Huang Shan, China

Huang Shan: The Yellow Mountains of the Floating Peaks


forested peaks
Sharp ridges of Huang Shan, from which sprout endemic pine trees.
forest zenith
Huang Shan Pine perched on top of a granite cliff.
Delicate return
Family returns to a main trail after taking a look at the view from one of Huang Shan's makeshift platforms.
VIP ascension
Chinese visitor spares effort, transported by porters from Huang Shan.
morning fog
Dawn brings the first light of day to the wooded mountains of Huang Shan.
fairy tale passage
Walking Fairy Land Bridge: a stone bridge that joins two vertical granite walls.
on the way to the dark
Visitor approaches a tunnel leading to Walking Fairy Land Bridge.
warm twilight
Sunset tinges the sky over Huang Shan red.
Step-by-step vertigo
Casal descends a steep staircase towards the depths of Huang Shan.
stone vertigo
Young visitor examines a staircase that skirts a cliff.
surreal view
Man prepares to photograph the surreal scenery of Huang Shan from one of the mountain's viewpoints.
Huang Shan Pines
Detached endemic vegetation of the Huang Shan Mountain Forest.
Descending Contemplation
Chinese mother and son admire the stunning scenery.
Sunset on the Yellow Mountain
Sunset reinforces the horizon lines of the great mountain range of Huang Shan, the yellow mountain.
misty view
Visitors share a steep slab of one of the cliffs near the Behai area.
The granitic peaks of the floating yellow mountains of Huang Shan, from which acrobat pines sprout, appear in artistic illustrations from China without count. The real scenery, in addition to being remote, remains hidden above the clouds for over 200 days.

At 4 in the morning, we woke up with a start. A group of Chinese buddies had just woken up a few minutes ago. He dealt with his life as if no one else inhabited the ward. They turn on the TV at full volume, talk loudly and laugh with comedy shows.

At the same time, they help themselves to doses of instant noodles covered in powdered sauces that, in contact with boiling water, fouled the already musty atmosphere.

We got up, unwilling to match. We improvised a much healthier breakfast. We then left the Payunlou hotel for the clean, fresh air of Huang Shan.

Night Trip to the Discovery of Huang Shan, the Yellow Mountain

It's still night. The light from the headlamps placed over the forehead allows us to find our way through the pitch and to overcome the steps that lead to the terrace of monkey watching the sea.

We arrived at 4:30 am. The narrow balcony is already filling up.

Aware of the daily dispute for every half meter of those platforms rescued from the rocks, tour agencies in the region unload their clients there more than an hour in advance.

And there they leave them equipped with portable benches, blankets, pillows and attested terms for hot drinks.

Mist, Huang Shan, China, Anhui, Yellow Mountain Floating Peaks

Visitors share a steep slab of one of the cliffs near the Behai area, Huang Shan.

We sacrifice comfort and, in a controlled way, also some security. We got a bold place on the precipice that no one had yet dared to claim.

It's perched there that, half an hour later, we see the sun come up over the horizon and illuminate a vast expanse of sharp cliffs that erupt from mist and a verdant base of climbing vegetation.

morning fog

Dawn brings the first light of day to the wooded floating mountains of Huang Shan.

As a rule, to appreciate a mountain you have to look up, sometimes at exhausting angles for any neck. Huang Shan's beauty almost always reveals itself downward.

Down, and through ups and downs that, since at least 1500 years ago, the inhabitants of the area and workers of the resort have equipped with more than 60 thousand steps.

The day has barely begun. The thighs and the calves are already boiling.

surreal view

Man prepares to photograph the surreal scenery of Huang Shan from one of the mountain's viewpoints.

Huang Shan. Yellow Mountains Above, Floating Mountains Below

We slaughtered them on those same stairs that led us, shortly afterwards, to the narrow corridor of the Refreshing Terrace, the threshold nook from where the Beginning to Believe Peak, named after an XNUMXth-century pilgrim who was skeptical of the beauty of Huang Shan.

forested peaks

Sharp ridges of the Huang Shan Floating Mountains, from which sprout endemic pine trees.

By nightfall, we would conquer with masochistic pleasure countless other peaks. And depressions refined by a breathtaking prehistoric natural sculpture.

We return to the Beihai area.

We came across some bell magnate sitting as a lord in a bamboo stretcher chair, carried on his back by slaughtered porters in blue uniforms.

We see them stop for the passenger to buy a cob of cooked corn from a vendor located there. Soon, we took a deep breath and faced the endless staircase that would take us to new heights.

Many of the peaks and rocks of Huang Shan were named by the Chinese with pompous names inspired by religious or mythological figures and narrations.

Pine Ridge, Huang Shan, China, Anhui, Yellow Mountain Floating Peaks

Huang Shan Pine perched atop a granite cliff in the Floating Mountains

In Search of the Flying Over Rock of the Floating Yellow Mountains

At that moment, we were ascending to the longitudinal Flying over Rock, so called because it rests, in balance, on a small raised platform, where it seems to have landed from the sky.

