Trip to Changbaishan on North Korean Border (Pt. 2, Paektusan, West Peak)

yesterday sora's head to the North Peak of Chang baian and the surrounding areas day two in the Chang ban region and today um it's going to be a little bit hotter than the rest a little bit colder um than the rest of the days um yesterday it got up to like over the 20s um and today it's likeus 3 outside um in the night and it's about 5° now so getting all of the warm stuff that I bought that I thought I'd need yesterday I didn't need at all but definitely will'll need today as I'm heading to a more remote region um I'm heading to the West which not many people visit um it includes a 2hour hike so getting nice and warm I think it's about I'm currently in the north region in AR and then to get West I have to drive for about an hour and a half that way so yes anyway wish me look and hope it's not too cold so I have just arrived at the area to get in at the west gate West Peak area to go to chenu now everyone is wearing a lot more clothes than yesterday um and I obviously am as well but I feel way underdressed today like I don't know if you can see but everyone behind has got like on proper like ski boots and ski pants and stuff like that um I do have like I'm wearing just a top and a thermal right now but I do have um like a down jacket that I can put on underneath this if I need it um but I feel a little bit scared cuz it's a lot colder than yesterday it's also earlier in the day uh so it might be colder um and I have to walk a lot more so we got about a 2our hike to get up to chenu um Heavenly Lake hopefully it'll be fine I'm just in this waiting room right now and obviously you have to go through Security check looks like any Train Station Airport whatever in China where it's just you have to go through the security behind me and it bleeps every time but no one actually cares and checks and then you go through a ticket check with your passport bring your passport bring your ID the same one that you bought your ticket with um and it's basically from here we get dropped off um we go on the tourist buses so I got just got dropped off here um in in I think it's called chy I'm not quite sure um and it's a very much Lively Town than the one before I have to say but yeah ready to get up to chenu and have an explore a lot less touristy here and just excited for some nature and a bit more of a bit more of a hike I guess let's see how it goes it's goodar it's get to the cold [Music] [Music] there are much fewer tourists that visit here which is certainly reflected in the size of the buses compared to yesterday's ones this drive up is much quicker than the one on the North Slope and a lot prettier too with much more of a softer incline fewer winding roads and a good few throughout the [Music] journey okay so it was pretty windy as you can tell and here I'm basically just saying how windy it is and that the hike Starts Here Also whoever said it was 2 hours was definitely lying and it's not really a hike either it's just a loads of stairs I think it's snowing I think it's snowing anyway I never actually found out how long it does take because at the entrance this worker underestimated me and suggested I get a snowmobile instead of trying to walk well I was kind of offended but also mainly excited at the prospect of a snowmobile so I hurried on over for some wild reason this requires you to register at the police station upon reflection I presume this actually might be to do with insurance purposes so yes you also need your passport once I paid I then made my precarious way over to the snowmobiles and honestly I'd never ridden one of these before so it was pretty exciting and the wind had definitely started to pick up by now upon climbing aboard it wasn't long before I realized I'd missed a very crucial item of clothing gloves my started to freeze straight away also if you've ever ridden a snowmobile before you'll know that you need to hang on pretty tight so sorry for the poor footage here and but this was great F and almost worth the things freezing up all half I feel like an absolute cheat for getting that machine to take me up but now it was fun it's the first time I've ever been on a snowmobile so you know kind of had to wasn't too expensive oh my gosh how [Music] pretty a big difference up this spot is the lack of people I basically had this whole area to myself and over there is North [Music] Korea although in the end I couldn't stay too long for genuine fit of losing my fingers it is a lot colder than it looks and I was certainly underprepared when I say I didn't stay long I really mean it I stayed at the top of here for about 5 minutes and even then it was a real push to have to make myself to stay there it was only here a couple of minutes before the wind really started to pick up I had to physically hold on very tight to not get blown into the lake and for my glamour to be blown in either there was genuinely a few times I almost slipped on the snow beneath me I've got to say even though I traveled and paid a lot to come here I was so happy to get off that slope as quick as possible the weather had gone from kind of cold to crazy cold and was getting even crazyer when I was leaving at high altitudes the weather here is very changeable [Music] [Music] I have never been so close to the point that I literally thought that I might lose my fingers like I thought that I was going to lose my fingers to this trip I they are in such pain right now I'm currently undergoing the they're tingling so badly because