Tonight Michael will be climbing aboard a train bound for Taishan, the most famous mountain in China. It is a seven-hour trip by train (leaves at 11:30 pm local time) and a cluster of language students are using "language immersion" as an excuse to escape to the Chinese countryside for two days. Fortunately, all students have "soft sleeper" tickets, which means that each student will get a small bunk/berth (stacked three high) in which to sleep. Michael's ticket actually announces that air conditioning is installed on this train, marking it as one of the "modern" trains.
Chinese tradition holds that Taishan is the source of divine authority bestowed upon China's emperors, and it was used by China's emperors as a pilgrimage for about two thousand years. Legend has it that anyone sturdy enough to climb to the top of Taishan (7,000 steps have been carved into the mountainface) will be rewarded with a lifespan of 100 years. Michael, unsurprisingly, has already planned out how he wants to spend his 100-year reward, and is working on ways to get Cara to make a trip to Taishan sometime soon.
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