E

Huangshan must be the most famous mountain in China. When you are at the top of this mountain you are in or above three seas of clouds: The East, North, and West seas. By world standards Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is not particularly high, just 1800 meters (6000 ft) but there are plenty of heart-stopping precipitices where the earth is over a thousand meters below.

We got to Huangshan (in December, 1999; this is written five months later) by taking a bus 300 km (200 miles) west from Hangzhou through very rural and undeveloped country. A new expressway was being built parallel to our simple two-lane road and probably in a few years the countryside will undergo radical change.

Jan was sick and stayed in the hotel while Gerry went up. There is a cable car that wisks you to the top. Getting down by foot -- by leg power — leaves your legs feeling like jelly after the 1400 m (4500 ft) descent.

We write this from England as we are about to set off for Hong Kong and some consulting work in China.