In the morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to KFC, of all places. The prices, after conversion, were about the same at the states, but compared to other restaurants in China, it is very expensive. This gets me thinking about fast food branding in China and how even with the same relative prices after conversion, the perception of American food is a “treat." Kids go to KFC as a reward after a perfect exam. Because the bathrooms in the KFC were relatively upscale, I mean we’re talking clean with free toilet paper, sink, soap, and hand dryer, I decided to drop off the kids at the restaurant (if you can call it that). This ended up being a good idea, because squatting in the public toilet is not pleasant. Anyway, after some waiting we caught a bus that took us to the actual mountain. Along the way we drove through the city, which, compared to Beijing, still needs to catch up 10 years. The buses need some major updating, as do the clothing style, the storefronts, and automobiles. But enough about the city, we were about to climb a holy mountain.
Our plan was to climb halfway, stay in the hostel, and then go up to the top for sunrise. The trek upwards was all stairs, a far reach from the rugged terrain we were expecting but still tiring nevertheless. We ended up buying lots of water and taking breaks about every 10 minutes. The stairs were steep and there were many of them. The elderly climbed up just the same. They probably had less baggage with them but still were troopers, and healthy ones at that. When I get old I want to be able to climb thousands of stairs just like that, but even dragging my twenty year old self up the mountain proved to me how out of shape I am.
When we reached the midpoint of the mountain, or Zhong Tian Men, we found a hostel. The room is much smaller then the one we stayed at the night before, but much more expensive. The shower did not look too good, and the bathroom was smelly. The sink was outdoors. But since this rate is probably better then what we would find at the top, and because we did not want to carry our stuff all the way to the summit, we decided to take the room and set down our stuff. We took the valuables with us and went to lunch.
Lunch was pretty crappy, actually. A bowl of noodles cost 15 kuai, and my meat dish was 20 kuai, even though it contained mostly vegetables. But what can you expect, we were at a tourist destination. After lunch we met a friendly man who worked at the store across from the hostel. He seemed fascinated with America and foreign currency. He asked to see my 20 dollar bill and was absolutely thrilled when Mike gave him a dollar. We had made a new friend. We chilled for a little bit, and then at about 5:30, decided to go up to the temple, a twenty minute trek uphill, to see sunset. We walked up the stone steps, which turned into rocks, which turned into a dirt trail. The climb to the top was not very long or tiring, but it was probably not the safest either. In any case, it was definitely worth it. We chilled at the temple, a good relaxing time with a great view. I was able to take some nice photos too. Poopmaster, being full of shit, dropped another one at the shrine. He seems to have a knack for crapping in holy places. Holy Crap is what it literally comes down to.
Later we headed back down to the hostel and ate some ice cream and met two guys from Israel. Zohar, a soul seeking martial artist, and his sidekick Eli, both fresh out the military. Zohar, the more talkative of the two, was a bearded man with many stories and a sense of adventure. His friend, Eli, was a mild, slightly heavier man of about the same age who was tagging along for part of the journey. We had dinner together (though the Isrealis did not eat, they were stuffed with dumplings they had earlier) and had a nice chat, with tales about pink hippos, ladyboys, and boat rides. "At first your ass hurts but once your butt goes numb, you just have fun." By this time it was almost 9pm and so we decided to go to bed. Tomorrow we will rise early, and by early morning I mean late at night – 2am. We will then climb the rest of the way to the top of the mountain to watch sunrise.
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