21st to 23rd Emei Shān

Catriona set off for a massage in the morning before setting off to Emei Shān. She had cupping done as well and has a polka dot back.

David occupied himself by cutting his hair, shaving, surfing the net and eating all the food we had accumulated. At 11.30am we met in the lobby then boarded a mini bus for Leshān. We had one stop at a tea house in an area where the hills were covered in tea bushes. At Leshān we boarded a small boat to view the Grand Buddha. This carving was completed over 3 generations and is the largest Buddha in China.

Back on the bus for an hours drive to Baoguo Temple/Monastery on Emei Shān where we were to stay the night.

We passed through the main gates, passing burning candles and incense. In the main hall there were monks, nuns and lay people chanting, banging drums and clanging symbols. We shared a room with Jess and Anu. The Temple and grounds are a beautiful, peaceful place, a haven after the hustle and bustle of the large cities we have visited. We ate dinner in the Monastery dining room, it was very simple but nice and filling.

After dinner we went for a walk and bought an ice cream then walked up a hill to see a large bell. Back at the Monastery we had some watermelon and played 4 rounds of "shit head" with Anu and Jess. Anu told us it is called Paskahousu in Finland, which translates to shit pants.

22nd we were woken at 4.30am by chanting but we managed to get back to sleep until 6.30am. We had 2 egg sandwiches and a banana before setting off with Nathan our local guide for the trip up Emei Shān. We had a 10 minute walk into town where we boarded a bus for a 2 hour drive to the top car park. From the car park we walked up to the cable car passing our first group of monkeys.

We caught the cable car up to Jinding Peak there were many more steps to the top and it was raining quite heavily making the steps very slippery. We visited the Jinding Temple with all the pilgrims.

We walked all the way up to the top of the peak, with spectacular views of the cloud forest below. We took the cable car back down and passed the monkeys once more. We had lunch at a little restaurant before catching a bus to the lower parking lot where we started our 8km hike to Hongchunping Monastery. It rained most of the way and we passed a couple of groups of monkeys. We had to walk very close together as we passed them as they try to steal bags and peoples water bottles looking for food and drink. Nathan set off a couple of crackers to scare them away at times. The scenery was spectacular, some parts reminding us of Jurassic park and others of Avatar.

The path was mostly concrete steps and tough going at times. We did stop along the way to rest and to buy souvenirs. We made it to the Monastery in the late afternoon, stopping at the Hard Wok Cafe, just below the Monastery, for a beer to celebrate.

 

The showers and toilets at the Monastery had no doors but did have partitions between them. It was lovely to have a nice hot shower after walking all day in the rain. We headed back down to the Hard Wok for a group dinner in the fantastic location on the side of the mountain.

After dinner we walked back up to the Monastery and played cards until 10pm. It rained quite heavily overnight but was clear by morning.

23rd   We woke to the sound of chanting at 5.30am. At 8am we left the Monastery and set off to the Hard Wok for a breakfast of pancakes with banana, apple, chocolate or honey, or like David all of the aforementioned. We set off for our 12km hike back down to Baoguo Monastery in the mist. We passed many monks, nuns and pilgrims on their way to Hongchunping Monastery and the weather was much better than the previous day.  Passing the monkeys this day one jumped on Yisha's back and undid her backpack trying to take her water bottle. Nathan managed to scare it off  before it managed to get anything. After two kilometres we split up, Jess, Steph and Yisha walked back to the carpark to get the bus back to Baoguo and the rest of us who wanted to walked back the whole way. Where we split up the others kept descending but our group had a continual climb up many steps until we had a rest with some pilgrims on their way home. They were so little, you can see the way Lisa is bending over in this picture and still towers over them.

We walked along a muddy track past little subsistence farms and small houses. Once we were back on the concrete path we passed a couple of Nunneries and stopped to have lunch along the way. It started to rain about 2kms from the bottom but it wasn't too heavy. Once back at the Monastery we checked back in and Catriona headed off for a foot and leg massage with Annie and Pam. David stayed and played cards with the rest of the girls. For dinner that night we went to Nathan's cafe in the village. The food was quite good. On our way back we walked down the streets lined with fairy light covered trees. It was very pretty but we thought if we had a choice we would rather better air quality than to see pretty lights at night.