Taishan/Qufu

1.      The old city wall, surrounded by a small moat, leading straight to the Confucius Temple

2.      One of the side gates in the park leading up to the Confucius temple

3.      The main hall of Confucius' temple.  The man under the umbrella would yell at you to help you through the prayers as you placed your incense and paid your respects.  Beautifully carved stone pillars too.

4.      Side view of the roof of the main hall during a break in the clouds through the trees at a secondary altar.

5.      Meandering through the temple grounds after a short downpour.

6.      "Sage's Home" The entrance to Confucius' mansion, built posthumously.  I loved the black and red with the gold accents.

7.      Love all around haha.

8.      A stone guard on the path to Confucius' tomb, which turned out to be surprisingly simple—a dirt mound overgrown by generations of vegetation with a simple stone tablet in front of it.

9.      The salon where Baxi and I got our hair cut.  That's right, there's a motorcycle and a motortricycle right in the middle.

10.  Our trek of Taishan begins!

11.  "Three Officials Temple"  One of many temples lining the path up the mountain.  I can't imagine the blood and sweat it took to build all of this.  It's staggering.

12.  Calligraphy was inscribed on many of the rocks lining the path up in many styles and covering many subjects.

13.  Traditional calligraphy: "Toilet à that way"

14.  The final stretch.  They wrote the rise in elevation on the steps every 100 meters, just to tease you all the way to the top.  Every new marker would be accompanied by thoughts of: "are you kidding me?"

15.  Oops, not going to climb all that again if you forgot your brush.

16.  Triumph.