I am seated at an internet bar in the former Chinese dynasty capital of Kaifeng, which was the home of long-running series of dynasties up to about a thousand years ago. The legacy of this is mostly seen in a few very old remnants laying about town, such as pagodas, a couple gardens, and some old-looking sites which I’m not quite sure about regarding the authenticity. Regardless of those problems, Shenzhen and my work teaching there are now a long way behind me, and it feels that my time on the road has begun again in earnest.

Highlights have included a 1500 year old stone pagoda whose Buddha faces were nearly all smashed off during the Cultural Revolution and a similarly aged Buddhist monastery in the city center. Lowlights include the growing pains that accompany China’s modernization efforts and the seeming dearth of information on cigarettes affecting ones health. This means that the air quality is dusty and terrible and I have a cough and runny nose from it. Will be nice to leave that part.

Kaifeng, in Henan Province, is only the second stop of mine since leaving Shenzhen last Saturday. I did a quick few days in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, before coming north. There I tripped out to the home of the benevolent Chairman, our beloved Mao Zedong. I had expected a commercialist kitsch mecca swarmed with Chinese, but instead was a little disappointed to see only mild crowds and lazy vendors. The house itself was surprisingly large, leading one to wonder about Mao’s proletariat credentials. Changsha was an alright city, a typical Chinese metropolis with a few bright spots that will no doubt be bulldozed in a few years. I spent an afternoon in Martyr’s Park and toured the local zoo, peering in at malnourished animals in concrete boxes before taking in a disturbing circus like show in which the animals did tricks. I had hoped a tiger or bear would maul someone, but alas, no such luck.

Tonight I head out by train for Ji’nan, a city in Shandong Province, and near my ultimate goal of Taishan Mountain, an hour or so south. Taishan is the most sacred of China’s five sacred peaks, and though its only a 6000-footer, I am assured by all literature relating to it that the climb will be tiring. Whether this is from steepness or crowds was less clear. I’m ready for something resembling fresh air though, and the mountain has been the site of many famous visitors in history, from Confucius, Qin Shihuang, China’s first emperor, and Mao himself. So now its my turn.