Kevin (a Chinese graduate student who was part of our Nanjing classroom) arrived promptly at my hotel in Nanjing at 10 am. We then proceeded to track down our bus, step aboard, and make our way to one of the most famous natural landmarks of the city.

Purple Mountain was given its name because of its majesty. Once a mountain that held the emperor’s quarters, it now serves as the home for the Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory. It also serves to house twisting trails and steep rock formations that beg to be climbed.

Our bus ride to this outside corner of Nanjing began with a baby both urinating and pooping on the seat next to me. Not to be deterred, I simply took a few steps back and kept my head facing forward as I watched the bus narrowly miss destroying a few civilians and run numerous cars off the road. I mean, I’ve seen SEPTA run over a few bicyclists, but I’m fairly confident our driver, if placed in Philadelphia, would have had a higher tally than all of SEPTA combined. And that’s the thing with driving in China, you simply can’t directly compare it with driving in the states. Every native Chinese I’ve spoken to has consistently said that the Chinese are proud of their driving skills and while they may scare some foreigners, they rarely get into accidents and are always in control of their vehicles. Alright back to the story of the mountain…

Once we got off at our stop, Kevin took us on a 20-30 minute walk to the base of the mountain. At that point I still had no idea what I was getting myself into. We picked up a few bottles of chilled Tang (remember that orange drink that reached its peak popularity in the states sometime in the mid 90’s?) and began the first leg of the hike. This consisted of traveling across an endless wooden walkway for God knows how long. The bamboo trees that towered on both sides of the path left landmarks hidden and countless wooden planks indistiguishable from the next. We did eventually reach a tower of stairs which led us to the chair lift that would have taken us directly up to the top of the mount effortlessly if I hadn’t been so terrified of heights.

Now dodging the chair lift meant starting the upward climb consisting of shattered stone steps, dirt paths, twisted wood littered about, and snapped trees all at such an obtuse angle upward that taking a break meant clinging to a trunk, ringing out your t-shirt drenched in 90+ degree sweat, sighing a deep sigh and taking a few breaths before pushing on. It was merciless, and lasted somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours.

At the end of the last dirt trail we were greeted by a much appreciated rest stop where we could restock on some much needed Tang (believe me folks, it was the best stuff they had), and sit down before embarking on the final leg which would lead us to the summit/observatory.

When I looked up at the cliff we now how to climb I honestly didn’t think it would be that bad. Kevin was supportive of this idea and reassured me that I’d be fine. After about 50 ft up the stone I realized it might be a little tougher than I imagined. Every time I turned around I was greeted by the full scenic view including well over a one thousand foot drop… it was gorgeous, but it was terrifying.

The city of Nanjing was grazed by a thick cloud of smog with waves of trees rushing up off it toward the rocks behind me. The sky above was blue, a sight rarely seen in areas around the cities. I saw wild birds swimming it as the sun glared on me and my cold slipping hands that eventually forced me to retake my ledge and regain my focus. It took about another half an hour to climb to the top of the stone face.

Here the mountain was covered in thick vegetation with sharp rocks darting out obscurely. Unfortunately when I climbed out to the very tip of one of these boulders to attempt a picture of this magnificent place I froze out of sheer fear and exhaustion. Consequently here are pictures from slightly safer viewpoints that still capture at least the partial beauty of this absolutely stunning place.

p.s. we took a taxi down. Kevin was holding out on us.

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