Emeishan and Leshan
Monday, September 8, 2008
We got up early in the morning, and although it was raining, managed to catch a taxi to the Chengdu Bus Station. It was easy to pick up a ticket to Emeishan, and soon we were on a bus. We napped during the 3 hour ride, and after a few little misgivings about the woman on the bus who demanded 5 more RMB from us, we were dropped at the base of Mt. Emeishan. Several of the local restaurateurs had stationed people at the bus station, and when we found one from the Teddy Bear Hotel, which Kate had recommended, we followed her around the corner to their establishment, where we gobbled down some lunch and gathered some information for the climb up the mountain. John and Ethan had done some research in the Rough Guide during the bus ride, and knew that we needed to start hiking at the 2nd bus stop up the mountain, so after lunch, we hopped on another bus and were soon at the base of the trail, ready to start hiking.
The entire path was covered in stone, and we realized that if the entire path were paved like this, Mt. Emei National Park was yet another Chinese feat of grand architectural work. As we hiked throughout the day (and the following day,) we saw men hauling buckets of water, concrete, railings, replacement rocks, plywood, and other building materials down the mountain—on their backs! Bit by bit, the 45km of trails up this mountain were being maintained manually. We found ourselves astonished at the strength of these workers who seemed to effortlessly haul hundreds of pounds of rock up the mountain while we sweated through all of our clothes carrying small backpacks. Another phenomenon was the men who, for a few dollars, would carry you up the mountain in a cloth chair. With one man on each end of the bamboo poles, a rider could make it up the mountain with no effort at all.
Mt. Emei is a place where Chinese nationals spend their holidays, as it’s relatively unknown outside China. Our first day on the mountain, we saw perhaps 4 “Western” or non-Chinese people. At first, the trail was a bit crowded, and we wondered if this would be a true hiking experience, but after the “Monkey Area,” crowds thinned, and we saw barely anyone for the rest of the day. The “Ecological Monkey Viewing Area,” as it was called, was set off by signs announcing its arrival and warning visitors of the monkeys’ presence, and suddenly, we came upon booths selling monkey food (corn and dried fruits,) for visitors who are urged to purchase this food rather than give the monkeys human food. Ethan bought a pack, and before he knew it, a 50-lb. monkey was headed towards him for food. Caught off-guard, he dropped the packet, and the monkey opened it up, scarfed down the goodies, and backed off to wait for another unsuspecting tourist. After we gave Ethan a hard time for giving up the monkey food too easily, I bought a packet, and soon found a monkey pulling on the bamboo hiking stick I’d purchased for one RMB. I too, surprised by his forward behavior, threw the packet of food to him to get him to back off. After seeing Ethan and I struggle with the monkeys, John thought better of even trying to feed the monkeys. As we made our way through the area, we watched monkeys pull at people’s sweaters, eat out of their hands, and jump on their heads to get at the monkey food they’d purchased. Park employees kept the more aggressive monkeys at bay, but they couldn’t keep one mommy monkey from taking Ethan’s bottle of water out of his backpack and trying to open it with her teeth. When we’d taken enough pictures of the Tibetan Macaques, we headed on up the mountain.
After about 5 hours of hiking, we reached a monastery perched halfway up the mountain, where we found lodging for the night. The atmosphere had grown thicker and more humid as we climbed, and we found ourselves sticky and sweaty, and ready for a rest. The air wasn’t nearly as thin as it was in Tibet, but climbing directly up stairs for 5 hours straight was more physical effort than most of us had put forth in weeks. We probably fell asleep at 9pm in our warm, dry beds (3 in one small room,) our stomachs full of a fried rice dish we’d purchased from a vendor hut just down the trail from the monastery.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tuesday morning, light rain and the mist of the mountains greeted us as we hit the trail again, and by the time we hiked for a few hours to a lunch spot, we were happy to dry off a bit. We’d come across a couple guys from London, and over lunch we heard about their travels through China, and we about theirs. We hiked the rest of the mountain with them, and when we were about 500 meters from the top, took the cable car up to the summit. A huge Buddha temple caused me to catch my breath there, and it was no longer raining—we were above most of the clouds at about [14,077 feet above sea level.] Some of the clouds cleared within 30 minutes of our arrival, and for the first time in days, we glimpsed a beautiful blue sky. Though we’d heard reports of beautiful mountaintop sunrises, we weren’t counting on its visibility through the clouds on Wednesday morning, so we took the bus back to the base of the mountain, where a hot shower and warm bed at Teddy Bear Hotel left us refreshed.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
In the morning, a bus took us to Leshan, a town about an hour away, where a 71 metre Buddha was carved into a mountain by an ancient king, and multiple other gods and buddhas were carved into the hillside nearby. Weary of steps, however, we pooped out after a couple hours, and hopped onto a bus back to Chengdu, where we enjoyed a lazy evening at Shamrock’s, Starbucks, and a local bookstore. On the computer that night, we started to make preparations for our imminent return to our home countries—sending out resumes, talking to friends, etc. It was hard to believe that the end of our journey was actually in sight.
