(no subject)
Sep. 28th, 2007 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranI went for a short walk after lunch today, and found myself on top of Mount Tai. Mount Tai, or "Taishan" to use the Chinese version, is a sacred mountain in the province of Shandong. It's probably the most famous of all the mountains in China. It's not particularly high, but it does stand out over the surrounding area and it has stood high over the emerging Chinese civilisation for thousands of years.
I came to Taishan en route from Shanghai to Beijing. It was a convenient place to break the train journey, and once I knew it was on the route, I knew I had to go there. Climbing Taishan is not technically hard, but is strenuous. Just imagine a nice seven kilometre walk up a hill. Now imagine the last three kilometres are all up tiny steps. Now imagine the last two hundred metres are what seem like by now to be nearly vertical steps. Now imagine, that as you're huffing and puffing and trying to drag your screaming thighs up one more set of ten steps between rests, you look up ahead and the gate that you thought marked the end is only on a false peak and there's another two hundred metres to go. Then, of course, you get to the top and spot the cable car up the other side.
One of the things I remember most is walking around at the top, taking in the view from different sides. The horizon was actually quite hazy that day, but that's not all that unusual. There were lots of Chinese tourists milling around, some who had walked up, some who had taken the cable and some who had even stayed overnight in a guest house near the summit, in order to catch the sunrise. One man came to me and stared at me as though in amazement. He asked where I was from, and I replied (still a little out of breath) "Aodaliya" (Australia). His eyes widened even more. He said something else that I couldn't catch and then tugged my T-shirt and gave a thumbs up. It was only then that I noticed that everyone else was wearing heavy winter clothes. He couldn't believe I was dressed so lightly. It would at least half an hour, after the reaching the summit, that I even felt the cold.
I came to Taishan en route from Shanghai to Beijing. It was a convenient place to break the train journey, and once I knew it was on the route, I knew I had to go there. Climbing Taishan is not technically hard, but is strenuous. Just imagine a nice seven kilometre walk up a hill. Now imagine the last three kilometres are all up tiny steps. Now imagine the last two hundred metres are what seem like by now to be nearly vertical steps. Now imagine, that as you're huffing and puffing and trying to drag your screaming thighs up one more set of ten steps between rests, you look up ahead and the gate that you thought marked the end is only on a false peak and there's another two hundred metres to go. Then, of course, you get to the top and spot the cable car up the other side.
One of the things I remember most is walking around at the top, taking in the view from different sides. The horizon was actually quite hazy that day, but that's not all that unusual. There were lots of Chinese tourists milling around, some who had walked up, some who had taken the cable and some who had even stayed overnight in a guest house near the summit, in order to catch the sunrise. One man came to me and stared at me as though in amazement. He asked where I was from, and I replied (still a little out of breath) "Aodaliya" (Australia). His eyes widened even more. He said something else that I couldn't catch and then tugged my T-shirt and gave a thumbs up. It was only then that I noticed that everyone else was wearing heavy winter clothes. He couldn't believe I was dressed so lightly. It would at least half an hour, after the reaching the summit, that I even felt the cold.
