Home again

Well, it was a great two weeks in China, but as they say, all good things must come to an end. It was an eye opening journey, and I'm already thinking about when I'll get a chance to go back to explore again. Hopefully soon.

A lesson in Taoism on Tai Shan

A chain barrier sags under the weight of hundreds of locks outside a Taoist temple on the trail to Tai Shan in Shandong province.

With our successful climbing of Tai Shan, our adventure in China has more or less come to a close -- albeit a highly fitting one. While I started the day feeling a bit sick to my stomach from some spicy chicken the night before, a few breakfast dumplings and the energy of several thousand of my fellow climbers made me feel a lot better.

It took about five or six hours of climbing interspersed by water and snack breaks -- 6600 steps to 1545 meters above sea level, a vertical climb of over a kilometer. I'm not sure whether climbing Tai Shan is like truly experiencing a microcosm of Chinese culture, as a passage in one of our guidebooks suggests, but it certainly is a phenomenal and fitting adventure for the last day of our trip; from this point forward all of our travel is focused on getting home again.

You're rarely on your own in China, and climbing mountains is certainly no exception. Accompanying us on our ascent were countless pilgrims, several groups of police providing security, hawkers and small businessmen selling all sorts of pilgrimage related items (sticks for walking, incense for burning, water for drinking) and sadly, a few disfigured beggars looking for charity.

The religious significances of the path itself were unfortunately lost on me to a good degree. The entire length of the path to the top there are inscriptions written on the stones and boulders, some of which certain pilgrims would choose to pose next to for photographs. (We also saw this on Huang Shan.) Also red ribbons are sold (two of which Thomas and I bought for 2 Yuan each), and many of these ribbons are tied, along with an offering of money, to a tree or another edifice near one of the various temples that one comes across during the ascent. There was also a custom of engraving a lock with one's name and affixing it to a chain outside one of the temples along the way. You could buy such locks all along the path to the top, the most expensive of which that I saw costing 60 Yuan (About eight dollars.) And then of course there were the massive amounts of incense being offered, some in very large packages costing up to 200 Yuan. Sometimes a pilgrim would light such a large package upon reaching the altar at a specific temple, only to have it removed seconds later to be burned more quickly out of sight.

Inside the temples themselves, the pilgrims would kneel in front of statues of their selected deity, offer more money or sometimes a food item, and then bow, usually several times. It took some time before I realized the seriousness with which some of the pilgrims were making these journeys. While certainly there were a number of climbers who were more interested in the hiking aspect of climbing Tai Shan, I would say a majority of the pilgrims were dedicated Taoists. As one who doesn't take religion all that seriously, it was really something interesting for me to see, and I was happy to have the opportunity to see this aspect of Chinese culture up close.

Holidays in Tai'an

Tai Shan mountain rises over the city of Tai'an in Shandong province.

It took us a little less than seven hours or so to get here to Tai'an from Xuzhou -- sometimes it seems like it takes seven hours to get anywhere in China, regardless of distance. The bus ride provided a unique insight into bus travel in China. While our coach was nearly full upon leaving the station, our driver pulled over seemingly every 15 minutes or so to let on an extra passenger or two, thereby sweetening the deal for himself and the attendant. We also picked up several pieces of large cargo, which I assume we shipped at less than the going postal rate.

As we left Xuzhou and headed into Shandong province, the surroundings slowly changed from swampy to more arid and mountainous. Early in the journey we crossed the Grand Canal, once a highly valuable transportation waterway but today a silted over historical footnote. As our driver specifically avoided the freeways in order to save on tolls, we also got a good look at rural traffic conditions; in other words, donkey-drawn carts, pedicabs, pedestrians, bicyclists, buses and cargo vans all sharing the same roads.

Fortunately, here in Tai'an we've found a quieter and smaller town with numerous views of the city's main attraction: the sacred mountain Tai Shan. Which is not to say that it is all that quiet or all that small. We wandered the streets today with what seemed to be many Chinese on holiday -- people were busy shopping, eating and making travel plans. Some of the larger shops had set up small stages for live performances or demonstrations, and the streets were packed with vendors and salespeople selling everything from city maps to jumper cables to fresh pineapple. I bought some kind of high-density cake that was being sold all over town, although I'm not sure if it's a speciality to this region or is something that gets brought out for the May holidays -- kind of like our Christmas fruitcake. It weighs much more than I thought it would (and regrettably was being sold per unit of weight, so I also shelled out a lot more than I expected) so we'll probably save it for the trip back to Beijing on Friday. I don't think it'll make for good backpacking food on the way up the mountain, which should take up about eight hours of our day tomorrow.

May Day in Xuzhou

Part of the less famous -- but still interesting -- Han dynasty terracotta army at Xuzhou.

My friend Thomas and I have been in Xuzhou since yesterday afternoon, and despite it being a major transit hub, home to a lake, a spacious mountain park, a terracotta army, and an amusement park, it's decidedly off the beaten tourist path.

Perhaps part of the problem is that the train transit connections are inconvenient. And then the lake is polluted and has a busy road built across it -- although I did see a couple of people happily swimming in it yesterday evening. The mountains, while pretty, offered only compromised views due to the massive amounts of smog. The terracotta army (while still a AAAA-rated cultural attraction according to the Chinese tourism bureau) was built at a fourth of the scale of its more famous counterpart in Xi'an, which makes it look kind of like a set of toys in comparison. And the amusement park looks like it hasn't been maintained since the 60s or 70s -- probably around when it was built.

It's a bit sad, because with such natural and cultural assets, I feel like this city should really be a beautiful place to visit and live. But still, it's China -- perhaps in a more pure form than the mountain resorts or the more famous cities -- and that has it's own charm. For example, the people here don't seem to be as accustomed to seeing foreigners. We've been greeted warmly almost everywhere we've been -- but here people are especially quick to say "hello," ask for our names (as a young girl did yesterday), or offer us rice wine and take pictures (as a large group did today). We also ate some incredible food last night -- a kind of meat, shellfish and dumpling stew -- that was served to us once we made it clear we had no idea what was good to eat here. While landscape and natural beauty are important, it's also those sorts of things -- hospitality and cuisine -- that can make a place memorable and enjoyable.

As I think I mentioned yesterday, May Day is a major holiday in China; the schools are out of session and many Chinese having the entire week off for shopping, travel or other leisure activities. Tonight we'll be sniffing around a little bit for a parade, demonstration, or another celebration of sorts, but other than seeing more pedestrians and shoppers on the streets than yesterday, it's been more or less business as usual as far as we can tell.

Anyway, tomorrow morning it's on to Tai'an in Shandong province, home of Tai Shan, another of China's five sacred mountains. We're planning to ascend it on Thursday.