Article丨Qin Huaijun

“When the afterglow of the setting sun wipes the entire mountain ridge red, you will be grateful for the decision you made before – to climb to the top and hike to the top of Taibai.” — —Qin Huaijun

Hiking time: 2014.6.5 - 6.6, lasting 2 days

Hiking personnel: Qin Huaijun & Dongzi

Inscription: "Qinchuan" , is an assignment in my history and geography class in college. It is a hymn to my birthplace, Shaanxi. However, the total life experience in Shaanxi is less than three years, making this article seem dry and empty. After graduation, I came to the land where I was born. Although it was only a year and a half, the word Qinchuan became more concrete and flesh-and-blood in my heart. If I write an article about the rivers and mountains of Shaanxi again, I will never dare to use the name "Qinchuan". These two words are too grand and heavy to write. Since I set foot on the Dragon Vein of Qin, Shaanxi, and only hiked up the mountain for two days, I decided to write it as "Hiking on Taibai Mountain", which is easy to remember, brisk, and concise.

Taking photos at the entrance of Taibai Mountain Scenic Area

I have also entered the Qinling Mountains several times. From when I first started to learn about cycling, I rode the 210 National Highway and failed twice. In April and May of 2014, I rode with my friends along the 108 National Highway to cross the Qinling Mountains, and I only really went deep into the Qinling Mountains a few times. Let’s forget about other things like hiking in various valleys and treading water.

Different from Anhui, my second hometown, compared with the beautiful Huangshan Mountain, the mountains in Shaanxi are majestic and majestic. They have the majesty of the northern mountains and the aura of the southern mountains and rivers. In fact, this is not surprising. The Qinling Mountains, the backbone mountain system of Shaanxi, is not only the dividing line between south and north Shaanxi, but also the starting point of the western end of the dividing line between north and south of China.

Along the Guanzhong Plain, whether from west to east or from east to west, a towering mountain range stretches in the south: the Qinling Mountains. The Guanzhong Plain is about 500 meters above sea level, while the average altitude of the Qinling Mountains is over 2,000 meters. This means that a series of mountains more than 1,500 meters high suddenly rise from the flat land, which is spectacular.

Of course, some onlookers say that the Tianshan Mountains and Karakoram Mountains in the northwest, or the Hengduan Mountains in the southwest are more magnificent. Let’s take the central and eastern hinterland as an example. The altitude and absolute difference in the Qinling Mountains are still considerable. Moreover, Taibai Mountain in the west of the Qinling Mountains, where we are hiking this time, is the highest peak in mainland China, and the freshwater lake at the top of it, Daye Lake, is also the highest-altitude lake in mainland China. In other words, in terms of the second and third ladders of my country's topography, the Qinling Mountains and the Taibai Mountains within it are second to none.

With such a "number one", is there any reason not to give up?

Taibai Mountain route map, note that the bottom is north and the top is south

In fact, hiking and hiking are relatively new terms to me, and I only heard about them after arriving in Shaanxi.

I remember when I was still monitoring news in the newspaper office, I would always see news on TV about Ao Tai crossing and hiking Taibai Mountain. There were many inexperienced people who died in the mountains and forests. Moreover, in the eyes of our fathers, Taibai Mountain is a forbidden land: a group of mountaineering enthusiasts from Xianyang entered Taibai Mountain more than 20 years ago, and only one person came out alive...

Taibai Mountain is mysterious and desirable. …What are you really like? I want to see you, but I don’t have a vacation or a partner. Will I miss you forever and never see you again?

At the beginning of June, my best friend Dongzi graduated and had to go on a trip. As a best friend, how could there be any reason not to accompany him? However, the cost of Dongzi's Chengdu plan was too high. Qin Huaijun, as the spider silk among the losers, really couldn't afford the funds, so he had to keep pressing the cost - it was just for fun anyway, so he might as well just stay in the province and go to Qinling Mountains. Forget it about Taibai Mountain.

Make up your mind and set aside a day to create a guide. Dongzi and Qinhuaijun then went online to collect information, including what routes into the mountains there were, what attractions could be visited, what equipment needed to be carried, etc.

