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Published: August 9th 2007
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Peaceful repose.
Close-up of the enormous statue at he "top" of Emei Shan. /Steven/
We chose to make a trip to mount Emei, a holy Buddhist mountain near Chengdu and 3099m in elevation. Lelde has been plagued for a while with a sore ankle which can deteriorate, so we decided to tackle the mountain as a descent for the most part.
We started by getting a bus to Emei( pronounced omay) town, then to the tourist fabrication of a village at the foot of the mountain. We got a bus to a site close to the top( unsurprising that the Chinese would capitalise on a sceneic beauty such as this by building roads and cable cars to service the domestic tourist industry), then ascended steeply around 200m. The top of the mountain was adourned by a fantastic golden statue of a many faced deity, and a view of the actual summit proper sat on a sea of clouds( supposedly it used to be possible to walk to this summit- just 20m higher- but, the Chinese as opportunistic as ever have built a monorail, of course with a hefty fee, which now serves as the only way to make this extra 20m).
We descended then to our stay for the night, a guesthouse
People power.
The labourers on the mountain. They sometimes rest, taking the load on their " walking sticks". at around 2000m next to the Elepahant Bathing Pool monastery.When the clouds cleared, there were some fantastic mountain views here and it felt perfectly remote, with echoes of ancient China, monks and pilgrims gathered together.
We were anticipating some monkey sitings on the second day on the mountain, and after a while we heard crashing in the trees. One member of a troupe of monkeys presented themself- peering at us and moving nimbly through the trees and making long jumps between- then another and another. A high point was stopping at a Monastery(XiXin Si) for a tasty veggy lunch and to have more upclose encounters with the monkeys. Some of these were more mature, quite large and gibbon like. The monks chased the more adventurous ones off and, at one point, there was a a guy chasing monkeys with an immitation spear. It made me think that the monastic ( Human and primate) inhabitants have been living together for some time here.
The mountain paths are extremely well maintained. They are slate steps which seem to go on forever! There are men that for a fee will carry tourists, at speed, up or down these on a kind of two
man, deck chair litter( 10 yuan for 5 mins.) The real heroes of the mountain though are the labourers who deliver the materials for the maintenance of the steps, climbing with huge loads of stone and cement on their back.
On the other hand there are many horses being driven up and down the unforgiving steps with loads of cement. We felt really sorry for these guys, as the their movement looked really unnatural as it is so steep, and nearly all of them caught their lower legs on the sharp lips of the steps, leaving blood stains. Not to put too fine a point on it, this brought home the difference in policy between our home countries and the one in which we now travel.
/Lelde/
Vai, tagad megjinashu atstastit jau pavecus notikumus. Paris dienas atpakalj mes devamies uz miestinju Emaiju, nu katra zinja, shi vieta sastav no divam daljam - viena ir turistu "vajadzibam" konstrueta, proti, ka tada turistu telshu pilsetinja, jo vietejie pashi tur nedzivo, ar atbilstosham turistu cenam da jeb visur. Viena no dargakajam vietam man Kjina bija nacies saskarties. Un otra, lielaka dalja, ir reala Emeja, lidz kurienei var tikt tikai ar autobusu vai
taksi. Ljoti labi izshtukots, lai iekasetu vairak naudas no iebraucejiem. St.citu, tas attiecas ne tikai no Rietumu valsts, bet ari no citam Kjinas daljam, jo pashi kjinieshi celjo daudz apkart pa savu valsti. Kjinieshu turisti ir vairakuma visur. Vinji ar netiek saudzeti - par visu jamaksa pec pilnas programmas.
Un, protams, lai tiktu kalna ir japer biljete, kas nav leta nudien. Principa, kjinietishi ljoti apsviedigi ir komercializejushi da gandriz visas jaukakas turistu vietas un liek maksat papravas naudas summas par vismazako pakalpojumu.
Lai vai ka , nosaukums "Kapnes uz debesim" ir diezhan atbilstoshs shim kalnam (tas nav oficialais nosaukums, mes to ta iesaucam), jo, kad esi pasha gala, tad makonji ir Tev pie kajam - ljoti skaisti jau, protams! Kapiens gan nav no vieglakajiem un es tik tiesham nenozheloju, ka mes izlemam nevis kapt visu celju lidz kalna galam (3077m), bet uzbrauk ar autobusi lidz augshgalam, tad atlikushos gabalu lidz virsotnei ar kajam, (tas aiznjema kadas 3 stundas) un pecak ar kajam merot celju lidz pashai kalna lejai. Nakti mes pavadijam kalnos, neliela viesu majinja pie Zilonju baseina klostera. Bijam ietiti makonjos un visa apkartne tada dumakaina un nedaudz pamitra. Ari musu gultasvelja, bet vinjiem bija elektriskas segas, kas iesildija
The statue.
Just to show the scale of it! gultinju un tad jau tas dregnums no palagiem lenam pagaisa. Un fantastiski ir celties no rita, kad izej ara un Tev prieksha kalni..... Manas kajas bija lupatas pec shita pargajiena. Viss celjsh ir notaisits ar kapniem aptuveni 2 m platuma, un "noiet" no takas nav iespejams, ta ka visnotalj civilizets tas pasaciens... Bet viss apbrinojamakais ir tas, ka gados jau ljoti, ljoti papravos tantuki un onkinjas (parsvara piligrimi) mero sho celju no lejas lidz augshai!!! Cepuri nost!!!! Es knapi leja notuntuleju, bet vinji savos gados, visu to lielo, smago kapienu ar smaidu uz lupam meroja!!!!
Nakti pirms mes devamies uz kalnu bija baisakais negaiss mana dzive. Principa, man negaiss patik, bet nu taja nakti paris perkona ribieni bija tik intensivi un specigi, ka mazliet ta baisi palikas. Hosteli 2 reizes pazuda elektriba. Es iedomajos, ka butu, ja mes dienu ieprieksh butu sheit ieradushies un negaisa laika butu iestigushi kalnos - ta varertu but baigi intersanta pieredze.
mes devamies prom no Emei 1-ja Julija...
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