Our journey to the Yellow Mountains started at Shanghai East Rail Station; the same station we’d arrived at this morning. Hundreds of travelers waited to enter the escalators, which crisscrossed to the departure’s platform three stories above. Next to the escalators, we saw an empty stairway, but we felt too weary to climb them.
Above, every corridor and stairway in this station looked the same—a maze of halls and people.
Dan glanced at the departure’s board.
“There, Huangshan. Track 47. Ten minutes.”
We scurried to our platform, and collapsed into the waiting room seats. We were out of breath and out of time, yet the chairs felt soft and the station warm against the brisk night air blowing in from the tracks.
“Are you ready for another adventure.”
Our honeymoon had exceeded expectations while leaving us happy, content, and exhausted. Now our plans brought us to the Yellow Mountains. We journeyed there by taking an overnight train and a three-hour bus to the foot of the mountain. Our guidebook did not give more than a simple acknowledgment of its existence. After that, we had to hike another hour uphill to our hotel, but we also lacked maps for that leg of the journey. We’d trusted it would make sense when we arrived, now it all seemed like work.
If events went to plan, our efforts would yield two days of fresh air: exploring temples and watching the sunset over the “Cloud Sea.” We hoped for beautiful sights, but the journey might break us.
I scanned our itinerary for tomorrow’s adventure, cross-referencing this with our guidebook and reading the facts aloud.
“Inundated with tourist traffic.”
“… rains two hundred days a year.”
“… dizzying entrance fees.”
“… endless stairs.”
“… the hard way up, or the harder way.”
Under normal events, we lived for these adventures and wanted to make our honeymoon as exciting as possible. We’d looked forward to climbing the Yellow Mountains as one of the cornerstones of our trip. But now we were tired. After two weeks abroad, we needed time to recover.
“What do you want to do?”
Dani didn’t reply, which confirmed both our uncertainties.
I said it again, and as I mouthed the words, I realized we had other options. The thought reached us both at the same time.
~
A rumble grew beneath our toes, signaling our train’s arrival.
By the time it subsided, we had already moved halfway across the lobby, heading back to the city to find a hotel among the skyscraper mountains.
We picked Shanghai.
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