TAI'AN is unremarkable, but it's not unpleasant. There's a small-town atmosphere, with buildings that are not too grand and streets not too wide. It's just small enough to cover on foot, though few people pay it much attention; the town is overshadowed, literally, by the great mountain just to the north.

 

Dongyue Dajie is the largest street, running east-west across town, with Qingnian Lu, the main shopping street , leading off it. Hongmen Lu leads north to the trail head, flanked by a string of souvenir shops selling gnarled walking sticks made from tree roots, and shoes. Just south of Daizhong Dajie, in the north, are some busy market streets selling medicinal herbs which grow on the mountain, such as ginseng, the tuber of the multiflower knotweed, and Asian puccoon, along with strange vegetables, bonsai trees and potted plants.