Blurry eyed and still half asleep, I heat up some water and stand impatiently waiting for it to come to a boil. I’m up early, much earlier than usual and honestly…I didn’t even knew the sun came up at this hour. The water comes to a boil and I throw in some tea leaves, taking a sip, I sigh, squint my eyes and look outside.

It’s 8:30 in the morning and I guess my day has begun. I’m up today because I want to get out of this city, the noise, the crowds, the streets. It’s all been adding up lately and I need a break. I was told of a great place that has exactly what I am looking for, I’ll head there for the day and get some of that “fresh air” that I hear others talking so much about.

Cui Huashan in the northern Qinling Mountain of Chang’an District, Xi'an

It’s called Cui Huashan in the northern Qinling Mountain of Chang’an District, and it’s about an hour south of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. As I sat thinking about the beautiful trees, fresh air, and relaxing atmosphere my tea has gone cold. I pick myself up, look down at my tea, shake my head and grab my day pack. Now to be honest I did a little research into where I was going before waking myself up at the early hour of 8:30 am.

Cui Huashan is different from Hua Shan (Hua Mountain), they are not the same place, the same environment, or even look similar. They are different parts of the same mountain range, the Qinling Mountains, but that is about all they have in common. In fact in Chinese the name Cui Huashan actually means Prettier then Hua Mountain, so really they are competing with each other. Another point is that Cui Huashan doesn’t involve much climbing, as it’s not much of a mountain trek or even a hilly trek. And that’s good because let’s face it, I’m lazy. 

Out the door I head to the south gate of Xi’an, and I am amazed at the number of people on the street at this time of morning, I wish I knew if it was a weekday or not but as it is, I’m just happy to not have forgotten my house key.

From the inside of the wall I get onto a south bound number 600 bus, a double decker that costs me 1 yuan. I still feel like half my body is still cozy and sleeping back in my apartment, but luckily the ride is about 20 minutes and allows me to wake up, but unluckily it seems that half of Xi’an’s population has decided to ride the same bus as me.

At Dien Shi Chang (TV Tower stop) I get off the bus and quickly find bus 905. I hop on, pay my 4 yuan, and settle in to watch the scenery change from big buildings and wide streets, to country stores and rural roads. It takes about 45 minutes and drops me off on the main street of a small town at the base of the Qingling mountain range.

This small town only has a college and Cui Huashan, so looking around all I see are things for college students and things for travelers. At every turn there are the motorized pedicabs calling out to me to hop in and they will ride right to the gate of Cui Huashan for 4 yuan per person. But I don’t feel like jumping into yet another vehicle and so I begin to walk.

The entrance gate of Cui Huashan

It’s a straight path up the road to the entrance gate, about a 30-minute walk, but after about 10 minutes the city noises dissipate, the paved road turned to gravel and I find myself out of the city limits, with intermittent country restaurants and inns on the left and the foothills on the right.

Seeing the last of the morning fog burning off, listening to the water running through the streams, the birds singing, and smelling the fresh air I realize this is exactly what I needed.

The remainder of the 20-minute walk is spent wandering past restaurants just opening up for the day, old buildings, and an abandoned concrete factory from the Cultural Revolution. The silence is interrupted by the moto drivers slowing down and beeping their horns in order to tempt me into their services, but a quick shake of my head and they’re off. Soon enough I see the gate signaling I have truly arrived at Cui Huashan.

The tickets are 70 yuan, and 45 yuan for students. When I walk in, there are small open-air cars that can take me on a 10 minute ride to Heaven Pool for 11 yuan. It would have been possible to walk it in about 45 minutes but this road is quite steep, and after walking for over 30 minutes I need a break.. what can I say – I’m lazy.

This open air-car takes me up the mountain road and through quite a long tunnel where it drops me off. While it is possible to ride this car all the way to the lake, the point right after the tunnel is the start of the trail to the lake. It’s paved the entire way, hardly steep and a great place to really get away from everything.

The Frozen Cave of Cui Hua Shan

Walking along the path I come across several places of interest, such as Windy Peak, Frozen Cave, and Bat Cave, all of which are pretty much as they are described and all providing a varying atmosphere on my way to the lake. While making my way through the Frozen Cave I had the exceptional luck of having the ice cold water drop from the rocks above right down the back of my shirt, causing me to squeal like a stunned pig which in turn caused no less then three small children to start crying out of fear. After that intense but brief shock that entertained the parents, I quickly moved on to the lake.

The trail ends next to the only hotel on the lake. The rooms here are 250 yuan for a single, but I’m only here for the day so I continue on my way. To the right I walk along the road and come to a swimming area. There they also have the giant clear plastic bubbles people can get into and then be laughed at as you attempt to walk on the water. It’s an interesting experience and one that will provide hours of hysterics for family and friends through the home video that will inevitably be shot.

Back towards the hotel there are power boats, jet skis, row boats and paddle boats all that cost about 30 yuan for different lengths of time. The best deal seems to be the paddle boat so I paddled out to the middle of the lake. I am about as far away from another person as I have been in a long time, and the breeze picks up without my noticing and blows my little boat to the far side of the lake. I have about 15 minutes to paddle a kilometer to return it back in time. So much for rest and relaxation.

There is also a zip-line you can try for 30 yuan. It’s a round trip ride and looks fun but after the paddle boat incident, which left my legs sore and my stomach empty, it was time for lunch.

The farmhouse restaurant just down the road a little further

There were several people waiting around looking to take me to their restaurant just down the road a little further and so I followed an older woman who promised the best and cheapest food. But it turned out to be neither. I’m not exactly sure how I could avoid this issue but the big hotel served what looked like a nice lunch and it wasn’t too expensive. But none of the restaurants had an English menu anyway so maybe the big hotel would have been the way to go, not that I even ate any of it.

After my lunch I wondered around a little more and found out that in the winter they have skiing so maybe that’s something I will look at doing in winter, but that day I was tired and sun burnt, and it was time to go home.

I hopped on the little open air car that was across from the parking lot, paid my 11 yuan and they drove me back to the gate. From there I paid the same little open-aired car driver 3 yuan and they drove me right down to the little town where the 905 bus was waiting.

The day was over and I was a new man, even with a sun burnt face, skinned knee, and wet shirt, I was happy. Arriving back into the city center on the 600 bus I no longer minded the crowds or the noise; I had gotten some of that “fresh air” the others had talked about and it was wonderful – beautiful scenery, not that expensive, and actually getting out of the city. This could be a new leaf. I might get out more often, exercise a little more, and become a new me. Maybe I’ll even wake up earlier from now on.. well let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves…

Patrick and Li Ming contributed to this story.