On the second day of the Chinese New Year, i, for the first time in my life, made a trip during CNY's time, to the long-dreamed big-name: Huangshan Mt., in southern An Hui province, about 500 km north of Shanghai. Huangshan has long been known for its cloud sea, pine trees, snow scene, and stones in amazingly strange shapes. Winter is a perfect time to see the snow and the cloud, but "Man proposes; God disposes" -- an unusally warm winter stopped the snow from coming even in the coldest month of the year. Luckily, we managed to catch a remote glimpse of the "legendary" cloud sea, imaging how splendid it would have been if we had been much closer. Yet it is also the beauty and part of the joy of travelling -- there is always something left to be seen and savored.
Two-day mountain climbing and hiking exhausted us next to death; too much splendor and grandure almost choked us. Sweating and gasping for breath from time to time on the way down the Mt., we were all looking forward to embracing the serenity and simplicity of Hong Village, a small place 60 km southeast to the Mt., renowned for its distinctive ancient buildings though. We stayed overnight there, walking along cobbled streets in the sunset, breathing in the smell of dinner from the open windows of old houses, feeling happy being alive and becoming a part of the life there.