This is more or less what the workers of Huang Shan thought when they saw the deceased appear on their mountain in 1980. Deng Xiaoping, then 75 years old.

His appearance was so miraculous that, following the visit of the supreme leader, the Chinese authorities opened the mountain to foreign visitors for the first time since Chinese Cultural Revolution.

We relieve the growing pressure on the muscles and tendons as we finally make our way over smooth terrain to the vicinity of the foothills of the highest peaks of the mountain range, the Bright Summit Peak (1840m) and the lotus peak (1864m).

Several tracks intersect there, along with the strange weather and TV stations.

Surrounding staircase, Huang Shan, China, Anhui, Yellow Mountain Floating Peaks

Young visitor examines a staircase that skirts a cliff in the Huang Shan Floating Mountains

And Huang Shan's Walking Fairy Bridge Remote Retreat

A semi-planned area was home to a mini-restaurant complex where hundreds of ecstatic and hungry souls gather. We refresh ourselves by admiring the distant pilgrimage to the highest summit of Huang Shan.

Half an hour later, we resumed walking, along a long, uninhabited path that we thought would lead us to the depths of the Walking Fairy Land Bridge.

on the way to the dark

Visitor approaches a tunnel leading to Walking Fairy Land Bridge.

We continued for 40 minutes on end, without seeing a soul, disturbed by the prospect of the mistake and of having to go up, in vain, everything that we were going down.

Until, after crossing a mysterious tunnel, there we glimpse the monument, joining two huge walls of polished stone in the middle.

In that mystical nook, like everywhere else, countless Huang Shan pines stand.

fairy tale passage

Walking Fairy Land Bridge: a stone bridge that joins two vertical granite walls.

They boast assorted shapes and sizes that the Chinese consider unique examples of vigor because they sprout from the rocks and are, many of them over a hundred years old.

At that time, our legs felt as stiff as the predominant granite in the landscape, uncovered about 100 million years ago when an ancient sea succumbed to extreme tectonic movements.

Huang Shan Pines, Huang Shan, China, Anhui, Yellow Mountain Floating Peaks

Detached endemic vegetation of the Huang Shan Floating Mountain Forest

The Illusory Area of ​​the Yellow Mountain and the Fiction Inspired by "Avatar"

We are faced with the “Illusion Scenic Area” and with the dramatic reality that the suspended walkway that was supposed to allow us to bypass the return to Beihai had been closed at the risk of collapse.

It is, therefore, almost insensitive from the waist down to any effort that we reverse march towards that extraterrestrial domain that director James Cameron will have transposed to the screen in “Avatar".

Sunset, Huang Shan, China, Anhui, Yellow Mountain Floating Peaks

Sunset reinforces the horizon lines of the great mountain range of Huang Shan, the yellow mountain.

He, too, dazzled by the sublime panoramas of Huang Shan, Cameron repeated in press conferences that that had been the inspiration for much of the film's alien settings. In particular from the mountain "Hallelujah".

Cameron confessed, moreover, to an unceremonious subservience to the original geological version. “All we had to do was send a team over there for a few days and take pictures. Then it was just recreating Huang Shan in Pandora.”

According to the movie's plot, humans extract from this imaginary habitable moon, a precious mineral called unobtanium and the expansion of mining threatens the existence of the blue humanoid Na'vi people.

warm twilight

Sunset tinges the sky over Huang Shan red.

Huang Shan, on the other hand, is considered and portrayed for many centuries as the most enchanting mountain in the nation. It continues to enjoy the protection of the Chinese authorities.

Luckily for the lucky earthlings who disgrace their legs to explore it.

Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Dali, China

The Surrealist China of Dali

Embedded in a magical lakeside setting, the ancient capital of the Bai people has remained, until some time ago, a refuge for the backpacker community of travelers. The social and economic changes of China they fomented the invasion of Chinese to discover the southwest corner of the nation.
Annapurna Circuit: 1th - Pokhara a ChameNepal

Finally, on the way

After several days of preparation in Pokhara, we left towards the Himalayas. The walking route only starts in Chame, at 2670 meters of altitude, with the snowy peaks of the Annapurna mountain range already in sight. Until then, we complete a painful but necessary road preamble to its subtropical base.
Bingling Yes, China

The Canyon of a Thousand Buddhas

For more than a millennium and at least seven dynasties, Chinese devotees have extolled their religious belief with the legacy of sculpture in a remote strait of the Yellow River. If you disembark in the Canyon of Thousand Buddhas, you may not find all the sculptures, but you will find a stunning Buddhist shrine.
Dunhuang, China

An Oasis in the China of the Sands

Thousands of kilometers west of Beijing, the Great Wall has its western end and the China and other. An unexpected splash of vegetable green breaks up the arid expanse all around. Announces Dunhuang, formerly crucial outpost on the Silk Road, today an intriguing city at the base of Asia's largest sand dunes.
Lijiang, China

A Gray City but Little

Seen from afar, its vast houses are dreary, but Lijiang's centuries-old sidewalks and canals are more folkloric than ever. This city once shone as the grandiose capital of the Naxi people. Today, floods of Chinese visitors who fight for the quasi-theme park it have become take it by storm.
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Lijiang e Yangshuo, China

An Impressive China

One of the most respected Asian filmmakers, Zhang Yimou dedicated himself to large outdoor productions and co-authored the media ceremonies of the Beijing OG. But Yimou is also responsible for “Impressions”, a series of no less controversial stagings with stages in emblematic places.

