Walk, walk, walk

It's easy to see why the majority of Chinese people are so thin and fit. They work hard and most walk fair distances daily. I even find myself walking a fair bit, much more than I did back home (since I no longer have the luxury of a car). For example even if I catch a bus, train, or taxi I am still forced to walk.

Bus: I may have to walk 5-10 minutes to the bus stop at both ends, and then walk to where I am going. The distances between each stop here are much bigger than back home. In my estimation, the distance between each bus stop averages about 500m-1km. So if you accidentally get off too early or too late, you have to walk a fair bit! If you have to walk across a footbridge there is yet more walking and more stairs.

Train: Walking to/from the station and walking up/down LOTS of stairs. Even if there is an escalator it only usually goes up. Also you have to walk from the road or shop or wherever to the station which can also be far, and then if you change lines it's yet another 5 minute walk along tunnels and yet more stairs.

Taxi: Not so much walking here but when they are hard to get you have to walk to somewhere where you can 'beat' someone to it! Also due to traffic gridlock it is sometimes easier to just get out and walk rather than sit there anymore and let the meter keep ticking and ticking.

Shopping: The malls are huge. The streets with shops on them are LONG. Shopping may seem leisurely but there is HEAPS of walking involved. Particularly if you are as fussy as me and end up walking for 4,5,6 hours to find the perfect ____ (whatever).

I thought this post was interesting :)

I wanted to write about this topic for a LONG time but only decided to when I found out a friend of my mother's was offering us a free trip to Taishan, a beautiful mountain in Shandong province. There are approximately 6600 steps to the summit. That is crazy because I can tell you I have walked up almost 300 steps up a steep mountain? and it was quite grueling but that might just have been the scorching sun and 90% humidity ;) This was in the Batu Caves in Malaysia. I also walked up some stairs in a temple in Chiang Mai that was roughly 300 steps. I know it doesn't sound like much but just wait until you've experienced it :) So anyway Taishan has over 20 times this many steps! ARGH!!! Fortunately, there is a cable car that halves the number of steps for lazy bums ;)

Check out the steps!



The view at the top. Temples amongst temples, atop the 1500m high mountain, shrouded by cloud.. how dreamy :)