A Plank in the Sky

Hold on tight because it is about to be one adventurous ride.

Right, so awhile back I had come across an article talking about the world`s most dangerous path. So what do I do? Put it on my bucket list. Like most things on my bucket list this fit along with the after adrenaline filled tasks. Put it on the list, plan it, get there, then dread doing it. 

The pathway is located on Mt. Hua or Huashan (Still haven't been clearified on that one) which is a train ride away from the city of Xi`an. The mountain itself if a major tourist destination for Chinese and has many peaks to climb and things to visit. The plank road in the sky is only one small part located in the back. Since we have been doing tours my mom and I decided we would tackle this one on our own. She would come up the cable car and I would venture on to the walkway. Boy did this day get crazy.

5:30 - Wake Up Mom

6:00 - Wake up Lib

6:45 - Hand motion to try to get taxi from front desk

7:10 - Accomplish getting taxi

8:10 - Arrive at the railway terminal and argue with the taxi driver over the meter. It is a big thing for drivers not to use the meter and over charge. He kept pointing to two bills which were too much. Finally we realized he wanted the big one to give change with the other.

8:15 - Stand in line for tickets. Get cut off by people who just get in front of you like you do not exist. Always note that a foreigner is not a human being when it comes to lines.

8:20 - Realize we are in the wrong line

8:22 - Get in a new line. More people cut in front. Some grunting. My mom and I wonder if we made the wrong choice. I tell my mom she can take her turn trying to buy tickets. I look up and see our train number that I screen shot at the hotel. Yesssss!! I know the train number and we successfully buy tickets!

8:30 - 9:00 We sit at McDonalds and consume four diet cokes, a weird breakfast soy sauce pancake, and eggmcmuffin with the egg missing. 

9:10 - Board the train, find our seats, relax, and watch pitch perfect on my iPad for the whopping 30 minute ride. Funny that the train ride is way shorter than it takes to get anywhere else on this journey. I guess that is what happens when the train goes 300 km/h.

9:50- Now the real fun begins. Everywhere we read that everything was easily mapped out. Yes this is a total lie. DO NOT believe what you have read on tripadvisor. The next two hours was filled with confused looks, translators, being pointed in opposite directions, stared at, taken to a dingy tourist shop to buy tickets, stared at some more, not getting tickets, new tourist center, more translators, and finished with a 40 minute bus ride up a windy hill. Yippee we made it to the cable car! Or so we thought. Actually the bus drops you off below a set of 3000000 stairs up to the cable car.

Stairs

Stairs

Stairs

At this point I am sure my mom wants to kill me. 

From this point on I completely lose track of time until we come back down the monstrosities of transportation to get back home. Actually as I write this we still have not made it back to the hotel at 8pm! 

The West Cable Car- This was the more expensive of the two cable cars. Let me tell you, it was worth every single penny. The structure and path of the cable car, or rope way as they call it, is nothing short of extraordinary. The thing goes high up into the cliffs then shoots back down into the valley before going high up into the sky. When you are on the car you can barely see the destination. All around the gondola limestone mountains reach straight into the sky. The edges are sharp and the cliffs steep dropping straight down.  

To be continued....