I'm in warmth and I have hot coffee but at the same time they're still cold like they're still cold and also hurting from like timing and stuff so okay I was unprepared I should have broke lip this snowmobile ride totally worth it thank God they have of course noodles and tea up here I'll give you very simple but just what I needed okay it's time to say goodbye and goodbye to my fingers Maybe what a the wind started to pick up so unfortunately I decided it was time to get off the mountain actually I'd kind of booked onto a tour today through trip.com using trip is a must in China and we had a few other interesting stops on the way in the west area they also have tourist buses but one big difference here is you'll probably be the only one in them and they're much smaller of course my whole trip after this point I hardly saw one other tourist the entire few hours I spent here pretty crazy considering it's a big mountain [Music] range definitely a real lack of tourist here just me on this whole bus and it literally just left because of me as well I think the driver was a little St it's about 88 minute Journey from here to The Gorge Canyon I don't know what we're going to something anyway let's see so this is the [Music] entrance 11° right now let's go this time it really is just me on the trail that bus just took me um I was in my own bus to come down the mountain uh from tenen and now I am also in the in my and then I was also in my own bir to go from the like changing Junction to this place it was very nice nice little Trail all to myself it makes me feel a little bit better for not um doing the steps before now I do get a little bit of a hike and see what this Gorge Canyon has to offer I think I am a little underdressed it is a little chilly [Music] don't know if you can see it on camera but all of that dust is being picked up from the wind That's How Strong the wind is right now thankfully I'm in a little area that's covered from the wind but look at that being pulled up by the [Music] wind this apparently is oh know the wind again one second this apparently is the best viewing spot for the canyon and I think they were correct ah it's behind me it's so beautiful and like I didn't come for this it's not like why I'm here but it's this beautiful vast expanse of trees and rocks and river and it's just beautiful like you can see down there you can also see how windy it is it's not actually that cold just beautiful and I just love the fact I mean it's obviously really nicely done as well very like kind of tourist friendly I just love the fact that this is like a secondary little site to go to this is what I love about China just the nature there's so much of this you know that's just like casual just like here whereas actually it's it's actually it's pretty damn fabulous if it weren't for all of the Dust All Around Me from uh from the um the wind right now but anyway let's see what else this place has to offer okay I guess 800 m to the exit I'm already there so this part the tour that I booked online and before we go back there's like a couple of stops this is one of them it's probably the most random place I've ever been in it's this um wooden Village and there's a bit of an explanation online but just one of those really bizarre places that I think it's probably sponsored by like some kind of Tour company or something or like one of those things it's like part of a tour but it's obviously not the main attraction and it's just so Random like like I don't know if people live here or it's just a tourist thing anyway there's no one here real little shops for different things like tofu and oh my God a dog looks like he's had better days and uh yeah just looks like rural Chinese village life to be honest made into a bit of a uh tourist attraction it's very random hi sweetie another one sat down from donkeys back to the city it was time for a walk around and a little bit of unexplored before I had to leave there is a pretty nice Viewpoint here to check out the sunset and also a nice River and here is where we were up today CH myen the final part of this trip ended up being a a pretty relaxing one you cannot come to this region without enjoying this hot springs so before my night train back to Beijing this was the perfect option I love Chinese Spas ones like this are mixed so you have to wear swimwear you can spend all day here basically just chilling out usually the prices cover a half day or a whole day they have different rooms with different temperatures or different Vibes they have your own personal little areas or just chairs and tables to sit and relax on and have some noodles as well as pools to swim in and an outdoor one which was just too too much Bliss since it started snowing too it's times like that that I just don't catch on camera since I'm too busy in the moment sorry I'm out of the spa unfortunately and just got to railway station which you can see behind me which I guess unfortunately concludes this journey for now for me the sounds of China my gosh for me I still have about 15 hours of Journey to go but I'm not going to put you guys through that so I'll say bye for now and thanks for joining and Chang baian is like a low tier city right let me leave you with these parting notes a low tier City small population quite touristy during tourist season but otherwise bit of a hole look at this place amazing perfect let me flip you around ridiculous all right you may have your opinions about China but like ridiculous anyway hope you enjoyed it talk to you next time