Nantou, Taiwan

In the Heart of the Other China

Nantou is Taiwan's only province isolated from the Pacific Ocean. Those who discover the mountainous heart of this region today tend to agree with the Portuguese navigators who named Taiwan Formosa.

Beijing, China

The Heart of the Great Dragon

It is the incoherent historic center of Maoist-Communist ideology and almost all Chinese aspire to visit it, but Tianamen Square will always be remembered as a macabre epitaph of the nation's aspirations.
Badaling, China

The Sino Invasion of the Great Wall of China

With the arrival of the hot days, hordes of Han visitors take over the Great Wall of China, the largest man-made structure. They go back to the era of imperial dynasties and celebrate the nation's newfound prominence.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
Safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
Luderitz, Namibia
Architecture & Design
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
lagoons and fumaroles, volcanoes, PN tongariro, new zealand
Adventure
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
Balinese Hinduism, Lombok, Indonesia, Batu Bolong temple, Agung volcano in background
Ceremonies and Festivities
Lombok, Indonesia

Lombok: Balinese Hinduism on an Island of Islam

The foundation of Indonesia was based on the belief in one God. This ambiguous principle has always generated controversy between nationalists and Islamists, but in Lombok, the Balinese take freedom of worship to heart
St. Paul's Cathedral, Vigan, Asia Hispanica, Philippines
Cities
Vigan, Philippines

Vigan: the Most Hispanic of Asias

The Spanish settlers left but their mansions are intact and the Kalesas circulate. When Oliver Stone was looking for Mexican sets for "Born on the 4th of July" he found them in this ciudad fernandina
Meal
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Culture
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Aswan, Egypt, Nile River meets Black Africa, Elephantine Island
Traveling
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
Tulum, Mayan Ruins of the Riviera Maya, Mexico
Ethnic
Overall, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Sigiriya capital fortress: homecoming
History
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

The Capital Fortress of a Parricide King

Kashyapa I came to power after walling up his father's monarch. Afraid of a probable attack by his brother heir to the throne, he moved the main city of the kingdom to the top of a granite peak. Today, his eccentric haven is more accessible than ever and has allowed us to explore the Machiavellian plot of this Sri Lankan drama.
View from Pico Verde to Praia Grande, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Islands
São Vicente, Cape Verde

The Volcanic Arid Wonder of Soncente

A return to São Vicente reveals an aridity as dazzling as it is inhospitable. Those who visit it are surprised by the grandeur and geological eccentricity of the fourth smallest island in Cape Verde.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Winter White
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Crocodiles, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild
Nature
Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Australia

Tropical Queensland: An Australia Too Wild

Cyclones and floods are just the meteorological expression of Queensland's tropical harshness. When it's not the weather, it's the deadly fauna of the region that keeps its inhabitants on their toes.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Herd in Manang, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Natural Parks
Annapurna Circuit: 8th Manang, Nepal

Manang: the Last Acclimatization in Civilization

Six days after leaving Besisahar we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). Located at the foot of the Annapurna III and Gangapurna Mountains, Manang is the civilization that pampers and prepares hikers for the ever-dreaded crossing of Thorong La Gorge (5416 m).
Ulugh Beg, Astronomer, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, A Space Marriage
UNESCO World Heritage
Samarkand, Uzbekistan

The Astronomer Sultan

The grandson of one of the great conquerors of Central Asia, Ulugh Beg, preferred the sciences. In 1428, he built a space observatory in Samarkand. His studies of the stars led him to name a crater on the Moon.
aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
Characters
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Beaches
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Ice cream, Moriones Festival, Marinduque, Philippines
Religion
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Erika Mother
Society
Philippines

The Philippine Road Lords

With the end of World War II, the Filipinos transformed thousands of abandoned American jeeps and created the national transportation system. Today, the exuberant jeepneys are for the curves.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Newborn turtle, PN Tortuguero, Costa Rica
Wildlife
PN Tortuguero, Costa Rica

A Night at the Nursery of Tortuguero

The name of the Tortuguero region has an obvious and ancient reason. Turtles from the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea have long flocked to the black sand beaches of its narrow coastline to spawn. On one of the nights we spent in Tortuguero we watched their frenzied births.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.