Sunday, January 4th, 2004 – Day 320
Mt.Emei lies in the southern area of Sichuan basin in China. Mt. Emei is one of the four sacred Buddhist Mountains in China. It is said that Mt. Emei derived its name from two peaks which face each other and look like eyebrows. The whole mountain range extends over 200 kilometers in length and breadth. Ever since the introduction of Buddhism into China in the 1st century AD, Buddhist buildings have been built on the mountain. Now there are more than one hundred temples and monasteries. It is known as the place of Buddhist Rites of Puxian.
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Mt. Emei – Day One – Nun with Candle (04-01-2004)
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Mt. Emei – Day One – A tourist making an offering at a temple I visited during the Hike. It was Wannian Si. (04-01-2004)
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Mt. Emei – Day One (04-01-2004)
Mt. Emei is rich in natural and cultural heritage and carries several monikers: “Kingdom of Plants”,” Paradise of Animals”,” Geological Museum”, “Buddhist Celestial Mountain” and is particularly famous for the title, ” Elegance of Mt.Emei Under The Sun”. The Four Wonders of Mt.Emei are the Golden Summit Sunrise, sea of clouds, Buddha’s Halo and the Holy Lamp. The main attractions include the Baoguo Temple, Fuhu Temple, Leiyin Temple and many other spots. In 1996, Mt. Emei and the Grand Buddha in Leshan were included in the List of the World Famous Cultural Relics.
i was up at 7.15am and decided to start walking at first light. The start point is Baoguo Monastery. You must pay 100 Yuan (10 Euro) entrance fee soon after. Its discounted for students. It would be a part day. The way I planned it was as follows and I wanted to head back to CHENGDU tomorrow.
- Hotel to Baoguo Monastery 1km
- Baoguo Monastery to Wannian Monastery 15km
- Wannian Monastery to Xixiangchi 15km
- Xixiangchi to Jinding Si (Golden Summit) 15.5km
That was a grand totel of 46.5km (29 miles) in one day. I knew nothing of the conditions or steepness. I knew Jinding is at 3077m. I did not like what it said in the lonely Planet. It said in January the Summit would be -7 oc.
Anyway I set off with my day back with was my LP, a litre of water and dried fruit. The first 15km were fine and I did it in Three hours. I met very few people on the route. CHINESE tourists now get buses to certain temples, its low, low season and locals now use the road to transport goods. You now only come across people at a few open stalls and foreign tourists which I have seen gone since I arrived.
Wannian Monastery is one of the bigger temples on the route and I paid 10 Yuan in. I spent about 15 minutes there. Nothing amazing.
The temple, 1,043 meters above sea level, was built in the 4th century. It burned down several times in the following centuries. The present brick building was reconstructed in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The Brick Hall, a domed building with small stupas on it, was built of bricks. In the hall is a statue of the Bodhisattva Puxian on a white elephant, 8.5 meters high, cast in copper and bronze. Its weight is estimated at 62,000 kilograms.
I passed lots of temples on route. As a holy mountain there are many. The main temples and scenic areas are: Baoguo Monastery, Wannian Monastery, Fuhu (Ambushing Tiger) Monastery, Leiyin (Thunder Sound) Monastery, Chunyang Hall, Qingyin (Pure Tone) Tower, Heilongjiang plank road, Hongchun Ping, Xianfeng (Fairy Peak) Monastery, Xixiang (Wash Elephant) Pool, Golden Summit, Huayan Top, and White Dragon Cave.
Anyway the next 15km was very hard. The first hour past the monastery I visited was very tough. Basically for the whole day you are climbing man made stone stairs. 90% if upwards and steep. You can see the stone stairs maybe 2-3km ahead and its disheartening to watch. I rather hike on ground rather than this. It took me 3.5 hours to get to XX. I was very tired and thought about staying here. Most of the monasteries offer dorminatory room. I did not come across any other hikers. The weather was very misty and foggy and NO views were to be seen.
