Huashan

We set off early in the morning to go to Huashan(华山）.

Huashan holds much draw for me because of Jinyong's (金庸）martial art stories. The top martial artist of their time challenge each other for supremacy atop Huashan(华山论剑：射雕英雄传，神雕侠侣）, the Huashan school of sword artist practice their arts （华山派：笑傲江湖）。 The list goes on and on...

At the foothill of Huashan, we took the cable car up the mountain. Had a quick cup noodle and walk up North Peak, which is the nearest peak off the cable car station. The trails are well paved, so it was quite easy to talk along, but the parts of the path is quite steep and requires some climbing.

Atop the north peak, a stone with carving of "Fighting for supremacy upon Huashan"(华山论剑）has been setup! We took pictures over there, knowing full well that the story is a work of fiction and the stone nothing more than a tourists trap. Still, we couldn't resist the temptation:)

From the north peak, we went back to the cable car station and walk towards the central peak. The path here is even steeper and holding on the the chain railings was probably the only way to walk comfortably. We saw several old man carrying goods walking along these paths and are greatly impress. One even stop by, stood on 1 leg and play the flute. All on a fair steep stretch of the mountain path. I am impress to say the least.

There is an old Chinese saying: "Once you have seen the 5 mountains, you don't need to look at other hills" (五岳归来不看山）. Huashan is one of the 5 mountains, but frankly, I was not that impress with the view. Maybe its the atmosphere, since there are thousands of others along with us, fighting to go up the path. Maybe its very commercialize, since there are tens of stores along the path, selling water, souvenirs and photo op. One never has the serene feeling of being in nature.

After descending from Huashan, we went back to Muslim street and tried another of Xi'an specialty: "Soup buns(灌汤包)”. The restaurant is call Jia San(贾三), which has been serving this specialty for over hundreds of years. The soup buns are somewhat similar to Xiao Long Bao, where the buns filled with beef or mutton filling, with a soupy both in addition to the meat. The meat is spiced with some cumin and other curry like flavoring and is delicious. We washed everything down with a pigs stomach soup, which is fairly light, thicken slightly with cornstarch and has a little Chinese herbs to rid the soup of bloodiness tastes. Dessert was a slightly sweet eight treasure congee. Very well balance dish. Definitely the best meal in Xi'an.

Call it a night early since we did walk about 4-5 hours on Huashan.