We got up early in the morning, and although it was raining, managed to catch a taxi to the Chengdu Bus Station. It was easy to pick up a ticket to Emeishan, and soon we were on a bus. We napped during the 3 hour ride, and after a few little misgivings about the woman on the bus who demanded 5 more RMB from us, we were dropped at the base of Mt. Emeishan. Several of the local restaurateurs had stationed people at the bus station, and when we found one from the Teddy Bear Hotel, which Kate had recommended, we followed her around the corner to their establishment, where we gobbled down some lunch and gathered some information for the climb up the mountain. John and Ethan had done some research in the Rough Guide during the bus ride, and knew that we needed to start hiking at the 2nd bus stop up the mountain, so after lunch, we hopped on another bus and were soon at the base of the trail, ready to start hiking.
The entire path was covered in stone, and we realized that if the entire path were paved like this, Mt. Emei National Park was yet another Chinese feat of grand architectural work. As we hiked throughout the day (and the following day,) we saw men hauling buckets of water, concrete, railings, replacement rocks, plywood, and other building materials down the mountain—on their backs! Bit by bit, the 45km of trails up this mountain were being maintained manually. We found ourselves astonished at the strength of these workers who seemed to effortlessly haul hundreds of pounds of rock up the mountain while we sweated through all of our clothes carrying small backpacks. Another phenomenon was the men who, for a few dollars, would carry you up the mountain in a cloth chair. With one man on each end of the bamboo poles, a rider could make it up the mountain with no effort at all.
Mt. Emei is a place where Chinese nationals spend their holidays, as it’s relatively unknown outside China. Our first day on the mountain, we saw perhaps 4 “Western” or non-Chinese people. At first, the trail was a bit crowded, and we wondered if this would be a true hiking experience, but after the “Monkey Area,” crowds thinned, and we saw barely anyone for the rest of the day. The “Ecological Monkey Viewing Area,” as it was called, was set off by signs announcing its arrival and warning visitors of the monkeys’ presence, and suddenly, we came upon booths selling monkey food (corn and dried fruits,) for visitors who are urged to purchase this food rather than give the monkeys human food. Ethan bought a pack, and before he knew it, a 50-lb. monkey was headed towards him for food. Caught off-guard, he dropped the packet, and the monkey opened it up, scarfed down the goodies, and backed off to wait for another unsuspecting tourist. After we gave Ethan a hard time for giving up the monkey food too easily, I bought a packet, and soon found a monkey pulling on the bamboo hiking stick I’d purchased for one RMB. I too, surprised by his forward behavior, threw the packet of food to him to get him to back off. After seeing Ethan and I struggle with the monkeys, John thought better of even trying to feed the monkeys. As we made our way through the area, we watched monkeys pull at people’s sweaters, eat out of their hands, and jump on their heads to get at the monkey food they’d purchased. Park employees kept the more aggressive monkeys at bay, but they couldn’t keep one mommy monkey from taking Ethan’s bottle of water out of his backpack and trying to open it with her teeth. When we’d taken enough pictures of the Tibetan Macaques, we headed on up the mountain.
After about 5 hours of hiking, we reached a monastery perched halfway up the mountain, where we found lodging for the night. The atmosphere had grown thicker and more humid as we climbed, and we found ourselves sticky and sweaty, and ready for a rest. The air wasn’t nearly as thin as it was in Tibet, but climbing directly up stairs for 5 hours straight was more physical effort than most of us had put forth in weeks. We probably fell asleep at 9pm in our warm, dry beds (3 in one small room,) our stomachs full of a fried rice dish we’d purchased from a vendor hut just down the trail from the monastery.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tuesday morning, light rain and the mist of the mountains greeted us as we hit the trail again, and by the time we hiked for a few hours to a lunch spot, we were happy to dry off a bit. We’d come across a couple guys from London, and over lunch we heard about their travels through China, and we about theirs. We hiked the rest of the mountain with them, and when we were about 500 meters from the top, took the cable car up to the summit. A huge Buddha temple caused me to catch my breath there, and it was no longer raining—we were above most of the clouds at about [14,077 feet above sea level.] Some of the clouds cleared within 30 minutes of our arrival, and for the first time in days, we glimpsed a beautiful blue sky. Though we’d heard reports of beautiful mountaintop sunrises, we weren’t counting on its visibility through the clouds on Wednesday morning, so we took the bus back to the base of the mountain, where a hot shower and warm bed at Teddy Bear Hotel left us refreshed.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
In the morning, a bus took us to Leshan, a town about an hour away, where a 71 metre Buddha was carved into a mountain by an ancient king, and multiple other gods and buddhas were carved into the hillside nearby. Weary of steps, however, we pooped out after a couple hours, and hopped onto a bus back to Chengdu, where we enjoyed a lazy evening at Shamrock’s, Starbucks, and a local bookstore. On the computer that night, we started to make preparations for our imminent return to our home countries—sending out resumes, talking to friends, etc. It was hard to believe that the end of our journey was actually in sight.
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