Weekend Trip to Huangshan

With the opening of the Xuancheng-Huangshan High-Speed Railway, it is now easier to travel from Nanjing to Huangshan. The shortest train ride to Huangshan North takes only about 1 hour and 40 minutes. I set off with my mom on Friday afternoon. We encountered a problem as soon as we arrived at Huangshan North. We booked a ride on Didi, but the driver thought the price was too low and wanted to charge more. After several failed attempts, we took a bus instead. The bus was extremely hot and uncomfortable. I should have just taken the hotel shuttle. We queued up to enter the mountain early the next morning. My mom is old, so we took the classic Cuiping Cableway route. The shuttle bus arranged by the scenic area took a long time to reach Ciguang Pavilion, and there were many 180-degree turns along the way. I can understand why the scenic area provides shuttle buses. The first thing that shocked me when I arrived at Ciguang Pavilion was the official smoking area. I thought it was the last chance for smokers to have a cigarette before entering the mountain, but I was surprised to find that there were designated smoking areas at all the famous scenic spots. I couldn't believe it. The first scenic spot we visited after taking the cable car was the Guest-Greeting Pine. The tree must have died a long time ago, and the steel wire has been hanging there for many years. There were so many people, and many of them were smoking. It was so smoky that I quickly took a photo and left. The road to Bright Summit was so crowded that I was afraid of a stampede. Fortunately, the staff opened two one-way routes in time. The climb was easy until we reached the Hundred-Step Ladder, which was really steep. The food court near Bright Summit was packed. Most people brought self-heating rice or hot pot. I think it would be nice to have a self-heating hot pot in autumn or winter. After lunch, I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but I didn't have enough time. If you want to visit the Grand Canyon, you have to stay overnight on the mountain. So I gave up and continued to Bright Summit. There wasn't much to see there. After leaving Bright Summit, I went to the nearby Flying Stone. Although it was closed due to a lightning strike, the view from a distance was absolutely stunning. The view from Bai'e Villa on the way down the mountain was also beautiful. You can consider staying there if you want to stay on the mountain. As expected, there was a long queue at the Yungu Cableway. It took about 3 hours to get back to Tangkou by shuttle bus. It was really exhausting. Overall, the most beautiful part of Huangshan is the sea of clouds and pine trees.