You won’t know if you don’t check it, but you will be shocked when you check it. It turns out that the senior mountaineers have already summarized twelve or three crossing routes, which can easily be completed in five or six days, including the Ao Tai Crossing and similar crossings. route. After coming down from the mountain, when I went to the library of NPU to read, I saw a journal about scientific exploration in China, which listed the Aotai Crossing as one of the most classic and dangerous crossing routes in the mainland. This shows the beauty, danger and inescapability of hiking on Taibai Mountain. Don't go. Of course, we were newbies in the hiking world and had no plans to cross the trail at that time, let alone Aotai.

After deliberation, the hiking route was finally determined to return to the original route, namely Tangyu——(take minibus)——Xiaban Temple——(cable car)——cableway station——(hiking)—— —Shangban Temple——(hiking)——Tianyuandijiang——(hiking)——Little Wenggong Temple——(hiking)——Dawengong Temple——(hiking)——Dayehai (accommodation), then follow this The route retraces its steps.

Show your tickets to the scenic spot

Take the bus up the mountain and get off the bus to take photos along the way (a recent photo of Qin Huaijun)

On June 5, Dongzi and I had an early morning Arrive at the East Square of Xi'an Railway Station and take the tourist bus to Tangyu. It is the gathering place for buses from Xi'an to various tourist attractions in Guanzhong, including the Terracotta Warriors, Famen Temple and other scenic spots. Originally we planned to take the so-called Tour 2 (one-way fare is only 22 yuan), but after arriving at the square, there was no trace of Tour 2, so we took another tour bus heading west (one-way fare is 35 yuan). The bus departed at 8 o'clock and arrived at Tangyu County at the foot of Taibai Mountain at early 11 noon. It was very close.

Because the tourism development in Taibai Mountain is relatively mature, Tangyu at the foot of the mountain has developed into a sizable tourist town. In terms of size and grandeur, the reception building at Guangtaibai Mountain Scenic Area rivals the giant stadiums that universities flock to.

However, we didn’t care about this and went straight into the lobby. We took the borrowed student ID cards and quickly bought round-trip minibus tickets and scenic spot tickets into the mountains (student ID cards give you half price, and the tickets are sold at The ticket inspector will not check the photo very carefully, and he will have to spot you. In short, we entered the mountain smoothly).

The CMB began to climb up the mountain road. Dongzi had rarely been to the mountain and was very interested in the scenery on the mountainside. Due to motion sickness (and forgetting to bring motion sickness medicine) and the fact that I have been into the mountains many times, I am not too curious about the scenery on the roadside. In short, we were still wearing the clothes we brought down the mountain and slowly boarded the bus.

The minibus will stop at a scenic spot and let everyone in the car transfer to a smaller minibus going up the mountain. We got off the bus obediently at the first and second scenic spots and took a few random photos. But later on, facing the same green mountains and clear waters, I lost interest and sat in the car all the way up (the key point is that the mountaineering bag is too heavy and it is very tiring to lift up and down).

A winding mountain road with nine twists and turns

As the altitude rises, the broad-leaved forests on the roadside are gradually replaced by alpine coniferous forests, and the thick meadows between the trees , in addition to weeds, there are also thick accumulations of pine needles. It seems that our altitude has reached more than 2,000 meters, which is the world of coniferous forests in cold areas.

The winding mountain roads here often have sharp bends, and you can hear the obvious sound of wheels scraping when minibuses and minibuses turn. However, the current vehicle technology is excellent, and the scenic route has a higher safety factor, so there is nothing to be afraid of. After all, compared with the Jiuzhaigou mountain road back then, this road is nothing special.

After nine twists and turns, we have arrived at the lower station of the cableway at Xiabansi Temple. After getting out of the car, I immediately felt the change in temperature-coolness. The relationship between temperature and altitude is that for every 1,000 meters of altitude increase, the temperature will drop by 6 degrees. In other words, the temperature here is at least 12 degrees lower than down the mountain. But judging from our body surface feelings, it should be more than this drop - after all, mountainous areas have heavy humidity and fast wind speeds, which may bring lower temperatures than theoretically.

However, we are also well prepared: we carry gloves, fleece hats, jackets, hiking shoes, fleece jackets, etc., and you can just change them.

After changing clothes, I said goodbye to the uncles and aunts who were riding in the car, and hurried up the steps to the cable car. This step may be equivalent to climbing five or six floors, but we have enough energy to jog all the way up with our hiking bags. I bought a cable car ticket and went directly to the upper station of the ropeway, which is close to Bansi New Village. From here, it’s a full climb.

It’s just a small mountain, and the mountain road is only a little over 10 kilometers away. Who else can be troubled? Walking...

