Having arrived at Tai'an at 6 a.m., we first stayed at a hotel to refresh ourselves. At 10 a.m. we went to the first Buddhist monastery, which should not be a great surprise. The inscription on the stele at the bottom left means "First Mountain", referring to Taishan as one of the most important among the Chinese holy mountains.
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The park surrounding the monastery is populated with many birds. So I felt inspired to take pictures of them. Unfortunately,
the zoom of my little camera does not allow for great pictures, but I am rather proud that I managed to take these. At the left,
there are two pictures of Blue Magpies and at the right two pictures of Chinese Pond Herons in the mating plumage.
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In the afternoon we went on the top of Taishan. Here we first have a look at the surroundings from the hotel where we stayed:
Before I dive into the specialities of Taishan, let's first have a look at the Buddhist monasteries on this mountain.
Again we can see locks and red ribbons for lucky families.
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Many poets and painters used the Taishan to leave their poems for the eternity. So there are many carvings on the mountain.
The right one is a very famous one. The writing on the front means "The first mountain under the sky", the one at the right
"Husband Summit". It is related to a story which I unfortunately have forgotten.
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The next two pictures have been taken on a Sunday morning at 4.45 to 5.00 a.m (!). Please notice the many Chinese people around
me waiting to see the sunrise. For me it is just impossible that you will ever see so many people on a German mountain on a Sunday
morning. Apart from catching some early flights, I could never have dreamt of getting up so early while being on holiday.
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As nobody from my colleagues could believe that I went downstairs for more than 3000 steps, here are two pictures to convince you.
Both are taken during the descend from the Taishan.
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