At this temple the care taker was using a sling and stones to shoot at the monkeys. They are big feckers and have been known to attack humans for food.
the other thing was the snow and ice on all the steps which made things difficult. It was also getting very cold. I decided to head on and maybe take the cable car the last 6.5 km up to the summit. I did not want to spend two days in the mountain. I purchased some local made craptons for my boots. They added steel ice spikes help increase your grip and traction on ice and other dicey spots. They did wonders and were needed as soon they were no steps but just snow and ice.
For the next 9km, I pushed hard as the snow, mist and fog were closing. I got to Jieyln Hall in 1.5 hours. I was there for 15 minutes checking whether the cable car was working it was not. Lots of those menacing monkeys were about. Many 30/40 were roarming about on the ground and on roofs of buildings. Anyway the cable car was not going up.
To tell you the truth, I did not feel like walking the last 6.5km to Jinding Si with the way the path was. No steps. Just steep ice and snow. It was like walking up a slide. I did 2 minutes and came back down. I t was 4.00pm. I really walked to do this. I had walked alone all day and it as a bit weird. For the last 2 hours, all I could hear was the cracking of branches due to heavy snow and ice. I saw monkeys now and again who scared the shit out of me. Even the few stalls and mountain shops had closed for the night. A group of CHINESE CAME ALONG and started doing the hike. I felt beer and followed them. About 100 yards later they stopped at a bench. Damn. I walked on.
IT was dicey now and again but I WAS DETERMINED AT THAT STAGE. Anyway EVEN THOUGH I DID NOT LIKE WALKING IN these conditions, I hated the idea of walking back down in these conditions even worse. I find it hard easier to climb up in hard conditions than walk down in the same conditions. I pushed myself and within 1.30 minutes I was at the summit. I had to use my flashlamp as it was very misty. You could hardly see 1 metre ahead of you. I walked ahead and asked a stall owner to point me to the monastery in order to get a bed. He pointed a shadow out and I walked there. A Buddhist nun was walking around and I put my two palms together and tilted my head to make a bed gesture. She gave me a big smile and did the same. As she pointed me upstairs to another temple, I believe she thought I was a foreigner making a HELLO gesture.
Anyway I went back down and found a caretaker. He pointed out a faint light about 300m away. I found it was built like a monastery with long dark cold corridors. I was freezing and paid 20 Yuan for a dorm bed. There are about 6 hotels up here and all empty. They still want 400 Yuan for a single room. Even the monastery wanted 110 Yuan for a single room. Anyway they gave me a dorm to myself. It was a 12 person dorm and I have never been in a colder room. IT must have been -10 oc outside and the missing plane of glass in he window did not help.
I took duvets from the other beds. I put behead me and 3 on top of me. I went out looking for a bite to eat but none of the hotels were going to open there restaurant for one foreigner. When I tried the last place, the owner wanted to make me pot noodle. I did not fancy it so she told a girls to open the restaurant. I am never heard a Chinese girl give out and argue so much. It was 8.30pm and she was watching TV. The filty looks said it all but the owner just laughed and herded us down stairs. I ordered some vegetable soup and some noodles with rice. It was the worst meal I have had since coming to CHINA< AND THE SULKY GIRL?COOK KEPT BELTING ON> Everytime she said something I just talked to her face going YABBA, YABBA, YABBA. At the end, knowing she had no English I told her she was a crap cook.
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Mt. Emei – Day One – Yeah, Steps all the way to the top. When I got views like this with steps up and up, its kind of heart breaking. More at every turn. (04-01-2004)
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Mt. Emei – Day One – Unfriendly Monkeys (04-01-2004)
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Mt. Emei – Day One – Lots of Snow near the Top (04-01-2004)
I was in bed by 9.30pm and I was going to keep my boots on it was so cold. Everytime I put my head out from under the covers, there was a blast of cold air. I set my alarm for 6.30am to see the sunrise. I was extremely happy to see lots of stars out and the mist and fog gone. I was unhappy to note that it was no where near sunrise and it was freezing cold.