Changbaishan 长白山

Changbaishan Waterfall

This past weekend I visited Changbaishan. This is a famous mountain located in Northeast China. A group of Americans I work with have been wanting to visit Changbaishan for a while so we finally put something together in the last second. We had two options of reaching the mountain, we could choose to go by standing up in a train for fourteen hours or we could rent a van for 4,000 RMB ($626) that would take seven hours. We decided to sleep in a chair and not stand up on a train for obvious reasons. Between eight people we split the cost.

Changbaishan is a famous mountain that is owned by both China and North Korea. It's quite beautiful and an amazing place to see. When we arrived at the mountain it was pretty hectic, and like most places in China, extremely crowded. Getting to the top of the mountain was quite interesting. We took a shuttle that sped up the mountain. As we ascended the mountain, we ended up driving straight into a cloud because the mountain was completely engulfed by a cloud. At the peak of the mountain is the crater which is a lake. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was pouring and we couldn't see two feet in front of us. We decided to wait out the rain. After twenty minutes people began to shout because the clouds were literally be blown and lifted out of the crater. It was quite the sight to see. The sun came out and we were capable of seeing the lake also known as the "Lake of Heaven." Along with the lake, we were capable of seeing the North Korean border.

After we finished seeing the lake we headed back down the mountain where we then entered another sight. We walked a long trail where we past a hot springs and finally reached our destination. The lake becomes a waterfall and formed a river all the way down the mountain. We arrived at the waterfall. It was pretty amazing to see because half of the mountain was still engulfed by a cloud. Only half of the waterfall was visible, but I thought it was kind of cool to see it this way. After a long day of hiking Changbaishan we returned to Shenyang around 3:00 am. I've loaded pictures of my trip on Facebook and Flikr so feel free to take a look!