Mar 27, Friday, Emeishan

Today we were up at 5:00am to head up to the top of the mountain for the sunrise.  We both had several layers of sweaters and coats and still froze.  It was quite cold.  There is still a bit of snow on the ground.  We were also in the middle of a cloud so it was quite damp as well…pretty miserable conditions.  And of course being in the middle of a cloud, there was no sunrise at all.  It just got lighter out and the clouds got heavier.  But the clouds made for some interesting and moody pictures.

After breakfast and thawing we headed out to catch the cable car down the mountain and then hiked further down the mountain to catch a bus.  On the hike we stopped to photograph a large band of monkeys cavorting in the trees.  It was very misty and the monkeys were basically in silhouette.  But, again, some very interesting pictures. 

Then it was a two hour bus ride further down the mountain, followed by another cable car up another part of the mountain.  Once at the top it was a short stroll and a very long flight of stairs to the Long Life Monastery (or Wannian Si). 

Walk to the Monastery

As with many monasteries we visited there were people burning incense and candles. 



Prayer candles.

Incense

It was very much like many of the monasteries that we have seen in the past except that it had extensive and exceptional gardens. 

There were many pots of orchids and the magnolias were in full bloom. 

There were also a band of aggressive, pan-handling monkeys on the steps to the monastery.

Monkey pulling pants

More than one of them stole water bottles from the unsuspecting tourists and then proceeded to mangle them as they tried to get into the bottles.

Then it was a VERY long (unnamed) walk down a LOT of stairs (we forgot to count but it had to have been several hundred steps, if not a thousand or more).  The walk took well over an hour and it was mostly stairs. 

The walk went through a lovely forest. 

Periodically along the stairs there would be vendors selling souvenirs and food. 

The walk ended at the Pure Sound Pavilion (Qingyin Ge) that was situated between two lovely mountain streams.  A very picturesque and serene spot with quaint bridges and pagodas.

The walk led to a very calm lake that gave mirror like reflections of the bridges over it and the buildings around it. 

Along the way we saw artists trying to capture the beauty of the area.

And there were many quaint sights.

The waiting area for the bus had one of the largest set-ups for queuing that we have seen.  Today it was empty but it just shows how big the crowds can get in China.

We eventually got back to the bus station but our bus was 25 minutes late.  We were in danger of missing the last cable car to our hotel at the Golden Summit…so we took the lazy (but fastest) way and hired porters to carry us up in sedan chairs.  We were pretty worried as to how they could possibly manage the long hike up in the short time we had but they ended up working in three shifts…took them 15 minutes or so to takes us a distance  that we had needed 45 minutes to an hour to do the day before (but at 10,000 feet on our first day at altitude)  Sort of humiliating.  But we made the cable car.  Didn’t bother with trying to see the sunset tonight.  The entire top of the mountain was cloaked in a heavy cloud.