Snippets of my #Asia2015 Trip - Huang Shan Edition - Part 1
✈️Huang Shan Part 1
Greetings everyone, I know it's been a while since I've came back from my Asia trip and since I've posted my Shanghai Edition post. So a big, big thank you to you all for being patient with me and for joining me at my second stop. I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my first stop in Shanghai, as much as I enjoyed writing and sharing my experiences with you guys. If you haven't had a chance to read my Shanghai post yet, here is the link to it.
Since there were quite a few tourist attractions I visited in Huang Shan and I'd love to be able to share most of my experiences with you guys - I've decided to split the Huang Shan Edition into 2 parts. Hopefully, some of you will find these travel posts interesting and will look forward to part 2 of my Huang Shan post!
After one day of layover in Hong Kong, I travelled to this place called Huang Shan (aka Yellow Mountain) in eastern China. As I decided to join my parents on this trip last minute I didn't get a chance to do any research on this place, so I didn't exactly know what I was getting into except for the hiking that I was told I'd be doing. Regardless, I knew I could always count on my parents on choosing the right senic place to visit.
#TouristAttractions of Huang Shan
Attraction no. 1 Mysterious Grottoes of Flower Mountain
This was the very first tourist attraction we visited. Behind the stunning view of that castle look-a-like building and across the Xin'an River lies the Mysterious Grottoes of Flower Mountain.
There were about 36 grottoes in this area and only 2 of the 36 were opened to the public. These grottoes were camouflaged within the surrounding forest making them hidden for over 2000 years and have only been discovered about 16 years ago. Similar to Egypt's Pyramids, no one was sure who made them, how they were made and the actual purpose of them. However, it had been confirmed by a geologist that they were built during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420)1.
Even though it was hot in Huang Shan, it was pretty cool inside the grottoes (at about 15℃ all year round) to the point where some of the tourists had to put on a light jacket walking through them. It was definitely a thrill for me to be able to see these grottoes in person and to walk through a place with so much mysterious history.
Attraction no. 2 Tangyue Memorial Archway
The Tangyue Village has the biggest existing and best preserved complex of arches in Anhui Province.2 Throughout the years of different dynasties in China, building a memorial archway was one of the ways that a King would honour the merits and virtues of an individual. The most ancient one was built during the 1420's.3 There were touching stories behind each of the memorial archway and it was quite interesting to read about them as I stood underneath each one of them in the village.
Attraction no. 3 Bao Family's Garden
Next to the Tangyue Village was Bao family's gigantic private garden (now a tourist attraction) that was maintained and expanded by generations of the Bao family, which now covers about 240,120 square meters of land.4 Although the original garden was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion5, it was still astonishing to walk around the gigantic botanical garden filled with bonsai trees.
Attraction no. 4 Xidi Ancient Village
Being the most representative local style residences in southern Anhui Province, this village was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2000.5 This village was originally built during 1049 - 1053 by successful merchants. The overall layout, landscape, architectural form, decoration, and construction techniques were all retained from the original features of Anhui villages between the 14th and 20th centuries.6
Again, it was amazing just to be able to walk through the village, visit a few ancient living areas, classrooms, etc, learn about how people used to live back then and just simply embracing the history of this part of China.
Attraction no. 5 Downtown of Huang Shan & Tunxi Ancient Street
The photos below that were taken during the night time was the core downtown area of Huang Shan where many shops, restaurants and small coffee/tea shops were located. The architecture in that area appears to be more modernized in comparison to other parts of Huang Shan and to Tunxi Ancient Street.
The structures in Tunxi Ancient Street dates back to Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) eras. Almost all the stores along the street there were how they would have appeared back then.7 As informed by our tour guide, this street is mainly made for tourists - meaning locals knew to not shop around that area as the prices at those stores were typically higher. But regardless of that, my parents and I still managed to bargain and purchased a few souvenirs from there.
And this brings us to the end of part 1 of my Huang Shan trip. In my next travel post, I will be talking about one more tourist attraction and probably the most well known attraction in Huang Shan - an attraction where people will literally just go to Huang Shan for. In addition, I will be sharing more of my experiences and thoughts from that trip.
Please let me know in the comments below, if you guys enjoy these kind of posts from me!
#polkad0tstravel // see you at the next attraction!
❤︎Joanna
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