China - Huangshan Mountains, Eastern Steps

After our brief stay in Tunxi, we spent two days at the Huangshan Mountains (we slept on the top). The walk up was seriously tough (it's 1,800m high) - it only took a few hours, but the entire way is steep steps and it took its toll. We had to stop every ten minutes or so, both to catch our breath and to stand in awe at the porters/coolies who were carrying kilos of food and linen up to the ten or so hotels at the top. We found out that they get about 20UScents per kilo, and they were carrying about 50kilos each.

Huangshan ('yellow mountains') is famous for its high jagged peaks, plunging cliffs, mist covered mountains and insurmountable beauty. It's been in lots of movies (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for one), and it lived up to our expectations.

China - Tunxi

After Hangzhou, we went to Tunxi, which was really just a place to sleep before climbing up Huangshan mountain. But, it turned out to be an interesting place with kitschy touristy shops (right down our alley). We bought a lovely scroll painting of Huangshan, which we undoubtedly got ripped on, but by our standards is still cheap.

We also found a sort of yum-cha restaurant except all the food is displayed near the kitchen with numbered codes, and you walk around with a clipboard and order whatever looks tasty. How Chinese restaurants can have 55 different items on the menu and New Zealand resturants only 15 we'll never know.

China - Hangzhou

At the end of October, we took a week holiday from our arduous jobs and had a look around China (well, one part of China... it's a big country).
We arrived in Shanghai and jumped straight onto a bus to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is famous for its Western lake, ancient pagoda's and surrounding hills. Lonely planet tells us that this area “captivated” artists for centuries. It's a beautiful place. We had about a day there and explored the lake and its three islands by boat and by foot.

There's a famous area for food which me made sure to visit. It was the first of many hours dedicated to Chinese Cuisine. All the time invested provided a satisfactory return... hmmmm return...