Day 21, Anhui

This was a trip with disaster written all over it.

We were going to the Yellow Mountains, the source of inspiration for the movie "Avatar", home to vast mountain ranges with invariably steep cliff faces and many scenic overlooks situated above dizzying heights. This was to be the highlight of many people's experiences on this dialogue. And naturally, the weather gods chose this weekend as an opportune time to unleash heavy rain and endless clouds upon us.

On the first day, visibility was nearly zero. We rode the trolleys up the mountain completely enshrouded in mist, and we were hardly able to see even the trolley cars in the front or back of us. At each scenic overlook, we relied on our imaginations to depict the otherwise breathtaking views that existed on a normal, fair-weather day, and we trudged along with dull interest and growing irritation as we were presented with splendid views of fog, fog, and more fog.

When we awoke the next day at 8am, conditions did not appear to have changed, and we were resigning ourselves to another mundane trek through fog. But through an act of god or some sort of divine favor, by the time noon rolled along, the fog lifted, and suddenly incredible mountains appeared out of nowhere, replacing with their stark reality the previous wispy replicas of our imagination. Amazing valleys of lush green forestry stretched below us, and we saw with clarity awesome bonsai-looking trees growing out of barren cliff faces, which seemed utterly devoid of bearing any tree-sustaining nourishment.

And just like that, our trip to the Yellow Mountains was salvaged.

The times in which I am left speechless in my life are few and far in between. Seeing the Grand Canyon was one, and listening to Garth Brooks' Greatest Hits was a close second, and most recently, climbing the Great Wall was another. Seeing the Yellow Mountains, sans cloud and fog, arguably trumps all of these. Since words cannot adequately describe my wonder, it's convenient that I had my camera along with me, for they say a picture speaks a thousand words, and I took close to a hundred pictures.  You do the math.

Before the hike, our tour guide said that there are five great mountains in the world, and upon seeing them, all else is not worth seeing, but upon seeing the Yellow Mountains, these other five are put to shame. Speaking as someone who doesn't enjoy mountain climbing and hiking much as it is, there is logic in her words, and I don't think there are many more mountains in this world that can compare to the raw beauty of China's Yellow Mountains.

- Mike H.