After eating and stuffing, we were ready to go up the mountain

After entering the mountain gate, it was an endless climb

The altitude where we started climbing had just reached 3000. meters, just enough to qualify for high altitude. This is also the last line of defense for alpine trees. Compared with the lush old trees in the mountains at the foot of the mountain, the pine forest here is obviously shorter, and the pine branches are not so aggressive, but a little restrained.

It’s not that trees don’t want to grow bigger and taller. Because of the thin air, lack of nutrients in the soil, and strong wind on the ridgeline, both grass and trees must adhere to the rock wall as much as possible. Here, "big trees attract the wind" is used in the right place.

The route from the cableway station to Tianyuan Place is almost entirely composed of wooden planks with extremely steep slopes, and most of the planks have no guardrails. In other words, you have to climb stairs in a building with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, and there is nothing to hold on to.

There are stairs but no guardrails

As we all know, climbing stairs mainly involves overcoming gravity. The heavier you are, the more difficult it will be to climb up. At the same time, the two legs, which are the driving wheels, will receive the first round of intensive blows. When I was still a fat man, I would have fallen down from exhaustion during this stretch of road. Fortunately, I had been running and cycling in the past few months, and my overall physical condition had improved, so I didn’t have any problems along the way on the wooden plank road. However, Dongzi, who was hiking for the first time and had not exercised well before, had a problem - he felt weak, breathless and unable to walk while ascending the wooden plank road. This is too much physical exertion and the rhythm of altitude sickness. Here, the altitude is almost 3400, so altitude sickness is normal.

Rhodiola rosea, which is used to treat high reflexes, has been taken before departure and it is inconvenient to take it again at this time. We had to stop and go, hurling curse words while walking slowly. From time to time, climbers come down from the mountain in groups or in groups. They are all dressed casually, even in short skirts and high heels! They can walk down with equipment like theirs, but our semi-professional equipment can't walk up? After breathing a sigh of relief, Dongzi and I walked to Bansi New Village in one go and continued to climb in the face of heavy fog.

Maybe it was just such a breath that made us do it. Later we found out that some of the tourists just went up on the ropeway instead of walking all the way. This also explains the doubt that high heels can "walk smoothly".

The trees are gradually sparse, and the altitude is now nearly 3,400 meters.

I don’t know exactly how high the slope is. Maybe the slope of the plank road from Bansi New Village to Shangbansi is 45 degrees or even It's 55 degrees. Anyway, these two knees feel hard - carrying a big bag of thirty or forty pounds all the way up the stairs, the altitude goes up to five or six hundred meters. You can try it out to see how it feels.

As there were fewer and fewer tourist signboards and the trees became sparse, we walked to the stone sign of the north-south watershed. Here, perhaps, we see the last stronghold of those casually dressed climbers. Further on, the tourists become rarer and the equipment becomes more professional. This means that the real hiking is about to begin.

In front of us, there was still a thick fog, and we could only see the ridge and the stone road on the ridge. Can’t see the view of the valley? It doesn't matter. For people who are afraid of heights, they are not afraid anymore if they can't see it.

Photograph of the dividing monument between the north and south of China (Qin Huaijun on the left, Dongzi on the right)

Most of the roads are cliff paths like this

According to the road sign just now It shows that the distance from Shangban Temple to Dayehai should be 10 kilometers. For us, 10 kilometers is an hour of long-distance running or half an hour of cycling. However, on the top of a mountain with an altitude of about 3,500, this 10 kilometers may take four, five, six hours, or even longer.

At this time, it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and when we arrived at Dayehai, it was already around 7 o'clock.

At the north-south watershed stone sign, we teamed up with a couple from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University. On the way to Xiao Wen Gong Temple, two more girls were recruited. A group of six people, three men and three women, began walking on the narrow path along the barren ridgeline.

At first, the mountain road was made of whole stone slabs. Although you stand on the top of the mountain, the mountain wind will blow you left and right, but after all, the road is relatively wide, and the luggage is heavy, so people The bottom plate can still be firmly planted on the road. However, as the altitude continued to increase, we slowly walked through the dense fog on the trail between the mountain on the right and the cliff on the left. And this kind of road will be the highlight of the rest of our journey.

