The small city of Tai'an in the Shandong province lies at the base of another Sacred mountain of China, Tai Shan (If you havent figured it out yet, 'shan' means mountain). It is smaller than Emei Shan at 1545m, but with the help of a little wind, was nearly as difficult to ascend. Legend has it that anyone, who is anyone in the last 3000 years of Chinese history has made the ascent to the top of Tai Shan. We had to join them on this pilgrimage. If we were to label Emei Shan it would definately be the Misty Mountain, Tai Shan was the Windy Mountain. That was the only reason this mountain was fairly difficult to climb, it got mad cold and even windier once we reached the summit. We didn't hang around. Just nailed some Newro chow mien (Beef noodles) and rolled back down.
Before we climbed the mountain we also paid a visit to the Dai Temple. This is commonly part of the pilgrimage before climbing Tai Shan. Like the Indian temples, the Chinese temples were beginning to blend together now, they use some beautiful architecture with the most intricate details being perfectly applied, every piece of tile, column, ceiling, wall, door, window frame, and sometimes even the floor would have some crazy Chinese calligraphy or dragon pattern embossed in them. Quite stunning for the fact they were finished many years ago with only basic tools.
The hostel in Tai'an was really nice, there were few people staying there, but the beds were soft and huge, the rooms were cozy and warm and there was the nicest Sichuan (Province of Chengdu) restaurant around the corner. We met two Chinese guys who took us to the restaurant and even ordered our meals for us. I had some fried pork with peppers and I'm not kidding it was AMAZING, the pork was salted and crispy and the peppers and the sauce were a perfect compliment, if your not jealous, you should be, if you dont eat pork, you should. Gotta dig the swine. We also met a yank named Chris who swapped me a John Grisham for a John Grisham.
From Tai'an we took a day trip to Qufu with a girl we met at our hostel called Lilian. Qufu is most famous for being the birth and death place of the founder of Confucianism, the Sage Confucius (551-479 BC). He lived in poverty throughout his life and rarely recorded any of his theories or opinions on life, but his dedicated followers recorded his work and made it widely known through the country. Although his teachings did not become popular until after his death, Confucius' descendants, the Kong family, benefited greatly from their wise ancestor.
The Kong Family mansions, Confucius Temple and the Confucius forest are located in Qufu. The forest is actually a graveyard, where Confucius and his descendants are buried. We had a walk around the three sites and took in the history of Confucius and his work. Its a shame the guy never got to witness the effect of his works. Lilian was from Shanghai and gave us advice on how and where to spend our time when we got there. Big thanks to her. When we dropped her off at the hostel in Qufu we met Chris again, we arranged to stay in the same hostel in Shanghai so he could get in on the Lilian recommendations.
Tai'an/Qufu Photo Link:
No comments:
Post a Comment