Because of how the Christmas and New Year’s holidays fell on Saturdays this year, I had to take two consecutive Mondays off. I decided to take the week in between off as well for a longer holiday. The first part of the week had Jun and I visit Beijing for Christmas. The second part of the week had us visit Huangshan in Anhui province for the New Year.
Jun particularly wanted to visit Huangshan (Yellow Mountain); our last trip there was underwhelming. During that trip, the weather was so overcast that we essentially walked within a cloud as we hiked around the mountain. Huangshan was one of Jun’s top destinations in China and vowed that he would return one day.
Well, he saw this holiday break as that opportunity. He quickly planned the trip and soon we found ourselves on our way to Huangshan city.
We arrived on the last flight of the day. From the airport, we took a taxi to the Crowne Plaza where we quickly checked in and went to our room for the night.
Day 1
The next morning we checked out of the hotel so we could go to the Huangshan Scenic Area. We decided to stay at one of the hotels on the top of the mountain to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The drive there went quickly.
We bought our tickets to the park and the cable car. Then we were off up towards the top. The weather that day was amazing with clear, blue skies. We were excited to actually get to see the mountain this time. Additionally, with New Year’s Eve not an actual holiday, hardly anyone visited the park that day.
The hotel we chose to stay at—the Huangshan Paiyun—was some distance away and we had to hike there. Walking along the mountain paths afforded us some gorgeous views of the area. We stopped now and then just to take in the vistas that were before us. We were thrilled!
Finally, we arrived at the hotel and checked in. They were nice and gave us a bag of fresh fruit. We got to our room and unloaded our things.
Afterward, Jun and I continued our hike up around Danxia Peak, which we had to ourselves and park staff. From there we went around the Beihai area and enjoyed the views from there. This part of the park had more people.
Around that time the sun was beginning to set. Our hotel had a special outing for the last sunset of 2021. We decided to join it and went back to the hotel. From the hotel, it was a quick walk to the Paiyun Pavilion where we saw the sunset.
As soon as the sun went down and it started to turn dark, though, Jun and I went back to the hotel to get dinner. We were hungry!
After dinner we went back to our room to relax, but then Jun received a message from the hotel that he won a competition the hotel staff had during the sunset excursion. A bit later we went down to collect his prize. Jun received a cute tiger plush toy and some tea from the surrounding area. They took a picture of us. We then went back to the room to rest until midnight.
When midnight came, we celebrated and welcomed in 2022!
Day 2
The next day after breakfast we checked out and left our packs at the hotel. The morning was a bit overcast. As we went up towards the Feilai Stone and the Tianhai area, the weather started to improve. The clouds began to clear up as the morning receded into the afternoon. As we got closer to Tianhai we noticed a significant increase in the number of people. By the time we got there, we were surrounded by tour groups who had come from the Yuping area.
Jun and I thought about visiting that area, but we decided it was too crowded and required us to hike down and back up the mountain. We elected to head back to the hotel and get our stuff and take our leave.
The hike back was quite nice. As we were going to the Yungusuo cable car station, the sky had cleared. We had some nice views of the mountain and surrounding area. We agreed it was the perfect way to end our trip there.
On the trip down we had a cable car to ourselves and enjoyed the scenery. When we got down, we took the bus back to the entrance where we took a taxi back to Huangshan.
Jun and I decided to stay two more nights at the Crowne Plaza for the rest of the trip. When we got back to the city we checked in and rested a bit before we went out to dinner at Dexin. The food at this local restaurant was great and the staff was kind to us. After having an issue with the first table they sat us at, they helped us get settled at a new table and we soon ordered a delicious meal. We ate so much that we decided to take a walk along Old Street.
We did some window shopping and Jun bought some local snacks to take back for his cousin and coworkers. We then took a taxi back to the hotel and called it a night by watching the second season of The Witcher. Soon after we went to bed.
Day 3
On the last full day of our trip, we decided to visit Huizhou Ancient City. Taking a taxi to the city took about an hour. When we got there, we bought the tickets to visit some of the historic sites inside the city.
Huizhou is now a district within Huangshan city, but it has a history that goes back over a thousand years. The Huizhou culture has had significant influence within China, such as with influencing Beijing Opera. The architectural style of the region is well known. And Hui cuisine is one of the eight main Chinese cuisines.
Our visit to Huizhou started with us walking towards the Huizhou State Office. The seat of government of the city during most of its history, the complex is now a historic site museum. The city has persevered and restored the structure immaculately; it was intriguing to walk around the place. In one of the rooms, they had wood carvings of the surrounding area that was neat to view. In the back of the complex were the gardens which were nice to walk around. From there you could walk along the city wall.
From the city wall, Jun and I walked around the city and visited some alleys and other sites. We walked around Huiyuan and saw the Xugo Archway. While there we stopped at the Renhe building and ate the light meal the hotel prepared for us. We then visited the narrow streets of Xinnan and Doushan, which allowed us to view different ancient houses in the Huizhou style. We also visited Cao’s Two Residences which was supposed to be closed for renovations but was open when we found it. Finally, we found our way out of the city’s west gate so we could go back to central Huangshan city.
When we got back to Huangshan, we decided to visit Liyang in Alley, a restored historic area with a number of shops and restaurants. We walked around for a bit and bought some drinks as we enjoyed the late afternoon sun. Many of the historic buildings have been converted beyond their original intent. There was an old house that was now a bookstore, as well as a church that was now a restaurant.
Soon, though, Jun and I got hungry and decided to walk to the restaurant Jun wanted to try for dinner. We walked across Zhenhai Bridge back to Old Street and walked to the restaurant: Huangshan Loama. We arrived just as they opened, which was a good thing since they got busy quickly. The food there was delicious, although we ate a bit too much.
When we were finished, Jun and I decided to walk along the river back to the hotel. The walk was nice, and it was a great way to end the day.
Day 4
The day started early as we had to catch our 7:20 flight back to Shenzhen. Huangshan has a small airport, so everything went smoothly. The airport, however, was freezing that early in the morning. There was one heater going on that I kept visiting to warm up before our flight. I was happy to get on the plane and the heat within it.
And then we were back in Shenzhen and ready to go back to work for the first week of 2022. Jun and I enjoyed our trip to Huangshan. It was wonderful to actually see Huangshan Scenic Area and visit new places within the region. It was a great way to end 2021 and welcome in 2022.
Second Star to the Right 