On arrival, we are delighted to find that we are staying for 2 nights in a very nice 4 star hotel, though this was counter-balanced by the weather, which had become colder, greyer and wetter as we approached the mountains. We were also disappointed that the entrance fees to the national park had been hiked, so that it word cost us over £100 if we wanted to go up to the summit. We begrudgingly accepted that it was not worth this investment, just to see a summit that was shrouded at that time in cloud and probably get a soaking in the bargain - though the 'inner optimist' kept asking what if the clouds were to clear or if, as very occasionally happens, the peak pokes above the clouds?
The ultimate way to see this place, is to hike up all the way from the bottom. This would probably take most of a week, but there are numerous monasteries on the way up who will, for a small contribution, provide a bed for a night and cook simple vegetarian meals.
We didn't have the time for this, but instead decided to just explore a little and turned right out of our hotel up the tree lined avenue that starts the road up towards the mountain. We were rewarded by a very pleasant series of surprises. The village of Emei Shan ended at a large square, bordered by the road on the right, a mountain stream on the left and ahead by a 40 foot high sheer rock face carved with jade and gold chinese characters and over which a curtain of water plunged to a pool below. The square was dominated by a golden pagoda whose centre-piece was a large bronze Ming Dynasty bell.
Having taken all of this in, we picked a small path that followed the stream uphill. It took us in short time up to a series of temples that documented the arrival (probably in the 1st Century AD) of a Buddhist prophet from India, who was seduced by the spiritual charms of the mountain and found an open-minded audience for his ideas here. Some of these temples had a very calm aura about them and we sat awhile letting this wash over us and looking at some of the beautiful carvings (see some in the pictures below). At the end of this series of temples, there was an archaeological site, where lots of ancient religious artefacts (and what looked like a mammoth tusk) were being uncovered.
The path continued uphill and we found ourselves in rainforest, thick with bamboo and all manner of other trees, vegetation, butterflies and birds. It was cool and peaceful, with the sole accompaniment of birdsong and the stream to our side. We walked uphill for a couple of hours, only occasionally passing local families out for a Sunday walk or to visit one of the many temples that we passed. We were on the look-out for macaque monkeys who are common at higher altitudes here, but didn't spot any (probably just as well, as they are renowned for attacking humans if they think they are carrying food!). It was altogether just what we needed and we came back down in good spirits.
An atmospheric depiction of the early Buddhist disciples
A bronze demonstration of the local martial art form
One of many stone bridges that crossed the mountain streams at Emei Shan
Can anyone name this butterfly spotted on the lower slopes of the mountain?
Unfortunately Sue was about to go into a nightmare week. On the way down we stopped for some food at one of the local restaurants. We had a mix up with the food order and Sue got served egg, fried with rice noodles and we believe it was from this that she contracted Salmonella poisoning, which left her quite poorly for the next week, in turn made worse by the fact that we had some long drives in that time. Thankfully she is pretty much over that as I write this.
We will tell you more about the next instalments of our journey through China in the next posts, but I will just finish with my Night at the Chinese opera. Sue opted for an early night, as she (correctly) suspected that it might be very loud. Most of the rest of the group joined me and it was very enjoyable, if not quite what we expected. We assumed that we were heading to a low-key demonstration of Chinese opera for tourists, but found ourselves in a large modern theatre auditorium, filled exclusively with Chinese people, with a high-tech audio visual show incorporating piped music, acrobatics, puppetry and a story line which we struggled to follow, though an excitable lady from Singapore sat next to me gave me a running commentary throughout. As we arrived I said Ni Hao to her (one of the four or five words that I have now mastered and meaning 'Hello'). She looked at me with incredulity and said in perfect English 'You speak Mandarin?!'.
The finale of the Chinese opera / dance show
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