Stairway to Hea-eh-ven

The next day in Tai'an we went to the mountain, Tai Shan (hey that rhymes!). Tai Shan is by no means a huge mountain, but I can honestly say it wasn't a pleasant journey up. The Chinese don't believe in tranquil mountain paths. Instead, they build steep staircases that wind up to the summit. As I was walking up the path I couldn't help thinking about which job would I want less: creating this staircase, or building the Great Wall? Staircase, of course. I was trying to remain positive, but around the 5, 458th step I was sure the Great Wall sounded like a better idea. Supposedly, Tai Shan has 6,666 steps from the base to the summit, but I lost count somewhere around number twenty. It was a great day for hiking, however, and that kept perspiration to a minimum. Despite being a large, stone staircase, the path really has some beautiful scenery. Though, it is mixed with the multitudes of restaurants and shops that dot the mountain. Which leads to another incredible thought: How would you like to own/run a shop at 1345 meters above sea level (that's only two-thirds the way up) where all your goods have to be brought up an insane amount of steps, hand delivered? There are roads, but most of the stores are far away from any, preferring the foot traffic of the mountain visitors. Thankfully, the shopkeeps are very passive and don't really care to annoy the trekkers. Although, about half way up the mountain there was a crazy, bearded man that was giving all the Westerners big, smelly hugs.

You might be thinking, "Why do people climb Tai Shan?" Good question. If you look in the guide books, they'll tell you that people climb it because its the most holy mountain in Daoism. But, if you ask the Chinese, they'll tell you that many important people have climbed it, and indeed they have. If I may return to many Americans' favorite revolutionary, Mao Zedong once said from atop Tai Shan, "The East is Red." It sure was. . .is, I mean! Just with "Chinese (capitalist) characteristics." But my favorite quote from atop Tai Shan comes from Confucius (Kongzi to the Chinese) who said, "The world is small." Someone should make a song about that. A handful of Chinese emperors also climbed Tai Shan. The mountain does indeed have a few temples, the most famous being the Azure Cloud Temple. In the good ol' days, sacrifices could be made to Heaven on top of the mountain. It was also believe that it is the first place the sun rose, so many people would come and worship at daybreak, and in fact, many people still do. There are hotels, restaurants, and shops on top of the mountain, but the greatest things are of course, the views. At the very peak of the mountain, another temple stands where Chinese couples go with padlocks and lock them onto a large altar. The padlocks represent their eternal love. . .awww. However, the temple is very small, so be prepared to throw some elbows while crowding inside (getting eternal love is never easy, after all). Mercifully, we didn't have to walk down the mountain. Tai Shan has nice, scenic cable-car rides up and down, so we hopped on one and enjoyed the view. I think enough has been said about the mountain, so here's some pictures:

Oh man, still a long way to go. If you look closely between the two ridges you'll see the staircase and a little bit of the main gate. All those dots are people.

Shoo! Just a little bit closer. The gate is the most crowded (and dangerous) part of the trail. A lot of jerks ride the cable car up the mountain, walk over to the gate, and take a picture looking like they just climbed the mountain. That's the main reason there's so many bodies there.

Finally! And what a beautiful time of day. If you look closely to the left of the pic, you'll see a large Chinese bell temple, and once again, some dots that are people. In the top right corner of the picture, a possible UFO (maybe this mountain really is holy after all).

Nothing says loving like an engraved padlock. Although, I doubt this would go over too well on Valentine's Day.

After a little rest and napping, Mr. Li took us out to one of the best restaurants in Tai'an. We got to try a very popular Chinese dish for the first time, hotpot. Hotpot is basically like fondue without the trendy setup. The table has hotplates built into it, and each person sits in front of one. The restaurant places a large pot in front of you, spicy or mild. Darbie wanted mild, but through a mix-up ended up going spicy with me. It was delicious. Just like fondue, you dump food,veggies, tofu, into the pot, let it cook, and dig it out with chopsticks and enjoy. It can get pretty steamy in the room, and there are a lot of runny noses, but I highly recommend the experience.

Your nose should be running already. I'm proud to say that I held this. I held it.

A super-steamy hotpot room. Those nice pink rolls are beef and lamb. Chinese love lamb. That nice couple you see to the left are our friends and neighbors, Fatima (from Mexico) and Joachim (from Norway). Next to them are the nice, and very British, Colliers. They crack us up with their vocabulary: smashing, quite lovely, cheerio, etc.

This is me and Mr. Li. How can you not love that face? Not his, mine! I hope our next hotpot meal isn't too far away.

Lastly, I want to include a video of some intense manual labor. I'm narrating during the video, so no explanation is needed. Note my "out-of-breathness."

Incredible.

Hope all is well wherever you may be,

KM

DB is currently in the States with her family after her Grandmother's passing. I want to send along my thoughts to the Bryant/Duncan/Simmons clan. You can too if you want, at darbieb@hotmail.com