Mel ML Photos

Huang Shan- Yellow Mountains- Anhui province

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Pale as most people’s bottom, we made it to the top to find just a few padlocks. Ah! I have not told you yet about the padlocks! We were intrigued to see hundreds and hundreds of padlocks attached on the fences delimiting the walking paths; we asked a passer-by who explained that attaching a padlock along the path and throwing the key into nature brought good luck. Unsurprisingly, the more difficult the ascent to the top got, the less padlocks there was and by the time we reached the very inaptly named “peak of heaven” there were just dozens- although by then, facing the descent and realizing that we had taken so long to reach the top night would fall shortly, I would have done anything- including throwing padlock keys into the air- to divert some luck our way.

We took a few pictures for posterity (never was a smile so faked) and followed a small group of young independent Asian tourists who showed us another way down (which, frankly, was equally perilous but at least, not having taken it before, we could delude ourselves into thinking that perhaps it was not). Understanding our discomfort, realizing that night was falling and that we were the last ones on the path down, these tourists took us “under their wing” and kindly waited for us, making sure we were ok, did not lose ourselves or break a leg. It took us another good couple of hours to come down, by then we had been trekking up and down the yellow mountains for approximately 12 hours and it was pitch dark… the “emergency kit” I had been carrying around since the beginning of the trip (and had been the object of completely undeserved mockery from various sides)- containing items such as whistle, compass, water purifying tablets, MacGyver toolkit thing, insect repellent, lighter, venom extractor and most important of all: head torch - did not seem so futile anymore… in fact, without the head torch (very sexy by the way! THE ultimate babe magnet, works a charm!), we’d probably still be there!