Text and Photos by Xie Tingting and Allen Chai

Among the peaks of Changbai Mountain, on the border of China and North Korea, there lies a lake named Tianchi. Meaning "heavenly" in English, the locals will tell you Tianchi is a gift from God, and only the lucky can see it.

That's because at an altitude of 2,189 meters, it's very possible that while the foot of Changhai Mountain receives bright sunshine, the heavy clouds often drifting about its peaks could be covering Tianchi. So even though the day I headed out to see the lake was sunny and clear, I was still afraid I would fall amongst the 80% of tourists who are not lucky souls.

The trip from Baishan city (where we stayed) to Changbai Mountain is pretty long: over 200 kilometers, and almost 4 hours of driving. But the mountain scenery along the sinuous road makes up for the drive time. On both sides of the car I could see countless wildflowers swaying in the breeze. Living in a modern metropolis for so long, you forget how beautiful nature can be until a blanket of flowers reminds you.

As our jeeps climbed higher and higher on our way toward Changbai Mountain, I was surprised by the abundance of life at such high altitudes. The mountainsides remained green for most of our drive, and, according to our guide, harbored all sorts of wild fruit trees and wild animals. We realized we were really driving through China's wilderness.

After the 4 hours, our jeeps reached the western face of Changbai Mountain. With a route up each face (the eastern face belongs to North Korea), we, along with most visitors, chose to climb the western one. Safer than the other faces, which sometimes suffer from falling rock, climbing the western face has become even easier since locals built 1,234 stone steps leading to Tianchi.

Climbing up Changbai Mountain you'll likely tire quickly in the less oxygenated air. My advice is not to stop, as if you take a short break and sit on the stones along the path, you'll never want to get up, and feel even more tired when you do. (If found this out the hard way.)

When you exhaust all your energy and finally reach Tianchi (and it's not covered by clouds), the sight before you is not just a "wow" – it's more like a "Holy gorgeous day!" or something even better. Tianchi sits quietly like a gigantic sapphire stone treasured by the steep slopes. Some feel the urge to get down on their knees and thank God for letting them see such a beautiful scene.

But while we were just thinking about getting down our knees, one visitor actually did. He got down on one knee, and with Tianchi serving as witness, asked his girlfriend, "Will you marry me?" When the shy girl finally said "Yes", everybody began to applaud, and someone jumped up and shouted, "Man, you just did it!"

We all felt like extra lucky souls that day.

Also see:

Travel Express: Travel in Changbaishan

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