Dongzi and I are better equipped and have plenty of physical strength, and Dongzi’s high reflex has been reduced a lot. Therefore, Dongzi and I took turns to be the leader and the leader of the team, walking at the beginning and end of the team. We are not professional climbers, but our daily riding experience tells us that a team cannot be disorganized. There must be one person in front to lead the way and break the wind, and there must be one person at the end of the team to prevent anyone from falling behind.

Along the way, the weather was still gloomy, but the heavy fog had dropped to a few meters or even ten meters below our feet, and we could finally see the distant mountain tops and clusters of huge clouds in the valley.

In the sea of ??clouds

At this time, we found that beside us and under our feet, apart from the yellow and wet weeds, there were only endless large rocks, or stone forest. Only when the fog beneath your feet clears, you can still see the rich, green virgin forests in the low-altitude mountains.

This journey is not very tiring. Perhaps because of He Dongzi's responsibility, he paid special attention to other teammates along the way. When someone fell behind or felt uncomfortable, he would stop and check the situation. Everyone was moving at a constant speed. Only a few climbing sections would widen the distance. When encountering sharp bends, the rear team could not see the front team, and the front team could not see the rear team.

The middle station on this section of the road is Taibai Nature Reserve. When we arrived at the station, we happened to meet the local Mei County TV station doing a TV show. We joined in the fun and continued on our way - such a small The small station on the top of the mountain cannot accommodate so many people stopping at the same time. According to the notice at the station, foreigners are not allowed to move forward, perhaps for national defense reasons? Anyway, let’s keep walking.

Still the same road, the same scenery, the same heavy fog and the sea of ??clouds on the distant mountains, we reached the end of this road - the Dawen Gong Temple.

The undeserved glacier ruins of the fourth season

God is always fair. We walked such a long flat road before, but we had to suffer in the end. Starting from the Dawengong Temple, there will be a huge hill to climb, and then there will be several smaller hills to climb.

When we stopped at the Dawengong Temple rest stop, we vaguely saw someone on the top of the mountain in the thick fog. At the time, I thought this was some professional climber who was deliberately looking for excitement, but later I realized how naive I was - this was the only way to move forward, and we would be the ones who appeared on the top of the mountain later.

Let me insert a sentence here. We passed by the Little Wen Gong Temple and now we have arrived at the Big Wen Gong Temple. Where is the temple? In fact, it is a small one-story bungalow built with stones next to the rest stop, where gods are worshiped. Gods must not be blasphemed. We did not go in, so we took a few photos at the entrance of the temple as a souvenir.

Next, there is the big mountain.

A group photo of the two of them while climbing up the mountain bag. At this time, the physical strength of the two of them has been greatly reduced.

To be honest, carrying such a heavy mountaineering bag is really too much to climb such a mountain - two people. The straps cut into my shoulders like two knives, causing severe pain. He wants to drink Dongzi and change his bag, but he can't carry it either - forget it, just keep carrying it.

Almost using both hands and feet, resting every ten steps, it can be regarded as climbing up the mountain step by step. This was a real hardship for the two young girls in the team. They were weak in physical strength, had rough equipment, a pair of sneakers, and the road was slippery. It was extremely difficult to go up the mountain.

However, it is worth it if you can climb up and see the stone sacrificial piles similar to Mani piles lined up on the top of the mountain. What is even more memorable is that it was on this mountaintop that we recorded the image of the clouds climbing up the mountaintop and crossing over the mountaintop. The clouds we saw on the plain are now right in front of our eyes, like a white ribbon, crossing every inch of exposed skin.

Clouds climbed over the top of the mountain

After coming down from the top of the mountain, to be honest, it was not that far away from the day’s destination - Dayehai. However, even if you can see the rest stop in Dayehai right in front of you, you still can't get there. This reminds me of when I was riding around Qinghai Lake, when I was about to reach Xihai Town when I was going downhill. The town was right in front of me, but I couldn't get there despite riding. At that time, I looked at the road signs and saw that there were still 10 kilometers left to Xihai Town. At this time, we were probably less than 2 kilometers away from Dayehai, but it took us almost two hours to walk.

The last section of the road is constantly going uphill and downhill, and the stone road has become extremely slippery due to the fog. Sometimes it is a mud road, which is more likely to cause slippage (it turns out that it is indeed slippery) , and more than once). Sometimes, the stone pavement is uneven, or even bulges toward the cliff. Carrying a large bag and leaning back, I have to press forward and crawl through.

There are no trees on the mountain, and the mountains below are lush and lush.

