Why I Walked the Plank of Death

Catchy title right? Thought this sounded better than, “Chengdu and Xi’an Itinerary”. Anyways, now that I have your attention..

Have you guys seen my insane Instagram video of me walking on a plank on top of Mount Huashan (a 7,000 foot mountain), if not, then check it out here:

For those of you who don’t know where Mount Huashan is, it’s in the Shaanxi Province in China. (I didn’t know any of this until I visited China for myself this year).

Why China?

Well for starters, my Asian persuasion lover, aka future husband, is Chinese so we decided a trip with his mom would be a perfect way to learn about one another’s culture. Also, it was about time I learned more about Chinese culture rather than eating Dim Sum every Sunday for brunch. Also, also, he’s done his fair share of Mexico trips that I may or may not have dragged him to..

Let’s Be Honest!

I never put China on the top of my travel list due to fear of communism and lack of real public toilets (this fear is still alive and well), but I can say that after spending 9 days in China, I’ve never felt so safe and in awe with a country. The streets that I walked on were clean, people gave up their seats for the elderly on trains and every meal I had was satisfying beyond words! Except Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan is hell, fiery hell in your mouth. Overall, I left this country with an open mind, a little more knowledge and a few pounds heavier. (Damn you delicious noodles!)

I won’t bore you guys with any more of my opinions, instead, I’ll have you check out an overview of our itinerary and then you can decide when you’ll experience this amazing culture for yourself.

Chengdu

Where we stayed:

• Fraser Suites Hotel

No. 111 Zhihui Street,
Jinjiang District, Chengdu 610016
China

Average cost: $94/night

Included: Daily free breakfast

Rating: 5/5

What we did:

• Temple of Marquis aka Wuhou temple is where we learned a bit of Chinese history and the Three Kingdoms period. I recommend getting an audio walking tour. Don’t cut this one short! After you finish your history lesson, there’s some breathtaking scenery to take in. After you exit, be sure to walk around the alleys of Wuhouci street to indulge in some street food. I recommend the spicy dumplings and spinach noodles.

• Chunxi Road. We walked around this shopping area, but if you’re looking for a bargain, this is not the place. If you’re looking for good tea, try Coco. (I didn’t know Coco existed in the U.S. prior to this)
• Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Enough said. Go now. Take tissues for when you cry at the baby panda cuteness! *Starts crying reminiscing at this photo*

Oops.. wrong panda.

Here we go.

• Dujiangyan is an ancient irrigation system that is still in use today. We hired a personal driver to take us here. (Warning, you will need to be with someone who speaks Chinese). This will take a full day of sight seeing and walking, but totally worth it after you see all the temples and walk over the bridges. Not to mention the views!

Don’t let his face fool you, he LOVES taking a million pictures while herds of people crowd him. LOL (Ladies, if your bf doesn’t do this for you, then is he really your bf?)

From Chengdu, we took the high speed train to Xi’an, which took about 3.5-4 hours.

Xi’an

Where we stayed: 

• Hyatt Regency Hotel

988 Qu Jiang Chi East Road, Qu Jiang New District
Xi’an, China, 710061

Average cost: $130/night

Included: Daily free breakfast buffet (hence the extra weight gain) and we also had club access, which included a free daily happy hour with hors d’oeuvres and the most amazing matcha green tea cake!

Rating: 6/5 (expectations were exceeded)

What we did:

• Terracotta Army. 6th grade me was squirming with joy at this. Never did I dream of witnessing something that I had only read in history books.

• Biang biang noodles: popular hand stretched noodles in the Shanxi province. Probably the longest noodles I’ve ever seen in my life! Watch boomerang below:

• Tea tasting. A must, if you can find a place! We found one outside of the Terracotta Army museum. Warning, it’s not cheap, but so worth it. We ended up buying the black lychee tea, because Xi’an is the only place where it’s grown. Also, its damn delicious!

• Muslim Quarter is an exotic food street, almost like a night market and has the best beef noodles and hamburger. SO good that we actually went back 3 days in a row! (No wonder I gained a few pounds after this trip)

Below is the glorious hamburger that I ate being made:

Here is another thing I ate, (not this sexy face) cold noodles in sauce.

• Mount Huashan. Here is where we hiked to the very top and walked on the plank of death. That’s not really what it’s called, but I did read that there are around 100 deaths per year.. anyways, don’t feel discouraged. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to conquer their fear of heights. Would I do it again? Hell no. But hey, at least I can say I did it. Once. And only once.

There are many different ways to get to Huashan from Xi’an since it’s only a 30 min ride. We hired that same driver who took us to Dujiangyang. He charged us around $60 per day.

To get up to the peak of Huashan, we took this gondola ride up vs hiking 6-7 hours. If you think this is terrifying enough, go back up and rewatch my plank video.

From here we hiked up a million steps

And waited about an hour to walk the plank. I really do have to give credit to my bf and his mom. Without them, I would’ve never faced my fear of heights and looked down at 7,000 feet.

• We also did the other touristy things like the Bell Tower and Drum Tower.
• Walked the ancient city wall, even though we could’ve biked.. highly recommend biking.
• Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. Holds sutras and figurines of the Buddha that were brought to China from India.

Tips:

• You’ll need a Chinese visa, so be sure to get yours a few months prior to your trip. You’ll need to fill out paperwork from your local Chinese consulate. They do ask for hotel/flight information, so be sure to have those things booked beforehand.
• Bring your own toilet paper. Many public places don’t have any.
• Bring a Chinese translator. Many people in Western China don’t speak English.
• Utilize public transportation. There isn’t Uber or Lyft out here, so we relied mainly on metros, buses and trains.
• Don’t be afraid to try new things.

If you’ve read this far, I appreciate you and hope you’ve been inspired to visit China for yourself. Stay tuned for more China travel posts because I have to get my monies worth for that expensive Chinese visa.

xoxo,

Stew