For the Chinese New year holidays i decided to go to HuangShan. I was looking forward for a change of scenery from the usual tibetian mountains that im drawn to. And what better place than HuangShan to get a perfect taste of the Chinese mountain scenery. The Chinese people, and poets alike, never seem to tire of coming up with new ways to praise the HuangShan scenery. And all the photo's i've seen of the place seem to backup their claim. I was a bit circumspect about going there during winter but after a bit of research i found that the winter scenery is supposed to be the best with clear blue skies and the trees and mountains covered by snow. One day before i was due to leave it was snowing in Huangshan...<br> <br><br>

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="display: inline;">Two days of being shrouded by the Huangshan mist was enough to dampen my sprits. The lure of hot running water and central heating was too tempting to pass. On reaching Huangshan city, i went straight to the railway station to book my return tickets to Beijing for the next day.<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;"></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;">"No" she said.. There were no sleeper tickets to Beijing for tomorrow's train.&nbsp;</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;">"Min Tien Min Tien ??" I asked..&nbsp;</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;">('min tien' being the chinese word for tomorrow.. my question loosely (i use that term liberally) translates to "how about the day after tomorrow??" :)</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; line-height: 1.4;">Nope.. the tickets weren't available on that train either.&nbsp;</div></span>

On the days leading up to the Chinese new year, the whole of China shuts down. I was caught unawares at KangDing and was stuck there for a couple of days before deciding to turn back to ChengDu and go on north towards Songpan and JiuZhaiGou. It was two days before the buses started running towards Songpan and i was on it along with a bunch of other people eager to experience the beauty of JiuZhaiGou first hand. I was also looking forward to JiuZhaiGou as the highlight of my trip and considered Songpan as just a stop over point to kill a cpl of days. I was going to be pleasantly surprised.

After having cancelled the trip already in September, we were all eager to go to the great wall before the winter set in. After a lot of research on the web i decided that we will trek two sections of the great wall Gubeikou to JinShanLing on the first day, spend the night at the Jinshanling village and then do the JinShanLing to SiMaTai section on the second day. The Gubeikou to JinShanLing section was supposed to be unrestored, raw and wild with a army camp blocking its way in the middle of the section.

I usually like to claim that i do not plan any of my trips, but infact usually the opposite is true. When i came to China this time, i had decided that if i stayed here till april then i'd visit the Shanghai GP, till august then its off to the Litang Horse festival and to top it all, if i stay here till oct/nov my plan is to go to Bayan Olgi, Mongolia for the annual eagle hunting festival. Fingers crossed.. i'll be writing about that trip sometime in the near future.<br><br>I had first been to Shanghai in 2004, that time to see the first ever Chinese grandprix. I missed the next one in 2005, the year where some of my friends went on to watch the race from the expensive K and H stands at throw away ticket prices (paying 300RMB for a 2500RMB ticket). I've been kicking myself ever since and i was not going to make the same mistake again this time.