Some reflections after returning from Jiuhua Mountain

The scenery at Jiuhua Mountain is beautiful this season, with a large temperature difference between morning and evening. Before setting off, besides checking the temperature of the Jiuhua Mountain Scenic Area, remember to also check the wind forecast. Whether it’s windy on the mountain greatly affects the perceived temperature, especially when you’re sweaty from climbing and a gust of wind hits you—it’s really chilling! About the Great Vow Cultural Park: Many people go there just to see the 99-meter Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva statue, which is free to view, but other attractions require payment. The distance from the main gate to the statue is quite far, and climbing up is physically demanding, so be mentally prepared. My friend and I, with the mindset of “since we’re here,” bought their 99 yuan combo ticket; in hindsight, 99 yuan isn’t a bad value, but time could have been used more efficiently. They have a pavilion with nice interior decoration, but it can be skipped. The park shuttle bus is divided into two segments; when you get off the first segment, you receive a red string on which you can write your name and make a wish. This red string can also be skipped because it leads you to buy 1-3 golden gourds (30 yuan each), and queuing wastes time. (I felt a bit uneasy about this because there was no mention of buying gourds at the start…) About transportation within Jiuhua Mountain Park: After buying the 50 yuan Jiuhua Mountain ticket, you can take the park shuttle bus. Remember to ask locals for the bus stop to Tiantai Scenic Area and wait there. I think the best plan is to board the bus early in the morning near Jiuhua Street and go directly to the Great Tiantai Scenic Area. There are many steps there, which takes time and energy, so spend 2-4 hours there, then take the bus down the mountain and enjoy the sights along the way. Otherwise, waiting at a middle stop to go uphill is almost impossible due to no available seats. We only decided to go to Great Tiantai after worshipping at the Moon Body Treasure Hall. Seeing the bus queue situation, we took a local’s car to Great Tiantai instead. The price was 20 yuan per person, but it was worth it because it dropped us near the cable car ticket office, saving us a climb (after getting off the bus, you have to climb some steps to reach the cable car). The scenery at Great Tiantai is really beautiful—you must go! But since we didn’t have enough time to visit the Flower Terrace, we felt even more that we wasted time at the Great Vow Cultural Park. Cable car: The round-trip cable car at Great Tiantai costs 120 yuan, which I think is very worth it because the ride is quite long (5-6 minutes) and the scenery along the way is beautiful. Seeing how steep the cable car route is, I appreciate the difficulty of building it, so the ticket price is reasonable! As for the Baishou Palace cable car, it costs 80 yuan round-trip. If you have enough time and energy, you can consider walking up slowly. The ride is shorter, and walking up yourself doesn’t seem too difficult. Finally, I want to thank the sanitation workers at Jiuhua Mountain. The public restrooms are quite clean considering the number of visitors, which shows how hard it is to maintain cleanliness. Especially at the Great Tiantai Scenic Area, with many steps and steep paths, I saw sanitation workers cleaning and carrying trash down the mountain both uphill and downhill. One sanitation worker carrying two large bags of trash on his shoulders said the bags probably weighed about 100 jin (approximately 110 pounds), which sounded exhausting! But the sanitation workers I saw all seemed happy and very dedicated. I salute them! Additional tip: Remember to bring 3 pairs of sunglasses!