Actually this is not quite the right translation. What it really says is “Protect the Family”. We got this near the top of Tài Shan, the most revered of China’s five sacred peaks. The route up has several temples, some of which used to be used for ritual sacrifice. The mountain is of huge spiritual significance to the Chinese and tens of thousands of people climb it every year, in fact it is the most climbed mountain in the world. There are huge calligraphic carvings into the rocks, which apparently are some kind of traditional wisdom, witty phrases, plays on words etc. Shame we couldn’t understand any of them! It would be amazing to go with someone who could read and translate some of it.

It is said that if you climb the mountain you will live to be 100, we had to do it. The climb up covers 7.5km and the round trip takes around 6 hours (or more if you like to potter/have picnics). Helpfully they decided hundred of years ago to lay the entire route with steps. 6660 of them. Blimey. It is quite a trek! Andy’s legs are still in pain over a week on!

I shouldn’t complain though, check out this guy carrying dozens of boxes up on his back. He must have been about 60 or 70 years old. We saw people try pick up his pack when he stopped for a rest and it looked pretty heavy, fit young people were struggling to lift it.

Unfortunately at the moment it is misty all the time so we missed out on the views a little. Looking around though you could tell that if it had of been clear it would have been absolutely stunning. The mountain is set in a series of forested hills and other mountains, which have rivers and waterfalls running through them. These were frozen while we were there, but I bet in the summer it would have been quite impressive. Although sweating your way up the mountain in blazing sunshine with hoards of summer visitors is not something I really fancy.

So when you get to to top there is a temple, where for some reason the custom seems to be to fasten a pad lock to a gate and then tie money to one of these ribbons and attach it to a fancy metal stand. Not quite sure of the significance, but it seemed like a nice thing to do anyway, so here’s me tying on my “protect the family” ribbon. Maybe this means they get to live to be 100 too? You all owe me beers for doing that huge climb for you if it does!

In other news Andy has become my new hairdresser. He gave me a trim last week and the other day dyed my hair orange. I’m not sure I’d recommend him to anyone else yet though. Part way through the hair dying he dropped the entire pot of dye all over his foot and the bathroom floor and then started yanking at my hair as it turned into a tangled mess half covered with patches of gloopy die screaming, “It’s all going wrong!! Help Me!” Luckily it all turned out ok, although it has faded quite quickly. I’m going to have to get him to do it again. Eek!

The new hair is causing much amusement among the locals. Several people have stopped dead in their tracks and stared open mouthed at us as we’ve walked by. A few even chased us for photographs. Not sure if it really is the orange hair, or maybe it’s just moving on to a smaller place. It’s quite fun anyway walking down the street with everyone saying hello and waving. It’s like we’ve become celebritites without realising. Maybe we’re part of some Truman style show. Hello everyone!