黄山，醉温泉, 西递 三日游

Deciding not to be stuck in Shanghai during Chinese New Year, we (Janelle, Shiyun, Yuhao and I) signed up for a local Huangshan 三日游, those interested can check out www.xyytravel.cn

Day 1, 24 Jan

woke super duper early to reach 人民广场 to endure a 5 hours bus ride from Shanghai to Huangshan, slept throughout with pitch-stops made along the way...

Out of the 50 pax in our tour group, only 9 (including us) were mad enough to attempt climbing Huangshan in the midst of winter, would advise you to take the cable car (65 RMB each way) up and down Huangshan in any season!

our tour guide 胡导 advised us to 咬紧牙根 while climbing, as once you start climbing, there's no point of return... and damn was he right!
we were all excited for the climb, happily camwhoring and throwing snow at each other! but as time passes, even against a beautiful winter backdrop, facing endless flights of steps up in the cold snowing winter can be terribly demoralizing...

along the way, we were joined by a couple Leon and Summer, as it was preferred to climb in a group given that we were gonna be climbing in the dark soon. it's pretty scary once the sun set, as the entire Huangshan is pitch-black, no lamps along the way at all!

so after 4-5hours of climb, WE FINALLY REACHED THE TOP!!! :D yes, i felt so proud of myself for climbing 7.5km worth of stairs!! :D

We spent a night on the peak at 玉屏楼宾馆, a simple hotel. Because we signed up for the basic package, me Shiyun and Janelle were to share room with a mom and her 2 daughters, while Yuhao shared with Leon and a Ah Gong. So imagine 3 double-deck beds squeezed inside a room, its not fancy but at least its equipped with hot water and heater.

Day 2: 25 Jan

woke early again to catch the sunrise!

after a simple chinese breakfast of porridge, 馒头，and side dishes (i miss my Macs hotcakes)

from our hotel, we were to climb all the way to 光明顶, where the building with the ball is... help!s!), i regretted the climb up yesterday, as we were to climbed up and down to admire the scenery along the various peaks. i was just anxious to get to the cable car station to descend! :(

there's a part of the climb down where it got really freaky, the steps were carved from a cliff, so when climbing down, you literally fear for your life as a slip would mean falling down a cliff! yep, thats when I fear heights!

but otherwise the scenery is so damn beautiful you instantly admire James Cameron for filming Avatar at 黄山

hehe, don't I just fit in like a korean girl in Winter Wonderland! :P

check out our delightful faces at 光明顶, as it means time to take cable-car down!

we were sabotaged by our tour group when 胡导 asked who wanna climb all the way down, and the tour group called out 那四位年轻人！we were all NOOOOO!!! hahah

Our second night stay was at 广交大酒店 which is opposite this 老街, where we dine at this street side shop, cheap and good 饺子，汤圆!

i have a confession to make: I am highly addicted to 汤圆 in Shanghai, as its all 黑芝麻! ;D

after dinner, we headed for our 醉温泉, located at Ramada Hotel. sadly we could not take any photos as we were busy dipping ourselves into different 温泉, there's milk, coffee, lavender, red wine (which was the hottest at 44degrees C!) etc

i did get a fright in the changing room tho as all the women young and old were stark naked! my poor eyes...

Day 3: 26th Jan

we visited 西递 where 卧虎藏龙 was filmed, and I swear Mummy dear will love this place! There's a personalized tour guide and you will find that every household has its unique 对联, very meaningful and cultural!

oh yeah, just for laughs, this was posted at 西递

basically, the poster was announcing the time and date a household was to slaughter their pig! poor piggy, oink!

so... that's how I spent my Chinese New Year 2012 :)

黄山，醉温泉, 西递 三日游, worth going again with Mummy dear (who plans to conquer 黄山) but will skip the climb for the cable car! haha