Hanging in China

[mad_angler]

I travel to China a lot. I have my weekends free. I've thought about hiking Huangshan mountain. It is a large mountain area that is a popular tourist spot. I think it is pretty wooded.

I'm thinking of bringing my hammock and just disappearing into the woods at dusk and reappearing at dawn.

Has anyone ever went hammock camping in China?

http://wikitravel.org/en/Huangshan

[Hawk-eye]

In our last apartment in Nantong I had a rig where I could hang instead of sleeping in that God awlful Chinese platform they called a bed but haven't been to any places that would be acceptable to camping.

Huangshan is a tourist area ... not sure how many places you will find to camp and pretty sure you'd have to stealth camp. Not sure I'd do that but hey ... I'm not as immortal as I was when I was younger!

[gt7599a]

Recreational Camping in there is a relatively new thing. They don't have a well developed Provincial/National camping system yet but I think this will change rapidly. It is becoming much more popular and at least one of the major tourist sites (Jiu Zhai Gou) already has an offical camping/hiking route.

I suggest getting a guide or joining a local tour group trip. Just find the outdoor camping gear stores in whatever city your in. Prices are very affordable and you'll have a local to run interference for you, know how much to pay the local farmer to camp in his peach orchard or say "so sorry" if you end up in a place that non-locals aren't supposed to be for some reason (not generally an issue on the eastern part of the country but it is an issue you can run into in the western part of the country). They can also recommend trip routes and hostels.

The locals are extremely gracious with foreigners and will cut you slack they won't give their own countrymen but be prepared to have someone polity tell you, "you can't camp here." Don't expect the question, "Why not?" or "Who can I ask permission from?" to get you very far. Its a cultural thing. It might not happen but being prepared to have to move will help give you the right attitude.

Enjoy your time there, its a beautiful country and the people are generally extremely friendly.

Ed

[mad_angler]

Ed,

What about stealth hanging? do you know if Huangshan is wooded enough for this to work?

[gt7599a]

Sorry, I don't, never been Huangshan (yellow mountain). If it's like some of the other mountains I've been to, you could probably stealth hang but it's an extremely popular destination and its probably fairly populated. You can give it a go, the worst that'll probably happen is you get asked to move or extorted for money by an opportunist claiming to own the land your on (had the latter happen, not fun)

If they let you sleep in the temples you could probably hang. I don't know if this is an option, I suggest checking Lonely Planet book or website.

Ed