Mount Taishan, here I come! I will come again!
It was very hot during the climb, so quick-dry clothes, pants, and socks are a must. You will sweat while climbing, but your clothes will be dry when you reach the top.
Clothing: quick-dry clothes, pants, fleece, waterproof pants, wool socks, down jacket, and non-slip shoes.
I couldn't find the bus stop after arriving at Mount Taishan, so I took a taxi for CNY 7 to the old county government office and had Guohua Sa Soup. The self-service soup was CNY 8 per person. The soup was okay, but everything else was too salty.
After eating, I walked to Dai Temple, which took about 10 minutes. The ticket was CNY 20 per person, and a tour guide for less than 9 people was CNY 160.
We spent more than an hour in Dai Temple, entering from the south gate and exiting from the north gate. After exiting, we walked straight to Hongmen. We found a dumpling restaurant halfway and had lunch. The owner refilled our cups with hot water. After resting, we set off at 1 pm and walked for about 10 minutes to Hongmen.
Tickets were CNY 115 per person and CNY 57 per student.
It took us 2.5 hours to get from Hongmen to Zhongtianmen. We went to Jingshiyu halfway, which took half an hour. The kids were exhausted.
We arrived at Zhongtianmen at 3:30 pm. According to the guide, food is cheaper if you walk further, but we were too tired to notice. We bought an apple, a cucumber, and two oranges for CNY 45, a Shandong pancake for CNY 15, and a hand-grab pancake for CNY 15. We got free hot water because we bought something. The Shandong pancake was different from what I imagined. It was hard and needed to be pulled hard to bite off.
After resting for half an hour, we decided not to take the cable car and continued climbing. The good thing about traveling in winter is that there are not many people. We met a few people along the way, and we cheered each other on. It was a great experience.
It was dark later, and we couldn't see the stone carvings, which was a pity. Looking back, we saw the lights of thousands of homes. The light from Nantianmen guided us, and we climbed happily.
We arrived at Nantianmen at 8 pm. We booked a special room at Shenqi Hotel for CNY 669. The room had good air conditioning, but the water flow was small. We ordered a two-person set meal for CNY 188, which was delivered to our room. Maybe I was hungry, but it tasted good. The cabbage and tofu soup was delicious, and I drank two bowls after eating.
The next day, it was foggy and smoggy, so we didn't see the sunrise. We didn't see the sunrise, sunset, sea of clouds, or Yellow River Golden Belt on this trip, but we did worship the Old Lady of Mount Taishan. I will come again.