My second trip to Mt. Jiuhua and Hefei City 

During the 2010 Tomb-Sweeping Day Holidays, my girlfriend and I visited the Mt. Jiuhua from Hefei. Now, my girlfriend has become my wife. On Dec.2, my wife and I began our second trip to Mt.Jiuhua. This time, we set off from Xian, arrived in Hefei and then went to the Mt. Jiuhua with her friends in Hefei.

Our train left Xian at 14:06 on Dec.2. Last time, I took the same train but just slept on the train and missed the best scenery of the Qinling Mountain. This time, I appreciated the scenery of the Qinling Mountain carefully.

I didn’t remember how many tunnels the train passed through but we finally arrived at Xixia railway station in Henan Province when the night fell. My wife and I just ate some snacks we bought and then went to sleep. But I didn’t have a sound sleep because it was too hot and noisy. I woke up at 04:30 and couldn’t fall into sleep again. But our train was about to reach Hefei at 05:58. It was dark outside and I couldn’t see anything. So I washed my face, brushed my teeth and then lay on the berth and played my cell phone.

At 05:10, I woke up my wife and asked her to wash her face. She finished at 05:30 and then sorted our luggage together with me. At 05:52, our train arrived at the Hefei Railway Station. I was surprised that we arrived a bit early. You know, I had traveled by train many times but the trains seldom arrived on time.

Getting out of the train, my wife and I were amazed at the newly-decorated Hefei Railway Station. Last time I came here, the railway station was still under restoration. One and a half year later, it had a new look.

We didn’t have time to appreciate the new railway station because we had to meet her friends first. After about 20 minutes’ bus trip, we arrived at the designated place but her friends hadn’t come yet. Ten minutes later, a black car came and stopped in front of us. My wife greeted her two friends and then we got on the bus and started our trip to Mt.Jiuhua.

Considering that I might suffer from the carsickness, I took a pill before I got on the car. I did a right thing. The driver was young and drove very fast. On the other hand, it was stuffy inside the car but I couldn’t open the window because it was too cold outside. One of her friend also suffered from the carsickness. She ate the pill but it didn’t work very well. During the 3-hour journey, she just slept on the car and didn’t say a word.

On the highway, the driver drove so fast. We didn’t see the road signs clearly and took the wrong route. Thanks to my wife’s smart phone, we relied on the GPS on her phone and finally got to the Mt. Jiuhua. .

Before we decided to come to Mt.Jiuhua, I told my wife that it would be nice if I could see the snow on the Mt. Jiuhua. I didn’t believe that my dream came true. It snowed on Dec. 1. As a result, it was cold on the mountain.

My wife and her friends bought the entrance tickets for us and then the driver drove his car from the ticket office to the Jiuhua Street. The mountain road was smooth and the snow was cleaned. But it was still dangerous because the road was narrow and curvy. This time, the driver drove slowly and carefully. He knew that the road was dangerous. From the window, we saw some yellow tour buses passing by.

Tip: If you don’t have your car, you have to pay CNY 30 for the yellow tour bus fare. Then you can take tour bus from the ticket office to Jiuhua Street, Tiantai Cable Car Terminus.

25 minutes later, we arrived at the Jiuhua Street. But we had a problem---‘There is no parking space’. We thought there wouldn’t be so many tourists in the low season. It turned out that we were wrong. The driver drove around the road and finally found a parking space. Then we got off and found a restaurant to have lunch. We were very hungry and ate four dishes a huge soup plate of rice. In all, we paid CNY110 for the lunch. Honestly, the dishes were not expensive.

After lunch, we decided to find a hostel to have a rest and then visited Tiantai. The driver took us to the parking lot near the Tiantai Cable Car Terminus and then we walked to the ticket office to buy the tickets. A round trip cost CNY 110. Because it was in the low season, we didn’t spend much time queuing.

