It's so named because a Tang Dynasty emperor renamed it to honor the Emperor Huangdi, who according to legend, rode off from their peaks to heaven on the back of a dragon.
It was a long, tough journey up, aided by walking sticks. We took only one cable car mid-way up, and walked the rest of the way up, dropping by at our hostel, and then continuing our journey to conquer the other peaks. There were so so many stairs, and we took about 3 hours to reach our hostel, then walked the rest of the day as well. It was the most exercise I did in my whole China trip.
Huangshan is known for the four wonders: strange pines, bizarre rocks, sea of clouds and hot springs.
There were certainly many strange pines. They don't always grow upright, some grow outward horizontally, many grow branches on one side only. They have many layers and sometimes look so neat. And then there's the 迎客松 - the branches stretch out like arms to welcome guests.
The peaks are strangely formed and these rock shapes are sometimes made out to be humans, birds, animals or other objects, hence the strange names for the peaks as well. There was one cluster named as soldiers paying respects to the emperor I think.
I also saw cloud seas right in front of me. Now you see it - now you don't.
And then the next day, we were up before 6am to catch the sunrise! It was my FIRST time catching the sunrise, it really is like a red egg yolk. Everyone was so excited when the first lightly red-tinged bit appeared. And then the rest followed very quickly. The sun was split between the clouds, but when it finally emerged, it was a complete red ball. And then just as quickly, everything turned less red and more yellow. It was really quite a magical time, everyone was just enthralled by this act of nature for those few minutes.
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