We caught the first bus from Chengdu to Emei Shan. On the way we were entertained with some things on the television including a Chinese variety show and a movie subtitled in English called "Love on Delivery." The movie was pretty funny. The bus ride took a little over 2 hours though it didn't leave until 30 minutes after it said it would. Here is a picture I took on the ride.
Once we got to Emei we took a taxi to a hostel in Bagueo near Emei Shan (shan meaning mountain). We paid the hostel to do our laundry while we hiked. We also got a map of the mountain and borrowed bamboo sticks. We were told we needed them for the monkeys. We wanted to spend a couple days in a national park and when we looked at what China had we thought Emei Shan sounded pretty cool. It is one of the 4 jewels of China and had a ton of monasteries/temples
throughout the climb and decent. From the distances on the maps we had, we figured we were in for at least a 10 hour hike this first day (which was why I was a little stressed when we missed the bus the day before). I don't know how those distances were measured, but thankfully they were way off and we were able to get to the summit, where we were staying that night, in a little over 6 hours. There are several ways to get up the mountain including 2 cable cars. When we first started our climb we knew we would need to take at least one cable car in order to have even a chance of making it to the top before dark or at least before it was really late. We took a cable car up to a monastery saving us at least 2 hours. From there we started our hike up.
It was hot and even though the entire path was paved, the majority of it was stairs.
At times it felt like I was on a stair climber in the gym, but at least the scenery was really beautiful.
The Chinese hikers were very unlike the Korean hikers. Korean hikers for the most part are very stylish and are usually all decked out in hiking gear. The Chinese, on the other hand, had anything from jeans to skirts. Now I didn't see anyone in high heels, but with what they were wearing, including skirts and panty hose,
I don't know how they were comfortable climbing up that mountain. It was not an easy ascent and we were so happy to make it to the top. Along the way we passed monkey signs that alerted us that monkeys might be around,
but we didn't see any. We also saw a few animals
and people carrying heavy loads on their back.
The hike was misty and cold towards the summit.
The summit was 3099 meters high and was way above the clouds. Unfortunately it was really misty at the top and we couldn't see very far.
Once the mist came in it got very cold. At the base of the mountain it was near 70 degrees if not hotter, but at the top it was maybe 40 degrees. At the top was the Golden Summit temple
Once we got to Emei we took a taxi to a hostel in Bagueo near Emei Shan (shan meaning mountain). We paid the hostel to do our laundry while we hiked. We also got a map of the mountain and borrowed bamboo sticks. We were told we needed them for the monkeys. We wanted to spend a couple days in a national park and when we looked at what China had we thought Emei Shan sounded pretty cool. It is one of the 4 jewels of China and had a ton of monasteries/temples
throughout the climb and decent. From the distances on the maps we had, we figured we were in for at least a 10 hour hike this first day (which was why I was a little stressed when we missed the bus the day before). I don't know how those distances were measured, but thankfully they were way off and we were able to get to the summit, where we were staying that night, in a little over 6 hours. There are several ways to get up the mountain including 2 cable cars. When we first started our climb we knew we would need to take at least one cable car in order to have even a chance of making it to the top before dark or at least before it was really late. We took a cable car up to a monastery saving us at least 2 hours. From there we started our hike up.
It was hot and even though the entire path was paved, the majority of it was stairs.
At times it felt like I was on a stair climber in the gym, but at least the scenery was really beautiful.
The Chinese hikers were very unlike the Korean hikers. Korean hikers for the most part are very stylish and are usually all decked out in hiking gear. The Chinese, on the other hand, had anything from jeans to skirts. Now I didn't see anyone in high heels, but with what they were wearing, including skirts and panty hose,
I don't know how they were comfortable climbing up that mountain. It was not an easy ascent and we were so happy to make it to the top. Along the way we passed monkey signs that alerted us that monkeys might be around,
but we didn't see any. We also saw a few animals
and people carrying heavy loads on their back.
The hike was misty and cold towards the summit.
The summit was 3099 meters high and was way above the clouds. Unfortunately it was really misty at the top and we couldn't see very far.
Once the mist came in it got very cold. At the base of the mountain it was near 70 degrees if not hotter, but at the top it was maybe 40 degrees. At the top was the Golden Summit temple
which included this amazing statue with Buddhas and elephants.
.
Leading up to the temple were stairs lined with white elephants
Once we looked at the temple we checked into the hotel and got some food. We tried to get to sleep early because we knew the next day was going to be another long day.
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