October 2017 – Chasing The Wind

We love outdoors, we love to hike. Recently I hiked Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, in Anhui Province in Southern China. Let me tell you, there is nothing like it, nothing!

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This is one of Huangshan’s iconic scene, called 猴子观海, meaning “monkey gazing over the sea”. Typically the monkey 🐒 king 🤴 gazes over the sea of clouds. When I visited in the early morning after sunrise, I found him having a deep thought facing the sea of mountains. #mademyday #bns_mountains #bns_asia

A post shared by Aihua (@chasingthewind2016) on Oct 4, 2017 at 12:32pm PDT

In China there is a well-known saying: 五岳归来不看山，黄山归来不看岳. Chinese people like ranking things, here five famous mountains are collectively called the “Five Mountains” with Mt.Tai in the East, Mt. Heng (衡) in the South, Mt. Hua in the West, Mt. Heng (恒) in the North and Mt. Song (famous for Shaolin Kongfu) in the Center. The saying boasts that after touring these Five you can forget about the rest of the mountains in China; however if you come back from Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, you can skip the big Five all together!!!

Really?!! I was skeptical. I had hiked to the top of Mt. Tai, the head of the Five Mountains, years ago when I was in college. There was no cable then, I climbed the total 7,200 steps with my dad and my brother. Talking about steep and strenuous!! There were temples dotted along the way which left the footprints and calligraphy of emperors and poets from various dynasties of past two thousand years. Talking about history! And we saw sunrise at the top of the mountain next morning. Talking about glorious reward!!

Well, I spent three days in Huangshan with my college classmates at the recent college reunion. I have to admit I am a new convert. Huangshan blew me in every way! Check out my photos, if you are still not convinced, make your own visit! 🙂

We average hiked about nine miles or 15 km, 152-floor high, in a day. To release the muscle spasm, I feed on ibiprofen three times a day! Many thanks to my sister Wendy who brought pain med for everybody.

This is 西海大峡谷 the Grand Canyon of the West Sea. Down down down, it took us a whole morning to go down. Thankfully there was a cable ride to bring us up!!

Huangshan is famous with 奇松，怪石，云海，温泉. The #1 attraction is the unique pine trees.

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Easy 10-minute cable ride or strenuous 3-hour climb, this view of "Welcoming Pine" is there to greet you! Can you believe this tree is more than 800 years old? Pine trees in Huangshan grow up from rocks, depending mostly on the moisture in the air to provide water and nutrients. So looking for encouragement to keep going when times are tough, search no further💪 #welcoming #pinetree #huangshan #yellowmountain

A post shared by Aihua (@chasingthewind2016) on Oct 2, 2017 at 6:37am PDT

The #2 is the rock formations in all shapes and sizes.

The #3 is the sea of clouds. We were extremely fortunate with the weather. The first two days were sunny, then cloudy, it rained on our last morning.

If you have extra time, the #4 attraction is the hot springs.

The below chart (L) is our hiking path, it proved to be a very wise design. Thanks to my brother Chaoyang we did not waste energy on overlapping hike; and the chart on the right lists the hiking time between each sight.

If you want to reserve energy, take the cable up which drops you right in the middle of action, there is still lot of hiking once you get off.

Pack LIGHT. A pound might feel like a ton after carrying it for eight hours uphill!! I was extremely grateful for my sister Lin who challenged me to a simpler mountain life without makeup and other accessories that I thought were “unpartable”. You can leave your luggage at the train station or the hotel at the bottom of the mountain, start hiking early in the morning. If I can live three days and two nights on a light backpack, you can too! And a hiking stick is a must!

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We stayed at Xihai Hotel西海饭店 on top of the mountain roof, an excellent choice both for the service and the location, highly recommended!

Go and conquer the most beautiful mountain in China!! Enjoy!!!

Unless you live in rocks, chances are you’ve heard about the Solar Eclipse that swept across America on Monday, August 21st, the day the Sun disappeared for more than two minutes, from Portland, OR all the way to Charleston, SC. Probably you were one in the crowds with the solar glasses on and stared at the sky waiting for the magic moment of totality. Yes, we were too!

It is being called the “Great America Eclipse” for a reason, it hadn’t happened in 99 years! Last time the total eclipse occurred on June 8th, 1918 crossing the States from Washington to Florida. Since this was my first time to witness a solar eclipse, I was determined to scratch this off my bucket list.

Thanks for the modern technology, an app, Eclipse2017, calculated for me the starting times of Partial Eclipse and Total Eclipse to the accuracy of seconds. After careful study, we chose Fort Loudoun State Historic Park in Vonore, TN as our viewing site. The park was surrounded with lakes and it gave about two and half minute of totality, and it was within 200-mile radius, three-hour drive from us.

I was impressed by how organized and orderly the Park was in despite of the fact it was packed with people and cars. People from all over the country came to see the eclipse, we met people from Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, even Connecticut.

The partial eclipse started 1:04, you would notice no difference if not looking at the telescope or staring at the Sun. Everyone in the park put on their solar glasses and looked up to the Sun. What a wonder! The Sun looked like a Pac-Man been eaten up a tiny chunk.

Then the rest of the hour and half went by eventless, people chatting and having picnic on the lawn, the sky slowly but surely getting grayer, it was kind of weird quer. Even with 99% of the Sun blocked by the Moon, we still can’t look at the Sun with our naked eyes. Then it happened, the Sun was completely blocked by the Moon, all visible was the halo of the corona of the Sun!

This was the MOMENTS we’ve been waiting for, I took off my solar glasses, gaped at the Sun, the time seemed stopped! Loud cheer of the crowd, I joined them, screaming from the top of my lung! Excitement, yes! Fear, definitely! In awe, you bet!

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the Moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human being that you care for them?”

We got two and half minutes totality. Before the Sun was swiped away, we heard loud chirping of crickets, we saw flock of birds frantically flutter by, i could hear my heart pondering as if to jump out of my chest! Theoretically i knew there was nothing to worry about, the sun would shine back in a minute, but I felt the unspeakable panic, i could actually imagine the end of the world might look like this, with no turning back… I was on autopilot aiming my camera to the Sun and shoot; if it was not for the pre-set setting on my camera I would have missed the whole photographying, I was too dumbfound to think of anything!!

What an unforgettable experience! Everyone should watch a solar eclipse totality at least once in one’s lifetime. I realized how helplessly trivial and significant I was in His omnipotent presence! Yet He loves me just the same! The amazing grace!