Tai Shan - Stairway to Heaven

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Day 1

We arrived in Tai’an (the town at the foot of Tai Shan) at about half six in the morning, bought tickets for our onward journey to Beijing (still no sleeper’s available, but we managed to book seats this time) and headed off in a taxi to find a hotel, we were taken to a hotel too far out of town but using my phrasebook I managed to talk the driver into taking us to a hotel nearer the centre of town and nearer the start of the trail head for climbing the mountain.

Our plans were to climb the mountain today and then see what was about in the town tomorrow before the train left late at night, but as we got absolutely no sleep on the train we decided to leave the climb till tomorrow, catch up on some sleep and see what the town has to offer this afternoon.

Tai’an is a beautiful little town which is nicely presented and as with the rest of China incredibly clean and tidy (no litter stays on the ground more than ten minutes before a street cleaner whisks it away). We strolled into town and found an internet café to catch up on emails etc… I’m getting to know the Chinese phrase for ‘where can I get online?’ very well now, as online access seems to be hidden away in most places.

We ambled down the street and came upon a Chinese produce market selling all kinds of fruit, veg, meat and fish, which was really interesting as we could only recognise half of what was being sold. While there I managed to buy some dumplings from a street vendor, some of which were filled with meat and some with vegetables, these were quite possibly the nicest things I’ve eaten while being here and I’ll definitely buy some more if I spot them again. I also bought some Moon Cake as it’s coming up to Moon Festival time and I got hooked on the things last year in Singapore!

From here it was onwards to the Dai Temple, the main attraction in town. This temple is traditionally a pilgrimage stop on the road to the sacred mountain. The complex was huge and it was nice to wander around with the smell of incense in the air.

After spending a couple of hours at the temple we wandered back to our hotel to get a good night sleep before the climb tomorrow.

Day 2

We didn’t get up too early this morning as we’ve read that it’s an eight hour round trip, to walk up the central route of the mountain and than back down via the western route. Easily done, before our train leaves.

Tai Shan is the most revered of the five sacred Taoist peaks, it’s also the most climbed mountain on earth. Its spiritual significance attracts Chinese in their droves and it’s also said that if you climb Tai Shan you’ll live to be 100 years old.

The mountain is 1545m above sea level and has 6660 steps to the summit. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, it was already looking like a good day to climb a mountain. We walked to the start of the central route, which was a good couple of kilometres; it’s not good to start climbing a mountain when you’re tired already but off we went. We started the climb in good spirits and the steps started straight away but there were long gaps between sets of steps so it wasn’t too hard. On the route there are many bridges, trees, streams, towers, inscriptions, pavilions and temples so plenty to see along the way. It’s just a shame we can’t read any Chinese as I’m sure a lot of the calligraphy carved and painted on the surrounding rocks are very motivational. As the walk progressed the distance between each set of steps got smaller and smaller and the gaps between our breaks got shorter and shorter.

We reached Midway Gate to Heaven, which is about 3.5km in a couple of hours and sat and rested for a while as we were thoroughly exhausted already. The view from this point was stunning so we knew things could only get better.

There is a bus that leads up to this point from the town, and then a cable car which goes all the way to the summit of the mountain. This is a favoured option of many, who don’t want to climb but want to enjoy the view; many also start their walk from here though so the final climb was a lot busier. We got our butts back off the ground and started climbing again already deciding that the cable car looks like a good option of getting down as we knew there was no way we’d make the walk back down considering the state we were already in!

The final part of the climb was pure hell, we were absolutely knackered, our legs had disowned us and I’d been partially destroyed by mosquitoes (that’s why no-one else was wearing shorts). It was made even worse by the fact that we could see the final pathway and all the steps awaiting us and leading up to the summit. On the way we got chatting to some considerably older, rounder Chinese men who’d started at the midway point with us. They explained to us the significance of some of the sights along the way and then while we had another short rest they took off at great speed, laughing and enjoying themselves, proving that youth means nothing!

After a lot of moaning and complaining and one last push we finally made it to the summit. Our legs were like jelly and refusing to do any more work so we just sat down for a moment to relish the thought that there were no more steps to climb… It took us five and a half hours to reach the top, we were trembling with exhaustion but it was completely worth it, we were confronted with the most incredible view and a beautiful sunset.

While we were admiring the view of the town we saw the cable cars stop, only then did I check and realised that the cable cars stop operating between 5:30 and 6. Arghhhhhhhhhh… That means we’ll have to walk down to the midway point.

First off we grabbed a bite to eat, hoping to gain a spurt of energy to carry ourselves down the mountain. The light was fading fast and the route isn’t lit so we hurried down our meal then set of… Again!!! You might think its easier climbing down but by the end it was pitch black and we were feeling our way down. We finally made it down to the bus stop, and then rode the bus down the final half of the mountain fighting sleep all the way. We picked up our bags from the hotel and the rushed to the train station to catch our 7hr overnight train to Beijing. Here’s hoping we sleep well, we should do!

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Photos

Dai Temple
Flags blowing in the wind on the walls of the temple!

Dai Temple
One of the buildings on the corners of the wall that completely surrounds the complex.

Tai Shan
The start of the trail head.

Tai shan
The view at midway point...

Tai Shan
This sign was about 3/4 of the way up... We were a little confused as to what we'd been doing up to that point!

Tai Shan
When you're knackered already this is the last thing you want to see...

Tai shan
This really nice gentleman talked to us on the way before taking off... He wanted a picture with us, and I promise he made us do that with our hands, it wasn't our idea!

Tai Shan
Almost at the top, and the view gets better and better!

Tai Shan
I'm at the top looking down... C'mon Faye you can make it!

Tai Shan
The view from the top... You can see the stairway snaking off into the distance!

Comments

[Mike]

Have fun
Glad to see things are going well, I'm enjoying your story and probably not as tired as you must be after that stairway. We are missing you Mike Walker

[Josh]

I only read "and as with the rest of China incredibly clean and tidy", but I had to comment. I suppose you haven't seen rural China or smaller cities. The complete opposite of clean and tidy.