CHINA: Huangshan day 2

After a good night rest in Shanghai, Sherry and I got up early to go to Huangshan. We decided to take a bus which would take 6 hours. It was similar travel time by plane, but Sherry thought it would be easier by bus. In the morning we bought more xiao long bao for less than three dollars and ate it at the meeting point. It was a pure moment of happiness eating such cheap and delicious food.

Our bus driver was CRAZY. I was so happy we were sitting at the back because I probably would have had a heart attack if I was at the front. He honked sooo much and drove at what felt like a psycho speed for a bus. I don't know whether Shanghai drivers are all very good (because they don't seem to get into accidents) or all terrible. 

Anyway on our way there was a toilet stop where Sherry and I decide to stretch our legs. We walked towards the toilet and about 2m from the entrance of the building (not even the entrance of the toilets), we could already smell the stench. Thankfully we didn't need to go because it would've been unbearable. Everyone warned me about China's squat toilets, but to be honest it wasn't that bad (except for that one stench). 

We stopped for a quick bite in some town I forgot. I bought some dried sweet potato, it was actually pretty nice. 

We reached Huangshan in the early afternoon and got picked up by the hotel staff. The first thing we did was eat lunch. I absolutely loved all the dishes the chef at the hotel made for us. He was super friendly and nice, and Sherry wanted me to try stinky tofu. It was really tasty

We also ordered the special wild chicken from the area. He made half into a stew and the other fried. I was in food heaven, it was so good! 

After lunch the hotel drivers brought us to Emerald Valley. We wanted to go to Hongcun village, but there wasn't enough time (we took too long enjoying lunch), so we opted for this scenic spot instead. It ended up being super nice, so no regrets!

It was where Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed :) I liked that movie when I was younger. 

Every dot on the map is a "beauty spot" and my goodness, it was so beautiful!!

This was some love bridge with padlocks and stuff. Too bad I was travelling with this silly girl, hahaha jk~

The walkways were really nice and well paved. 

Engrish #2: "flood beast" hahaha!

There were lots of writings and quotes etched into the rocks as well. We stopped at the massive "love" character. It was actually humongous and a bunch of old aunties were taking photos, so we had to wait.

There was one favourite beauty spot where we stopped to soak up the mountain scenery. I drank a few scoops of mountain water which was allowed. It was delicious and we almost couldn't be bothered walking up the rest of the track. It was so tranquil that I wanted to nap. 

The end of the track was kind of anticlimactic. 

So we headed back to our favourite spot and I asked Sherry to take a jump shot of me on a rock. It was in the middle of the river area and kind of risky, but I told her to take one quickly before we got caught. It turned out that I had to jump 7-8 times before she got an accurate photo..and I got scolded by a staff member :P!

We walked through this bamboo forest on the way down and our driver brought us to a free tea tasting house. Huangshan specializes in tea, and they brought us to this room to try many different types. 

The middle one is their famous tea, but it cost like $60 Australian, and I was like nuppp! I bought a cheaper oolong tea which tasted the best in my humble opinion. The lady was super good at her job though, I gave her perfect feedback.

At night we ate the rest of our wild chicken that they kept and reheated in the stew for us. We ate some noodles too and again, it was so delicious. I wanted to bring the chef home with me to Australia. Sherry had to go to the information talk for Huangshan mountains, so I stayed at the table to wait. It took like 20-30 mins, so my food was getting cold. The chef's 6 year old daughter came out to play with me and I was surprised because she just appeared and started playing toy rabbit with me. My Chinese is pretty much non-existent, so it was difficult communicating with her. However she was quite playful and we continued anyway. When Sherry came back to the table she suddenly reverted into a shy kid. She was such a cutie!

At night Sherry and I walked around the streets, but since it was a tourist town, there was nothing but restaurants, tea shops and supermarkets. Sherry was adamant in buying Shaobing - a famous Chinese biscuit from the area, so we walked into a few stores. 

In this store the man in the red shirt was buying like 40 packs of Shaobing and when he saw us, he was super friendly and told us this was the best in town. He was sooooo excited and created such commotion that people in the streets started coming into the shop. I could tell his mannerisms and interactions with the staff/ Sherry were hilarious even though I didn't know what he was saying. he really made the night fun and interesting. 

Then we bought ice cream and headed back to our hotel. There were old ladies doing dance/taichi? in the car park next to us. If I hadn't of showered, I would've have joined them hehe.

That night I tried loading videos on Youku which is China's equivalent of Youtube. I clicked on what I thought was a harmless video (had lots of views) of two cars, and ended up freaking out when I watched a terrible road accident. Sherry was like AHHHH STOP WATCHING!! and then I was too scared to watch Youku....except for BTS's new mv.

So lesson learned: avoid all Chinese road videos. They don't wear their seat belts and the consequences are horrendous T_T!