The second day of the trip, and the first full dat in China, was going to be spent in traveling to Mount Emei and ascending it. Or at least part of the way. A short weekend was probably going to be too short to walk all the way to the Golden Summit. Mount Emei is one of the 4 sacred Buddhist mountains in China, and covered in temples. It promised to become a memorable experience.
The journey first took us with a taxi to the eastern train station of Chengdu. There we couldn't get any train because they were all sold out. So we went searching for a bus, which we couldn't find. Luckily Veronika's Chinese once again proved to be amazing and she got directions to a city bus, from which we at some point had to change onto another city bus, from which we had then to change onto a regional bus at some small bus station where we first had to buy a ticket to the town of Emeishan.
Once the bus arrived at Emeishan people on the bus told us it was actually possible to stay on the bus and drive onwards to the mountain for a small additional fee. So we showed our ticket to the driver and asked how much it would be to the mountain. The driver was surprised by our ticket, exclaiming "How did you get this ticket!? You're foreigners!!" And I was surprised as well because it was cheaper than the ticket of the Chinese people next to us.
So anyway, we paid a few more RMB and drove onwards to the mountain. It took us a bit of figuring out how to go from there, and actually took a small local bus onwards to the actual spot we wanted to start our climb from, and set off through the masses of Chinese tourists...
The journey first took us with a taxi to the eastern train station of Chengdu. There we couldn't get any train because they were all sold out. So we went searching for a bus, which we couldn't find. Luckily Veronika's Chinese once again proved to be amazing and she got directions to a city bus, from which we at some point had to change onto another city bus, from which we had then to change onto a regional bus at some small bus station where we first had to buy a ticket to the town of Emeishan.
Once the bus arrived at Emeishan people on the bus told us it was actually possible to stay on the bus and drive onwards to the mountain for a small additional fee. So we showed our ticket to the driver and asked how much it would be to the mountain. The driver was surprised by our ticket, exclaiming "How did you get this ticket!? You're foreigners!!" And I was surprised as well because it was cheaper than the ticket of the Chinese people next to us.
So anyway, we paid a few more RMB and drove onwards to the mountain. It took us a bit of figuring out how to go from there, and actually took a small local bus onwards to the actual spot we wanted to start our climb from, and set off through the masses of Chinese tourists...
The first part of the journey was littered with Chinese tourists. Thousands and thousands of them. But as the path became more remote and challenging nearly all of them disappeared. We soon encountered the wild monkeys we had been warned about. And the warnings were not to be laughed at. Some monkeys were really cute. But many were extremely aggressive, trying to attack us for food. While I took a photo of some cute monkeys, Veronika got a near heart attack because a monkey suddenly dropped on top of her and her backpack. Bamboo sticks, or on our case a big long umbrella, were absolutely necessary to keep the most aggressive ones at bay.
We were amazed at the paths. The entire path up the mountain is extremely well maintained. There is not a single bit of sloping path, but everything is paved with stone hewn steps. My estimations are that in total during the two days we climbed about 10.000 steps. People estimate that to the top of the mountain is about 13.000 steps, putting the 1.000 steps at the Dandenongs near Melbourne in Australia to shame.
The journey was amazing. The views simply stunning. So green everywhere. However, once we were at the Hongchunping temple we underestimated the time and effort it would take us to the Xianfeng temple, and set off on the final leg of the day... The never ending steps got extremely steep, and it got nearly pitch black at some point. But we battled on, and persevered. After an hour of walking in the dark we arrived at Xianfeng temple, where a little restaurant was sitting just outside the steps up to the temple entrance.
We indulged in some freshly made food and tea, before heading into the temple where we were soon fast asleep, hoping to get up early enough for another day of walking and the journey back to Chengdu again.
We were amazed at the paths. The entire path up the mountain is extremely well maintained. There is not a single bit of sloping path, but everything is paved with stone hewn steps. My estimations are that in total during the two days we climbed about 10.000 steps. People estimate that to the top of the mountain is about 13.000 steps, putting the 1.000 steps at the Dandenongs near Melbourne in Australia to shame.
The journey was amazing. The views simply stunning. So green everywhere. However, once we were at the Hongchunping temple we underestimated the time and effort it would take us to the Xianfeng temple, and set off on the final leg of the day... The never ending steps got extremely steep, and it got nearly pitch black at some point. But we battled on, and persevered. After an hour of walking in the dark we arrived at Xianfeng temple, where a little restaurant was sitting just outside the steps up to the temple entrance.
We indulged in some freshly made food and tea, before heading into the temple where we were soon fast asleep, hoping to get up early enough for another day of walking and the journey back to Chengdu again.
