Dear Mom, I'm still alive, and that means that I survived midterms week. To unwind, my friends and I decided to go to the Yellow Mountains (or, for my Chinese speaking friends: 我跟我的朋友们去了黄山玩). Why did we go to the Yellow Mountains?
Because this is what the Yellow Mountains look like.
"But wait!" I hear you say, "why are they called the Yellow Mountains if they are not, in fact, yellow?" Well, you see, they aren't named after the color yellow, but instead after the Yellow Emperor, a legendary emperor said to be the founder of Chinese civilization and the Han Chinese people. So, there you have it.
Our three-day adventure started on Friday morning (we don't have classes on Fridays). After arriving at Beijing South (北京南) Railway Station. Before we boarded our train, I started my day with a traditional Chinese breakfast.
I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but these donuts are not glazed. I was disappointed.
At 9:45 AM, we boarded our high-speed train to Huangshan. How fast does a high-speed train go? Our train at one point went over 300 km/hour, which is about 186 miles/hour.
This is what a going 186 mph on a train looks like.
This is what it looks like when two high-speed trains pass each other.
We made it to the Huangshan train station seven hours later, where we took a bus to our hotel. That night, we didn't do much because we had to get up early the next morning. On Saturday at around 6:30 AM, we boarded another bus to the Huangshan Scenic Area. And what was the first thing we did in the Huangshan Scenic Area?
We went on the rides! (My friends did not appreciate when I tried to shake the cable car, though.)
What did we do once we got to the top? We walked. And walked. And walked some more. While we were walking, I took pictures of rocks. In fact, I took more pictures on this day than I on any other single day since I came to China. That's because the Yellow Mountains are one of the most beautiful natural wonders I've ever seen. See for yourself:
Those people in yellow hats are one of the many large tour groups we crossed paths with on our journey.
These mountains inspired many movies, including James Cameron's Avatar, a.k.a. the Blue People movie.
Huangshan is known for its natural hot springs.
The lake in these pictures is not one of them - but that didn't stop me from diving in! (Kidding, of course.)
(Photo cred: Christina Villarreal)
A fun fact about these mushrooms is that they are completely fake and make of cement.
(Photo cred: Alexa Litchfield)
Does this picture make you nervous, Mom? (Photo cred: Lauren Pyke)
How about this one? (Photo cred: Lauren Pyke)
This mountain has a meteorological observatory sitting on top.
I went up this path...
And finally...
Photo Cred: Alexa Litchfield, who explicitly said not to show this picture to my mom.
All told, we stayed in the park for about 9-10 hours before we returned to our hotel for a much-needed rest. The next day, we took another high-speed train back to Beijing. It was on this train that I realized not all of China is gorgeous mountains or sprawling cities.
Some of it looks a lot like Kansas!
I'm so glad I got to see the Yellow Mountains with many of my new close friends. It was an unforgettable experience.
I love you, Mom,
Jackson
(P.S. If you're an American citizen and you're not planning on voting November 6th, you should know that I did yesterday, and I'm halfway around the world. So, if you're able, vote. That's all.)
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