Tai Shan Part 2

 The stairs just kept going and going.

After climbing for some time, we decided to stop for lunch.

So handsome.

This cat was just relaxing in the middle of the stairs, unmoved by all the people hiking by.

There were tons of old men and workers carrying stuff, slowly, up the mountain. The next day, on the way down, we saw some of the same men that we saw the day before, again, slowly hiking up. Crazy that some people hike this daily, just to go to work, or bring supplies to work. 

Many of the men were carrying supplies up to this construction site, on the side of the cliff. 

Several times, after we had been climbing for some time, huffing and puffing, we would see signs like this. "Climbing Begins Here" 

"What?!? We've already been hiking for a long time! My legs are already burning!"

 

 



Raphael was always ahead of us and feeling "nothing."

Zachary was having some pains in his legs, so Justin, who majored in sports medicine, put his degree to work to help Zach.

See that white ball on the top building? That's where we stayed that night!

The sun is setting...

and setting...

and setting...

almost gone....



And set.

We met this guy, who managed the cable car, he set us up with our lodgings for the night.

We decided to stay at the top for this night. We hiked up even farther to a Meteorological Observatory. We were freezing all night! When you get to the top, you are above the clouds, and it is ridiculously cold! They have huge coats to rent at the bottom of Tai Shan btu we thought we wouldn't need them! Man I wished all night we would have got them! Our room had no heater or bathroom!

We got little to no sleep that night, but it was worth it for the view in the morning! See Tai Shan Part 3. :)