Although I took the cable car for the second time, I was still a bit afraid because I suffered from acrophobia. The cable car stopped in the sky for seconds so that the tourists could enjoy the scenery of Mt.Jiuhua in the cable car. I didn’t have the courage to look down. My wife’s friend threatened me and shook his body in the cable car. It was very dangerous. Luckily, I arrived at the Tiantai Cable Car Terminus safely.


As you know, Mt.Jiuhua is one of the four famous Buddhist Mountains. Most visitors come here just to worship the Earth Buddha and make good wishes. It is said that many people’s wishes came true. That’s why Mt. Jiuha has become a busy and crowded Buddhist Shrine.

like other travelers, we came here to make good wishes last year. This year, we came to fulfill our promises because our dream came true.

Getting out of the cable car terminus, we walked on the narrow and icy road to the Baijingtai where the Earth Buddha recited Buddhist sutra. When we got there, we found that there were lots of Buddhist disciples who kowtowed in the hall. Outside of the hall, travelers and disciples burnt incenses and candles to worship the Earth Buddha and make good wishes.

After visiting the Baijingtai, we came to the Tiantai. There was a precipitous path which led to the Tiantai. But it wasn’t easy to get to the Tiantai. By the way, it was icy and slippery. After taking rest for three times on the path, I got to the small square to the end of the path. To reach the Tiantai, I had to climb 99 steps. A difficult task! I almost gave up but I saw an old lady climbing the steps in front of me. I was encouraged and made up my mind to climb the 99 steps. If an old lady could climb to the top, I could do the same job.

When I reached the top, I almost sweated my thermal underwear. It felt so good to view the snowy mountain on the Tiantai.






We stayed on the Tiantai for 40 minutes and then decided to get down. But getting down the mountain was difficult, especially walking on a snowy path. When we got to the Baijingtai, I heard that someone fall down on the path. Luckily, she didn’t get hurt.

We took a rest at the Baijingtai and then headed to the cable car terminus. 18 minutes later, we got on the cable car. This time, I felt better and wasn’t afraid. We got out of the cable car terminus and walked to the parking lot. The driver took us back to the hostel and we took a snap. We originally decided to stay here for a night and then went to visit some other spots next day. But the driver told us that he had something urgent to do and needed to get back to Hefei tonight.


What a pity! One of her friends insisted visiting the Earth Buddha’s Temple. In 719, Jin Qiaojue, a Korean monk, arrived at Mt. Jiuhua and practiced Buddhism for 75 years. After his Nirvana, he was respected as the Earth Buddha. His body was reserved in a pagoda and then a temple was built outside of the pagoda. Hence, the Earth Buddha’s Temple came into birth.



The temple closed at 16:30. So we didn’t stay there for long. After visiting the Earth Buddha’s Temple, we packed up our luggage, checked out and then drove back to Hefei.

We got to Hefei after 3.5 hours. The driver invited us to have supper at his hotel and then stayed there for a night. His hotel was opened two days ago. Everything was brand new. The room was big and comfortable. We had a sound sleep and planned to wander at the downtown area next day.

The next morning, we checked out, ate the breakfast and then took bus to the Shi Fu Guang Chang. That area was probably the most prosperous in Hefei. My wife and her friends were chatting happily while strolling on the Huaihe Road. I just followed them and took pictures.






At noon, we came to Luzhou Roast Duck to have lunch. We didn’t eat the roast duck but some snacks. The porridge, steamed stuffed buns and beef rice noodle were nice.

In the afternoon, we went to the Changjiang Road. I was impressed by the BRT(Bus Rapid Transit) in Hefei. But I didn’t have a chance to experience it.


At 18:00, my wife’s friend drove her car to pick us up. A friend of my wife heard that we came to Hefei. Thus, he invited us to have dinner together. In fact, he ran a restaurant. We had a feast at his restaurant and went to the Hefei Railway Station because we had to get back to Xian.


We got on the train at 22:42 and finally got back Xian at 15:10 of the next day.