goosmurf: We just got off the same plane. HOW DID SHE KNOW?!
goosmurf: We flew into Tunxi airport and needed a taxi to Tangkou. Tunxi airport is not very active so the taxi drivers work by negotiation. We stood in line and one by one the taxis left. It was raining, and with one taxi remaining I got desperate.
goosmurf: We'd heard the fare should be CNY150-180 but the taxi driver wanted CNY300. We agreed and got into his cab for all of 10m. He palmed us off to a private minivan who he paid CNY200 to take us to Tangkou. Our new driver berated us for paying so much.
goosmurf: On the bright side it was an uneventful trip to our hotel. Though Jimmie told me afterwards that it scared the shit out of him, being his first ride in a car in China. :) Tangkou is a scenic little town, kinda like a Chinese Jindabyne or Queenstown.
goosmurf: Level -1. I guess that's the logical way to number.
goosmurf: Jimmie at the Stereoscopic Parking Lot South gate of Mt HuangShan
goosmurf: We'd heard about this KFC from reviews on TripAdvisor for our hotel. It was to be our backup food option if nothing else was suitable. It was quite out of place as everything else in town was very local.
goosmurf: We had two tasks for the evening - dinner, and snacks for our walk up Huangshan.
goosmurf: It seems the practice of taking a random snack and naming it after a scenic area is a global phenomenon. Pretty sure biscuits are not historically significant in Huangshan.
goosmurf: We popped into a convenience store to buy some snacks. They appeared to stock condoms from the Soviet era. The shopkeeper laughed at me for taking a photo.
goosmurf: Tangkou really comes alive at night. LIGHT ALL THE THINGS
goosmurf: We did well ordering via Pleco :)
goosmurf: Every shop has many bright lights
goosmurf: And some have faux rockets ande grenades
goosmurf: We might be 20m away but they can smell potential business
goosmurf: I can only guess that they have had many planes (or birds?) run into their building during past nights. Never again.
goosmurf: Our hotel did an acceptable job with their lighting.
goosmurf: HaiZhou International Hotel's breakfast was what TripAdvisor reviewers would call "Chinese". I don't even know what this was except that it was savoury and flakey.
goosmurf: Jimmie opted for cake and noodles. Terrible timing but it shows how I felt waking up at 6am.
goosmurf: We were given a freakin 80cm wide map with our park entry tickets. The maps would turn out to be next to useless as they neither indicate direction nor realistic walking times.
goosmurf: The surrounding area is stunningly beautiful!
goosmurf: This map was even more useless than the last having no English. Yet I felt compelled to take a photo of it Just In Case.
goosmurf: A shuttle bus takes park visitors from Tangkou up to the entry of the Huangshan scenic area. I'm glad we didn't come during peak hour or peak season...
goosmurf: Taken from the shuttle bus. Very exciting sign of things to come!
goosmurf: Another shot from the bus
goosmurf: And one more
goosmurf: The park entrance. Here you choose either a 3 hour walk or a 10 minute cable car ride. A 3 hour hike sounded like a good option... we failed to realise they meant 3 hours of continuous stair climbing!
goosmurf: Proof that I read the notice
goosmurf: These guys are tough as hell. We found it hard enough to climb the stairs without a 100kg load.
goosmurf: Don't flirt the monkeys by feeding.