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馃摲 Adventures in Travel & Photography: Huangshan Mountain

velarisPosted for Everyone to comment on, 5 years ago4 min read

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Hey whalers and beast challengers.

Well, it's hump day in my part of the world.. that means halfway through the working week! Woot Woot!

And I thought to celebrate I'd take everyone on a trip to somewhere that was insanely amazing (I try to find places that are either gobsmackingly iconic.. or just never heard of by most people.)

This particular place was surprisingly unknown, and our guide had even said they do not get many western tourists and she was surprised we'd heard of it. This is the good side of being OCD and not able to help planning every inch of our journey.. I don't get travel regret that we missed something super!

Anyway enough with the chit-chat.

Today I am presenting Huangshan or 'Yellow Mountain" located in China.

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This mountain range is located in Anhui province in eastern China and is actually...wait for it.. yep - a UNESCO site - which of course meant it is automatically on my bucket-list to see as many UNESCO sites as I can! (China is good for knocking off a whole lotta these if you want to in one go... just remember though... China is really big... like I mean REALLY big!!!)

The scenery of this mountain range is extraordinary, with uniquely shaped granite peaks and the famous view of the pine trees that seem to hang out from the side of the mountain!

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Our guide was correct.. there were few western tourists when we visited - but it was packed as it's a major destination for domestic tourists in China. And China is great... we were in the middle of the mountains far from the cities. In Australia, we'd be hiking along dirt paths in sneakers or boots. In China, everyone was dressed up - some even in heels with parasols and tiptoeing out into the wilderness... along the best-made stone paths. It really blew me away! There are more than 60,000 stone steps throughout the area. Some as old as 1500 years.. let's hope they made them really well back then.. it's a long way down!

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Occasionally, it would get really crowded on the paths and there would be a bit of a traffic jam! v You just would not see this at home!

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Legend has it that the Mountain is named for the famous Yellow Emperor "Huang Di" and that this is where he ascended to heaven.

The best way to experience the mountain is to spend at least one, probably two nights. There are a couple of hotels and camping areas at the top of the mountain.

It is worth experiencing a sunset on the mountain.. the colours are simply amazing. Certainly autumn brought out lots of reds and golds!

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While there are cable cars to get to the top of the mountains, goods to supply the hotels are brought by porters. I did not take any photos of this amazing feat. They actually find the job very demeaning and so I did not want to be disrespectful. But it is unbelievable to see how much they carry so far up the mountain on their backs.

If you are lucky enough to get the right weather (which we, unfortunately, were not) the clouds come in low and the peaks rise above them as if floating, looking exactly like a scene from Avatar.

I'd love to go back and have the opportunity for a few days to hike around the range, we only saw such a small part, but what we did was amazing!


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I do hope this has inspired you to get out and see this awesome rock we live on.. whether you go near or far there is always something worth seeing!

Til next time wishing you love and light

LocationHuangshan, China
Camera GearSamsung NX300
LensSamsung 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 ED OIS
FilterBower Pro dHD UV / PL
EditingAdobe Photoshop CC & Adobe Lightroom Classic CC

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My beautiful UpCats were designed by the one and only beautiful @ryivhnn (Steemit) and are based on my beautiful Ava the Princess Cat.

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This is Post 10 in #thebeast challenge

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