Taian was my destination, home to Tai Shan, the holiest of China's five holy Taoist mountains.
It was my first time travelling in China without Chinese language assistance and it required much patience. I took an overnight train to Ji'nan and then planned to take a bus to Taian. However, before I bought a bus ticket, I bought two separate train tickets from Ji'nan to Taian by mistake. Anyhow, I got finally got what I wanted and the train tickets and bus ticket only cost me £2.50 in total!
Whitney introduced me to Kevin, who is ex English student at her school and lives in Taian. He and his friend offered to take me to the top of the mountain.
I was already exhausted from the journey to Taian and the mountain climb was brutal: apparently some 5,000 steps, and at a steep inclination. Once we got to the top, the view back down was awesome, but I couldn't help thinking it would have been so much better if there was no smog and I could see more than 100 yards into the distance. Pollution seemed to be a more widespread problem in China, not just an issue in Beijing.
The following day, I took a trip to Qufu, 80km south of Taian. Qufu is of significant Chinese cultural importance as Confucious was born here around 550BC.
I had arranged a hotel taxi to take me there and back, but I ended up having more travel partners. A trainee at the hotel came along as he wanted to practice his English and the taxi driver's wife soon hopped into the taxi as she had never been to Qufu before.
It was very hot and made sightseeing uncomfortable. We first went to the Confucious Forest. It's basically a burial ground for Confucious's clan, the Kongs. If you're really interested in exploring the forest fully, rent bikes from outside.
The other two main attractions, the Confucious Mansion and Confucious Temple, were awesome. The temple was first established in 478BC, but was expanded by emperors since, particularly from the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th - 18th century). Both places were very cool: many grand buildings, cool stone bridges, narrow alleyways etc.
The next day, I took a bus to Ji'nan airport and took a flight to Shanghai, my first flight in 5 months!
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