It’s Qingming holiday in China and our family + Naicha’s friend’s family went on a quick hiking in the morning. The hiking route is only about 13min from Coastal City mall and the hike can take about 40-60min depending on how fast you walk or how often you take a break. There were 3 adults and 3 kids (aged 2,5 and 6) so it took us about 50 min to finish the course.
There are some parking spaces available on normal days but since it was the holiday (and we didn’t want to circle back to the car), we decided to take a taxi there and order another taxi once we get to the other side of the mountain,
When you get there it’s hard to know where the trail starts, especially if it is your first time going there. Just get off at the supermarket follow the alley way in the village (towards the mountain side) and you will see a the entrance with steps going up the mountain (don’t worry, it’s really easy to find it once you are there).
The initial climb up the mountain is always the hardest part of the hike and even with the kids (and carrying Kele most of the way), it only took about 15-20min with a couple of breaks in between. Once you are up on the top, the rest of the hike is super easy. It is Naicha’s second time coming to this particular hiking trail so it was a breeze for her. I think it is always easier for kids to hike when they have a friend to go with – less complaining. So if you are a parent and want to take kids on a hike, try to get another family to tag along.
The hiking trail is really well maintained and the one we went on is just a small part of a large hiking trail in Wuxi. There are plenty of signs, ribbons along the trees and trash bins throughout the walk. Trail is wide and safe enough for kids to walk independently. There were a lot of hikers on the day, more than usual, probably due to the Qingming holiday. We even bumped into a family who were walking to the other side of the mountain just to get to the Three Kingdoms attractions because apparently it is faster to hike over the mountain than to slow crawl through traffic around the mountain on a public holiday, and I totally believe them.
Anyway, in China, I find many people really like outdoor activities. Coming from Australia and New Zealand where we are known for doing things outdoors, it’s nice to know there are plenty of outdoor mountains and forests you can hike in China. So if you like doing something outdoors, there’s always something you can do – you just have to do some research on where you can go.
One of the highlight of this hike was seeing the super friendly cats. Last time we came we saw the cats and we bought some cat treats just so that if we ever came back to this trail again, we would share with the cats -and that time finally came. Kids really loved spending some time with the cats, feeding and petting them. You will be surprised at how friendly these cats were. They weren’t afraid nor aggressive. These cats are as chilled as they come, probably they are used to so many hikers going by every day. Note to yourself – always take some cat treats with you on a hike, you’ll never know when you will come across a super cute cats on a hike.
After saying goodbyes to the cats, we kept walking down the mountain, through the village and finally reach the main road on the other side of the mountain. The only downside was that it took almost an hour for the taxi to arrive in the holiday traffic and another 30min to get home (which normally would only take about 10 min). It certainly reminded me why we don’t like to travel during Chinese public holidays.