At this time, my knees were almost useless, and the two girls were almost exhausted. Dongzi came from behind to lead the group. The couple seemed Nothing happened, I was full of emotions.

There, we saw the remains of the Fourth Glacier (actually the only remaining ice bodies on the cut rock formations on the top of the mountain), and also saw that there was actually a rich virgin forest below the glacier, and we also saw the distant The continuous sea of ??clouds at the top of the mountain. The fog finally dissipated. In fact, our altitude was already higher, just beyond the fog layer just now.

The above is the situation on the east side (the left side of the direction of travel). It is amazing at best. After all, there is heavy fog all the way and nothing can be seen. Walking a little further, we reached a mountain pass with clear east-west views and looked west (on the right side of the direction of travel). The most beautiful scenery of the day had just begun.

When we approached Dayehai and could clearly see the road leading to Dayehai rest stop, signs of sunset had begun to appear in the west. Blossomy mountain clouds were pressing towards us, and the fog in the valley was also falling. Climb up the valley. Sandwiched between the two layers of clouds is the blue sky, stained with a hint of rays of light and slightly reddish.

Taibai Sunset

Immediately, we walked down the last section of the road and arrived at the so-called Daye Sea - actually a miniature alpine lake. From the mouth of the lake, we can see a few pure white drinking water. Pipes lead the lake water down the mountain (I have become accustomed to such drinking water pipes in the Qinling Mountains). It is said on the Internet that Taibai Mountain is the water source of Nongfu Spring, and the water quality must be excellent. Although we still have plenty of water, we still can't resist the desire for pure mountain spring water, so we go directly to the lake to scoop water to drink - it's really Nongfu Spring, a bit sweet! It's cool, sweet, and tastes so good that I can't help but take a few more sips.

Sweet and cool spring water on the mountaintop

Actually, drinking water is secondary. The key is that this lake is located on the top of the mountain. It is blocked by mountains to the east and the open area of ??the mountain pass to the west. It is an excellent place to watch the sunset. venue. We took live photos of the ice on the Dayehai Lake, took pictures of the red clouds in the west, and hurried into the store to seek shelter.

Dayehai is actually a high mountain pool, still frozen

The afterglow reflects the mountains next to the campsite golden

Dayehai is indeed Dayehai, The shop owner was the uncle, and we couldn't even lower the price, so we had to live in a steel room for 70 yuan per person. But we finally got a free bottle of boiled water (a bottle of boiled water costs 20 yuan). Since all the supplies here are carried up from the mountain by porters, according to the boss, the cost per kilogram is two yuan. It is no wonder that prices here are extremely high and Luoyang paper is expensive. A plate of meat and vegetables costs 50 yuan, and a plate of ingredients costs 40 yuan. Diaosi and I can't afford to eat, but fortunately we brought a lot of supplies. It's enough for six of us to eat evenly. Including kimchi, grilled naan, highland barley wine, ham sausage, roast chicken and so on.

We took a short break in the wooden house. As the sun set, we hurried up the mountain road, hoping to go to a higher hillside to the south to watch the sunset.

I guessed that it would be completely dark when we went down the mountain, and a flashlight wouldn’t be enough. When everyone started to climb the mountain, I went back to the cabin to get a headlamp. When we walked up the mountain road again, the other five people had disappeared, so I had to go up the mountain alone.

The remaining afterglow of the sunset

Except for the bottom part, which is a flat road made of flat stones and mud, the rest of the road is completely made of big rocks. You can only tell which stones belong on the pavement and which don't by how flat they are. It took about twenty minutes, but it finally came up.

The first thing I was shocked about was such a beautiful afterglow! !

Secondly, it’s just depressing. There’s only the afterglow, but what about the sunset?

Alas, I still didn’t catch the sunset, so I had to take some pictures of the afterglow with my mobile phone. It just so happened that there were still some glacier remnants here, so I took a photo with the afterglow.

Here, any adjective seems weak, so let’s just go to the picture.

Take a photo with the afterglow of the setting sun, with the white glacier next to you

The afterglow gradually dissipated, and the only light left in the mountains except the flashlight in your hand was the electric light in the direction of the steel house. We slowly descended the mountain and returned to the steel room to prepare for bed.

There are bunk beds in the cabin, and each bunk can sleep two people. Xiaodong and I happen to share the same bed. He went out and looked at the starry sky, and there were so many stars. Compared with the sky above the city, here is the starry sky. Because of the clear space, the starry sky - you can clearly see the Big Dipper, Polaris and various named stars. It's a pity that the camera is not good, so the night sky is completely black when photographed, leaving no image.

