Today, we headed to Baekdu-san, an old volcano that erupted around 1000 AD which is on the border of North Korea and China. After a four-hour bus ride (starting at 4:30am) in a cramped Asian bus (just saying, Asians don’t make their vehicles for people my size—I couldn’t even fit my legs in my seat, I had to sit sideways so my feet were hanging out by themselves in the aisle!) we got to the first parking lot.
There’s a big Chinese gate and promenade to get in, like at Disneyland. After paying 100RMB/$15 to get in, you have to pay 30RMB/$4.50 to take a bus to the second parking lot, then 80RMB/$12 to get up to the top of the mountain in jeep-like SUVs. And btw, this is all run by the Chinese government, which has obviously embraced capitalism!
The weather was having an identity crisis. It would be nice and partly cloudy then suddenly get really foggy, then rain, then get partly sunny. We hung out at the top of Changbai Mountain for awhile, waiting for views of the magnificent 8-mile-wide, 1000-foot deep heaven’s lake through intermittent fog. It was incredible. I will post a pic. Across the lake is North Korea.
We also hiked to a huge waterfall that comes down on the China side of the mountain, passing through Yellowstone NP-like hot-springs bubbling up from the ground on the way. After another hike through the “dell forest”, we got back on the bus (I refolded myself to fit into the bus again) and headed back to Yanji. We got back 16 hours after we started, at 8:30.
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