A mountain climbing adventure to the top of Mount Taishan turned into catastrophe after a storm trapped thousands of weekend travelers, who ended up camped out on the floor of public restrooms instead of enjoying one of the best views of China’s sunrise.
Long-awaited trips to one of China’s most famous sunrise locations became nothing but a miserable experience when Harry and several thousands of travelers became trapped on top of a mountain. Videos uploaded to Chinese social media show a wide variety of individuals camping out over every available square foot on the restroom floor.
After a storm developed on Friday evening, heavy rain, below freezing temperatures, and 40 mph winds created a life-threatening environment for those that got caught on Friday night without proper winter gear.
Mount Taishan, which is one of the busiest tourist destinations in China during all major national holidays, is a very busy tourist destination. Due to its location, a very large number of people start their hikes, hoping to make it to the peak of Mount Taishan before the sunrise, and to see the sunrise from the peak of Mount Taishan.
Authorities stated record numbers of people visited despite projections estimating falling attendance counts. Unfortunately, shelter areas surrounding the mountain were obviously not built for such large numbers of visitors when there was extreme weather.
Internet users have questioned the reasons that there are still so few places (i.e., emergency rest areas, weather shelters, and crowd control systems) at the second most popular tourism site in China.
Tourists have also complained about the very high prices of services related to the crisis. Some reports say that visitors paid 60-100 RMB for a short time rest area with temporary facilities near the area. Up to 400 RMB was charged for a capsule near the area.
After being stranded for a long time, and being very tired, cold, and wet, the costs paid were frustratingly high.
Ironically, most hikers who climbed the mountain knew before climbing that the weather was adding to the forecast of lots of bad visibility at sunrise. Even so, thousands of people have continued to walk up the mountain for no reason due to extreme domestic popularity of public holidays.
The cost of international air travel has become increasingly expensive, which has resulted in more domestic travelers choosing to take local road trips or travel to domestic tourist destinations.
In addition, since the mountain is one of the most recognized mountains in China, it is likely that everyone would take the chance and experience climbing the mountain.
Mount Taishan is no ordinary place to visit, but it has great spiritual and cultural importance in the history of China. It was established as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.
For over 3000 years, emperors, pilgrims and many visitors have come to Mount Taishan for symbolic and religious purposes. Today, it’s one of the most popular natural attractions in the country.
Now, as the result of the viral toilet shelter, this beautiful mountain has a new and unexpected chapter added to its history.
What was supposed to be a peaceful sunrise awakening turned into an overnight survival-style sleepover experience shared by thousands of complete strangers in public restrooms.
Now that people have watched those videos online, many are asking the same question before planning future springtime trips to mountains.
