Climbing Up Mount Tai 泰山 … Not!

I just started walking up the endless flight of stairs up to the top of Mount Tai 泰山 together with a multitude of Chinese tourists. The Chinese really make it a point to climb up these stairs and thousands have done before. Actually, it is best if you do not climb these stairs on public holidays as you will know the meaning of Ren Shan Ren Hai 人山人海, “a mountain of people, a sea of people”, that probably doesn’t need any more explanation. I was only up a few flights of stairs when I already found myself panting, my legs were still sore from walking the Great Wall of China just the other day and I was wondering if I have the legs to take me all the way up to the top of Mount Tai.

When I turned a bend, I finally saw my goal. It was so far away! Not only was it so far away, it was so high up. I quickly tried to rationalize my goal here. I need to get up to the top of Mount Tai, but I don’t think I was feeling up to it. Then I remembered my best excuse to skip this, my friend was meeting me for lunch after I get down from the mountain. It takes three hours to climb up the stairs of Mount Tai. Of course, it would be grand to retrace the steps of emperors but I didn’t really feel like it. Besides, climbing up all by your lonesome isn’t so nice.

In other words, I wussed out. I turned back and quickly made my way to the cable car station which was nearby. There was a small queue there but it was manageable. It was a bit irritating to see entire tour groups cut the queue without even asking. I supposed someone was already queueing for them. The cable car ride costs CNY 80. A bit expensive, but here you pay for comfort. I was lucky enough to be seated inside a car with tour leaders, which meant that they don’t care about the view anymore. So I was happily snapping away. The view was awesome but it was getting more and more misty up the mountain. Still it was nowhere as bad what I saw the previous day.

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