In fact, I only saw such a pure night sky when I grew up, only in the year and a half after coming to Shaanxi. The first time was when I was riding a bicycle over the Qinling Mountains and saw it in the mountains of Foping County at around 9pm; the second time was when I was staying on the west bank of Qinghai Lake; this is the third time.

After climbing into bed with difficulty, I changed my clothes, and then frantically applied medicine - my knees, shoulders, waist, etc. were all sore and uncomfortable. Apply some prickly heat powder to each other. After all, you are carrying a big bag, sweat is all stuck to your body, and you can't take a shower.

Overlooking the Dayehai Campground

Around 10 o'clock in the evening, the lights were turned off. It’s not that the lights must be turned off at 10 o’clock, but because the rest stops on the mountain rely entirely on their own generators, and the power is automatically cut off when the power is used up. It doesn't matter, you should go to bed early after a tiring day anyway.

However, in such a large wooden house, there are so many professional and amateur climbers in it, and few of them can sleep soundly. Except for a few buddies who were snoring loudly in their sleep, the rest were either chatting or tossing and turning - unable to sleep.

I stayed up until 12 o'clock in the middle of the night and still couldn't fall asleep.

Could it be that you are thirsty and want to go to the toilet? I shook the thing up and we went to the outdoor toilet together. After going to the toilet and drinking water, I felt more awake. Accompanied by the mountain breeze, we saw a string of lights on the ridge to the north. Perhaps it was a small village in the north? Or is it a mirage? What the hell, I just want to sleep now.

Later, I stayed up in bed for a long time, and the last time I looked at the watch was 3 o'clock in the morning. Later, I vaguely lost my memory. However, I woke up at five or six o'clock the next day, and most of the people in the cabin were also awake at that time. One by one, they rubbed their panda eyes and got up.

Many people originally wanted to get up early this morning and climb up to Bassendai to watch the sunrise, but the heavier fog that day made everyone give up the idea.

This heavy fog also made our impulse to continue moving forward and directly cross the Qinling Mountains from Zhouzhi Houzhenzi out of the mountains come to nothing. For safety reasons, all 6 of us returned the same way.

The winding trail we walked looked like a winding line from a distance

It started to rain heavily the next day

In fact, I don’t want to write too much about this chapter. More, because the route is exactly the same as yesterday, except that there are more downhills than uphills, and the cliff changes from the left to the right. Moreover, due to the huge fog surrounding me, I couldn't see anything except the people in front of me and the road under my feet.

The mist all over my body turned into water, and my whole body seemed to be lifted out of the water. My eyes are always misty and I can't even see the road clearly. Due to the accumulated fog, I was soaked to the skin and even my kneepads were covered in ice.

I don’t remember how I went down. In short, I took one step, one step, and one step amidst the sound of cursing. What's even worse is that the annual inspection of the ropeway, which is a rare event, was stuck on the days when we were going down the mountain. Riding on the ropeway was not allowed, and we had to rely on our legs for the last part of the way.

The Taibai Mountain campsite has traces left by travelers from all over the world, including Hefei, the city where Qin Huaijun is located.

That day, there were only stone roads and mud roads, but the last wooden plank road took my life. My life was short-lived - I lacked knee protection and had a serious knee injury. Going down the stairs was like killing a pig.

Anyway, forget it.

It wasn’t until we arrived at the foot of the mountain in a minibus that the fog dissipated, and I suffered from severe motion sickness and almost vomited. When I arrived at Tangyu, I looked at the mud spots and condensed salt on my body, as well as the haggard look on my face, and silently recounted the experiences of the past two days. My mouth didn't want to do anything else except drink water and gasp.

That evening, we returned to Xi'an and slept the whole way again. There was an Aotai Traveler from Beijing in the same car. He looked haggard than us, but his voice was still loud and he was indeed a professional.

In the blink of an eye, 10 days have passed.

Under the scorching sun on the plains, perhaps what we miss most is the cool and biting mountain wind in Taibai Mountain. Of course, there is also the sun which is much milder in comparison.

I have climbed Taibai Mountain once. Although I haven’t traveled through time, I have no regrets.

There are still no handrails on the stairs going down the mountain

——Qin Huaijun? June 16, 2014 in Xianyang, Shaanxi