Jinan and Tai shan Spring Weekend

We did a trip over the second weekend this month. We headed to Shandong Province with our friends Arthur and Nancy. We took the evening train from Beijing South Station to Jinan. The train journey is about three hours. We checked in at Home Inn and crashed for the night.

Day 1:
We headed out early morning. We first hit a local restaurant and had dumplings for breakfast and then walked over to stroll around DaMing Lake.The lake is the largest in Jinan, and is one of city's main natural and cultural landmark.

Spring is actually the best time to visit. It’s colorful with blossoms of every color. Our favorite was the pink cherry blossoms from Japan. We took a stroll around the lake and then headed to Baotu Spring Park.

Baotu Spring is said to be the best among the 72 natural springs in this city.Spring water flows in from underground and the water is ideal for drinking and making tea. To the centre of the Park is a square where we can see water “bubbling” from underground and just watching it makes you wonder at the beauty of nature.

We then took a walk around the city and went to see the Black Tiger Spring. The water of spring emerges from a limestone cave. From the mouth of the cave, the water flows out through stone-carved tiger heads into a square shaped pool. The name of the spring is said to be derived from the shape and color of the rock, which resembles a black tiger, and the sound of the water gushing past the rock is like the roar of a tiger. The locals come down to draw water into large containers. When we asked one local if the water is safe for drinking , he told us it is more pure than water from the filters at home.

We then took the local train to Taishan.

Day 2:

After having a nice Chinese breakfast,we headed to Tai Shan. We took the East Gate entrance and started hiking our way up. The mountain is 1545m tall. We kept stopping on our way up to rest our muscles and grab a few snacks from the vendors along the way. We took a good four hours to reach the Midway Gate to Heaven. From there (since I couldn’t lift my leg to hike anymore!!!) we took the cable car to the summit. The view is amazingly beautiful and gives you a sense of achievement [looking back down to see the flight of steps you just climbed (about 7000 odd mountain steps)]We took the cable car back to the midway gate and then a bus back down. We then headed back to the hotel to collect our luggage and rushed to the Railway station to catch our train back to Beijing.

The trip was a perfect Spring Weekend Getaway. It's when we do these kind of trips we stop and take a look around and apreciate nature. The colors of the blossoms, the ripples in the lake... No wonder we have so many poets who wrote so much on nature!

We got back to the Jing to be shaken back to reality and we're back to the busy bustling life of Beijing...