Sacred Mountain Huashan

According to the Taoist tradition, there are 5 sacred mountains in China, which we suspect were chosen for their extreme beauty. Pilgrims and curious people come in flocks to climb them.
G had already climbed TaiShan (key mountain to the other religions as well) on a weekend trip from Beijing. Every important person in Chinese history seems to have taken the 6000+ steps up, from Confucious to the first emperor. It is said that by climbing this one all your bad actions will be restored, an important reward after the equally serious workout.

In a unusually clear day of October we have climbed a second holy mountain, HuaShan. This mountain consists of 4 holy peaks, named after the cardinal points. Most people take a cable car from the bottom to the first peak, but we got up early and did all the way up using our legs. G managed to visit all the four peaks but Anna had to stop at a certain point: The height was breathtaking, see pictures below.

Rest was needed from time to time during the climb. It was not difficult to stay on the right track, the red stripes and padlocks (not to mention the people) showed it clearly.

Stairs were in big numbers. All these steps did not go unnoticed by our legs, which kept reminding us of the beautiful hike for a couple of days with pain appearing whenever going up or down (mainly down) some stairs.  

 

Here we had just made it up to the north peak.

Steep wall beside the track

The climb from the north peak to the east peak was only possible on a ridge with a 90 degree wall on each side reaching very deep down in the valley. These supporting words came along...

Time for Anna to go back, climbing the ridge was just too much.

Xi'an

What we did most of the time in Xi'an was strolling around in the Muslim quartier. The food here was amazing: Not only one could see different dishes on display, but walking on these narrow lanes also gives a full demonstration of the cooking! Now we know how to make rice noodle as well as wheat noodles.

Crayfish are also popular, like in Sweden in the summer! But I did not dare to try them this time.

All kinds of BBQ-sticks

In these quarters women were wearing a particular kind of headgear. The pots were very big and a lot of steam came out, giving it a bit of surreal feeling.

At the end we decided to try the local noodles. They are served cold, in spices we did not quite recognize from before. This was probably the first time we were not too happy with the Chinese food, while in general food has been one of the best discoveries along this journey, something which deserves a post on its own.

 

We also tried the local dumplings filled with vegetables; they were steamed in a bamboo basket. Very yummy in my tummy. 

We decided to hit the street for some dessert and we found this stall. It was hard to guess what it was, so we just tried it. The saleswoman opened the round little wooden pot, took out a cluster of jelly rice, and dipped in the different toppings: Sesamsseads, fruit jelly etc. The taste? Judge from the face!.

We also visited the great mosque, one of the oldest in China. It was built in traditional Chinese styles of courtyards. Here is the main prayer hall.

 

And this is the minaret. Quite different from what we are used to, isn't it?

Pingyao

We just woke up in a beautiful Chinese courtyard in Pingyao, China's best preserved ancient walled town. It is amazingly cute and charming, full of red lanterns hanging in the alleyways, and temples for different worships.

Yesterday morning we ran in to this salesman:

We just had to try his product, which tasted like a mixture of popcorn and peanuts, but the shape was the best part :).

After two months of traveling it was certainly time for a haircut, well. Lacking in language, we resorted to choose a hairdresser with a cool haircut himself and just pointed at his head :)

We walked the city wall, which turned out to be the only place not filled with the crowds of Chinese tourists. The fact is that this is the week of the national holiday, making every touristy destination (and the way to get there) full of people. In fact, the whole concept of "crowded" gets to a different level here in China as to what we were used to in Europe... We are looking forward to next week!

Nice pet :)

Dinner time is approaching: Checking the various "baozi" (steamed stuffed bun, sort of steamed dumplings) stalls out on the street.

Very tired after a whole day walking

The bell tower of Pingyao by night.

Datong

We have now left Beijing and our first stop was Datong. Today we visited the amazing Yungang caves, featuring the oldest Buddhist carvings in China, with statues measuring up to 17 meters. Here are some photos for you to enjoy! :)