The Long Way Up (And Down!)

Mount Tai, China

Here I wanted to make up for the day I added in Qingdao, so I only planned to stay two instead of three days. Up on the first day, down on the second. I only worried a bit about prices of accommodation on the mountain. I had also planned this as my days of meditation, time to think about the things that had been going round my head after leaving Beijing. I wasn't expecting any travel companions here.
Funny enough, when I least expected them I got them - a lot of them, too. Many people said hello to the lone foreigner climbing the Taoist holy mountain. I ended up climbing the mountain with three girls I kept running into. We started chatting and it turned out they were all final year medical students at the university of Taian. What a coincidence, I thought, I hadn't bought the offered medical insurance that came with the ticket but now I was surrounded by a group of three cute medics. As we climbed further our group grew as first two of their friends and then two other guys joined us.
On the last bit of the climb before the South Gate to Heaven - a flight of 1600 steps - I almost thought I'd need the girls' skills. We kept encouraging each other shouting “加油”. Still, we were all completely, utterly exhausted when we made it to the top. Apparently, up to that point the steps total 6600. I swear, I felt every one of them. I had started climbing around 15:00 - it was now 20:30 and darkness had fallen. They were also here to watch the sunrise, so we decided to be economical and all share a room. Prices for very simple rooms can easily be more than 200 RMB. We managed to find what people said was the cheapest hotel on the mountain top - 80 RMB for a four-person room. No need to mention that there were eight of us. 10 RMB per person on Mount Tai! It was a bit crowded with two persons per bed but it was cold at this altitude and the night was short anyway.
Then came the main event: the sunrise from the summit. We got up at 4:30 (!) to find that "sunrise from the summit" is also a major tourist event in China. More than half an hour before start when the sky began to turn grey almost every level piece of rock was occupied. People were pushing and shoving to get the perfect spot for the sunrise photo. And in the middle of all this touts were trying to sell their services as photographers: “拍一张！拍一张！” 15 RMB! I can do that myself. Only that they kept annoyingly getting in the way. When the big moment came and the brilliant sun disk appeared on the horizon all hell broke loose. The touts grew frantic shouting and hustling customers to the perfect position. I had imagined a quiet magical moment - but not in China, not on Mount Tai. A flurry of photographs erupted. And everyone was taking the same two shots: "I'm holding the sun in my palm" or "I'm poking the sun". Then 30 minutes later when the sun disk had cleared the horizon it was all over, everyone had gone. Then I finally got my private moment with the sun and a bit of magic did actually come up. The highest peak I've climbed so far, alone with the wind, the sun and the sky.
Then came the most difficult bit that I been afraid of: the long way down. Another 6600 steps. I'd never make it. My legs, despite endless hours of walking around cities, were feeling like jelly. But what goes up must come down. Unfortunately, I had lost sight of my friends from yesterday during the flurry of activity during the early hours. I found some distraction meeting another group of girls also on their way down. But they were so interested in all the souvenirs sold along the way that I eventually left them. So, bathed in sweat but happy I reached the foot of the mountain. I wonder when the pain will subside but I'm looking forward to climbing the next higher mountain.