according to the audio system in the cable car, this is the first cable car ride that ends in a dug rock tunnel. that light there was the hole which we entered from.
I started from the cable car station and walked to the south peak, which is the highest among all. plank road is here too.
the picturesque west peak.
2154m, the highest point at the south peak.
a view from the south peak. you can really not get enough of it. although it was cloudy, I counted my blessings as it wasn't raining. the weather was really comfortable, not too hot (around 23C) for a good day at mt Huashan in summer. and the crowd too wasn't too thick as it was not the high season yet.
a bell at the other part of the south peak. took this photo while I was queueing for my plank walk.
a view of the north peak from the south peak.
if you zoom in, you will see the chess pavilion at the edge of the north peak. I am sure the view there is out of this world as well...but I am not too sure about the ease of the hike there though.
now to the famous plank walk. well, make sure you buy your ticket for the walk before you join the queue of people getting ready near the bell platform on the south peak. the fee is only 30rmb to go on the plank walk. only those aged below 50 are allowed and you have to sign a form and show your id.
the wait to start the adventure was the real torture. I waited for more than an hour before being allowed to go pass a short gate to form another line to get my harnesses and carabiners. some people in front of me had waited for almost 2 hours. they only allowed around 20 to 30 people in one trip and it was the same way to the plank walk and the same way back. hence, if the group in front of yours took a long time on the walk, you would be made to wait longer in the queue.
so after fastening all my safety equipment...they were quite solid...so there was really no fear of falling off the cliff. I wasn't feeling nervous at all although knowing that I would be standing at the edge of one of the most precipitous mountains in the world. some people who had just finished theirs exclaimed that they had soft knees.
so the picture above shows the clip on the metal line on our way to the plank walk. the metal line below is the one you will use on your way back. there is no more passing another slow person in front of you with this new clip system because you can't unclip it. just follow the order you are in now. some people had actually unclipped and jumped off the cliff before according to my taxi driver. why they wanted to climb all the way there making such a huge effort in the hike to get there, I would never know.
the steep metal stairs to get down to the planks.
finally....on the planks....people were taking photos non-stop. if you need their photographer to do so for you, for a fee you can. but most people had their own handphones and cameras, hence the 'unofficial' photographer was ignored. waiting for those people to finish taking their photo was quite tedious. the attendant there had to shout "one or two photos enough lo, the views are all the same!" haha.
the planks are quite wide and stable...so it was a safe walk. my newfound friend, from Melbourne who was behind me in the queue and I were very steady and said that there was nothing to fear about this walk. we just couldn't fathom how some people exaggerated about how thrilling this walk was. we were both definitely as calm as a millpond. the plank walkway was actually quite short. after about 15 metres, it was over and you had to wait for everyone to reach this 'waiting area' before you could turn back.
this is the end of the plank walk and where we waited for everyone to come before turning back.
I was more afraid of my handphone falling off the edge every time I took it out from my pocket.
if not for everyone taking their time taking tens of shots on the walk, the plank walk could actually be done in around 30. in the end, it took my group about 50 minutes to get back to where we returned all the safety equipment.
all in all, despite the almost non-existing fear factor, it was still a walk to remember. where else in the world can one walk on the plank at the edge of a cliff looking at such spectacular mountain peaks? it was definitely worth more than the 30rmb I paid.
I went back through the same way I came, to the west peak cable car station and ascended down the base. it was another expensive ride but that was the quickest way down. they really know how to cut your throat at all these tourist attractions in china.
back at the north Huashan railway station, I had the time of my ticket changed. don't worry if you have passed the time on your bullet train ticket, they allow one time free change free of charge. i bought the ticket to return to xian when I first arrived at Huashan and I really couldn't estimate the hours I would spend on the mountain. so I was relieved that I could still board the train without an extra charge.
I conquered the plank walk on mt Huashan!
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