Post by nickchu

Regular ticket lineup on a cable car system (Ngong Ping 360). Image by Flickr user Parka81.

Generally speaking, boarding a gondola is a rather straightforward process. You stand in line, purchase a ticket and hop into a cabin.

Yet this seemingly painless exercise unfortunately becomes a little bit more difficult (to say the least) when an entire country of 1.3 billion tries to go on vacation all at once.

During China’s national holiday week in October this year, Mount Tai – one of China’s Sacred Mountains – saw a massive influx of 65,000 visitors on a single day. As a result, the cable car system was completely and utterly overwhelmed. Since visitors had to choose from either a: 1) a 10 minute cable ride; or 2) a 10 hour “5000 step” hike, many were left with no choice but to queue for four hours.

And in case you’re curious about how a four hour line up looks like, here’s an example:

So where do I start lining up? Image from news.hexun.com.

It’s probably safe to say that the operators who originally built this modest 2km system back in 1983 probably didn’t see this coming. Remember that it wasn’t until the late seventies when the country first reopened its doors and started greeting domestic and international tourists.

So while I can’t see myself ever standing in line for four hours, it may have been worth the time for those who waited it out. From the looks of it, this ride really does treat tourists to some pretty spectacular and breathtaking views. Check it out.

Taishan cable car. Image from www.000219.com/.

Image by Flickr user jin_alli.

And if for some reason you wanted to see more jaw-dropping pictures of over a billion people on vacation, click here.