An Unforgettable Trip to Huangshan

Huangshan is a scenic spot. The first time I knew it from TV. The scenery impressed me deeply. And later I read more about Huangshan. Huangshan has its unique scenic value to four major factors, i.e., queer pines, grotesque rocks, cloud seas, and a hot spring. A famous Ming Dynasty traveler Xv Xiake had said, “Having visited the five sacred mounts, I find no other mountains worth seeing; having returned from the Huangshan Mountain, however, I find the five mounts unworthy of my visit.’’ Indeed, Huangshan is true to its reputation. Huangshan is famous around the world and legendary in China, it has inspired Chinese art, culture and literature for thousands of years. It is said that every Chinese has an ambition to climb it. So last summer, I joined a traveling group with my friends to Huangshan. We took bus to Huangshan. On the bus, we met our guide, a young girl. She introduced herself with a warm smile, which made us become fond of her at the first sight. It took us one day to Huangshan. When we got off the bus we found the air was so fresh and the sky was so blue and clear. The sunshine was bright and warm. Everything was wonderful, we felt cheerful. It was quite difficult to express my feelings when I stood at the foot of Huangshan. I guessed it was just similar to what one might feel when he began a new adventure: He must be very nervous but excited at the same time. And that was exactly what I felt then. The scenery of Huangshan amazed me. Its 72 peaks unfold over 154 square kilometers of the Anhui Province. Grotesque rocks and contorted pines, its signature features are testament to the age of the mountains, transformed as they are by time and weather. The guide told us that the best way to enjoy the mountains was hiking. Our route is to ascend via the Easter Steps, and descend via the Western Steps. It was about a 10-hour hike, if completed in one day and only recommended for those in excellent health. The perfect for many was to spend the night in the hotel on the peak. So we would spend this night in the hotel that we had ordered. Later, the guide led us to enjoy the mountains. She introduced the scenery while walking. She told us that many rocks could become different things in different angle, day and night also would be different. From her introduction I knew some curious names such as Beginning to Believe Peak, Ox Nose Peak and even Rhinoceros Watching the Moon! We enjoyed them very much. After we arrived at the hotel, the guide told us that we would have an atmospheric evening meal. It was one of Huangshan’s undeniable highlights. After we had the atmospheric evening meal, we got to bed early to let our weary legs have a good rest. We spent a wonderful night in Huangshan. The next morning, we got up early to see the sunrise. The famous sunrise over the sea of clouds was utterly breathtaking and not to be missed. We stared at the sun rising from the sea. It’s really exciting! We continued our trip. We went to visit the Lotus Peak. With a height of 1,873 meters, Lotus Peak is the highest peak of the Huangshan. It is embraced by small rocky hills and steep slopes, shaped like a blooming lotus flower coming out of water, delicate and elegant, hence the name. A one and half kilometer long winding path links to Lotus Ridge and the apex of Lotus Peak. We needed to go across four caves on the way by before reaching the apex. When we reached the top of the peak, we saw a boat shaped rock. The guide told us that it has an interesting name: Boat for Picking Lotus Seeds. We stood at the top, looked around as if we were reaching the sky. We found azalea, pines on the peak. The pines in the shape of flying dragons and double dragons. At the top of the Lotus Peak is the Xiangsha Well; we could have a panoramic view of Huangshan there. We saw the beautiful scenery: Peaks rising from the swirling mists, thundering waterfalls, lone pines on rocky outcrops, a sea of clouds as far as the eye can see and so on. Had seen the beautiful scenery of Huangshan. I praised Creation that I was alive in a world of beauty. After visited the Lotus Peak, we were arranged to visit the Tiandu peak. On the way, I was continuously imaging what the shape would be like. Suddenly, I felt I was stepping on something. Oh, an exquisite wallet! Looking around, I found no people nearby. My teammates had walked ahead. I picked it up. Maybe the owner would come back, I thought. So I stayed there and waited quite a long time. But no one came back. I was anxious and afraid of falling behind. So I opened the wallet to see whether there was something like ID card or not. If so, I could find the owner easily. After opening the wallet, I found a photo of two persons. Maybe they are a couple, I thought. They were foreigners. There was no ID card but a pile of dollars. The host must be worried. I tried to find the couple on the way but in vain. So I decided to catch up my team first, then I planned to hand the wallet to the guide. Suddenly I found the couple was not far away. They were taking photos, talking and laughing. It seemed that hadn’t found their wallet was missing. I walked to them and gave the wallet back to them. They thanked me and asked how to connect with me. We left our E-mail addresses and telephone numbers to each other. I was very glad to make friends with them. When I was about to leaving, they said they were very glad to Huangshan for traveling. They experienced not only Chinese people’s honest, kind hearted and care for others but also the beautiful natural sightseeing. If they have chances, they would come to China again. They also invited me to America and they would treat me enthusiastically. Saying goodbye to them, we continuous our trip. We visited the North Sea, Yungu Temple and so on in the following days. Our guide knew well about Huangshan. Her introductions were interesting and vivid. It made us even more like Huangshan. There was a feeling of immovable timelessness in Huangshan. The time when we were leaving, the scenes of my trip appeared in my mind one by one: the visitors, the hotel, the legendary “sea of clouds”, and the small event, all of them imagined like a montage in my mind. These had increased the sadness sentiment in my heart. Some beautiful verses by Xv Zhimo “Wave Goodbye to Cambridge” occurred to me: Quietly, quietly I will depart, Quietly as I came round after my heart, I will wave farewell with my sleeve, Taking none of the pink clouds when I leave… Xv Zhimo’s sadness at parting was sentimentally attached to Cambridge. Compared with it, the sadness at parting of Huangshan. My life in the future may be heroic, or magnificent, or brave, but the days I stayed on Huangshan will be the most splendid and stable in my memory. I will go back to visit it again someday in the future. This trip had been fascinating and absolutely worthwhile. I had learned a lot from it. The irrefutably breathtaking scenery of Huangshan reminds me of people’s living environment. People often neglect environmental protection while developing economy: for instance, in order to make big profits, people often cut lots of trees. The denotation of forests destroys the ecological balance, which gives rise to disastrous consequences such as drought and floods; today, pollution of the air and water is an increasing danger to the health of the planet. Each day thousands of tons gases come out of the exhausts of motor vehicles. Smoke from factories pollutes the air of industrialized areas and the surrounding areas of the countryside. The pollution of water is equally harmful, poisonous chemicals; industrial wastes and oil are dumped into the rivers and seas. Fish and birds are threatened. These all let me feel sad. Maybe, one day Huangshan will only could see in the history book. From it, I knew environmental protection is more pressing than ever before. We –the youth of the 21st century should establish an environmental consciousness. We should make people aware of the importance of environmental protection. While we are developing our economy, we should attach great importance to our environment. Great efforts should be made to improve our environment such as planting more trees, controlling the exploration of underground water and so on. Only in this way, can we enjoy our lives in a clean and beautiful environment. Can we let our younger generation also could see the heavenly Huangshan and other beautiful scenery. Huangshan is worth seeing. It is really an unforgettable trip! I’m grateful to have been on this trip, not only because it gave me the opportunity to help others, but also because I made friends from this trip. I also saw things outside my hometown. I got much knowledge from it. Only by trip can one see things outside one’s hometown. Probably you have heard and read something about Beijing and have been seen many pictures of it, but you can only have a very vague idea of it unless you have personally visited it. Trip is very useful for us to know the world. We could get exercises, fresh air, pleasure and knowledge from it. It is one of the best ways to relieve our stress and refresh our mind. So we should have trips as many as we could.