Asia #3 - Emei Mountain

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It's really hard for me to access the Internet. But I’m persistent. Right now, we're staying in a 5-star hotel on Emei Mountain called Hong Zhu Shan Binguan and I am in their "Business Facility." This is a beautiful hotel but it is shrouded in a perpetual cloud of drenching humidity...maybe a little like the Queen Charlotte Islands’? We arrived last night after a very tiring day. This is a beautiful, 5-star hotel complex of 8 separate buildings dispersed within a park on this mountain beside Éméi Shān or Mountain, a very popular hiking destination. World-class hikers come from everywhere to challenge themselves with these several-day hiking trails to the summit at about 3100 metres (exceeding 10,000 feet or 2 miles!), staying at a variety of primitive monasteries along the way. I won’t ever see it…I’m not up to this challenge - especially after the scare I had yesterday afternoon. The hotel is known in its own right as a fabulous spa with hot springs heating its several mineral pools. These mountains are all volcanic.

This is what happened yesterday:

There were two vehicles filled with 10 happy people - me being one of them. We left Chengdu for the countryside, our destination being LèShān, a “small” city of 2 million that is about a 2-hr drive away. The drive was pleasant on a new freeway that was well-signed (not something that can be taken for granted in China). The countryside scenery was beautiful: rolling hills and orderly fields of planted rice that stands about 2 feet tall at this time of the year. There are other crops, too, like corn and various lettuce- and cabbage-like vegetables and cotton - lots of cotton. The skies were overcast but it was not raining. The air conditioning of the Mercedes-Benz that I was traveling in was fabulous, as it is a good remedy to the almost-saturating humidity that is present every day.

Once we reached LèShān, we parked at the foot of a mountain. It was just a short walk uphill to the entrance gate. It cost ￥80 per adult (about $12), with school children being given free admission (common at all the attractions that I have been to so far). Then the adventure really began…

We climbed a mountain of steps, literally, and arrived at the top of the mountain of, maybe, 2000 feet (for reference, this is about half the height of Grouse Mountain). I'm telling you, by the time I reached the top, I was looking forward to each landing after every 25 steps or so for a chance to "regroup." At the top was a very large Buddhist temple with four beautifully-decorated buildings that each opened onto an enclosed patio or atrium. Each building had huge idols of the four Buddhas of Chinese mythology: one for the North, one for the South and one for each East and West. They each have four very different faces representing various characteristics, such as loyalty, anger, bravery and I can’t remember the other one at this moment. There were many pilgrims and huge cauldrons of burning incense and food offerings were laid out on several tables. Some of the sticks of incense were over 3-ft long and about 2” thick - totally new to me.

Did I mention the drenching humidity? … Then we started to climb down these very deep, slippery stone steps to see the "Grand Buddha" that is carved into the side of this mountain. There was no uniformity to the steps at all - some were about 10” deep while others were about 13” - you really had to concentrate on your footing. Down, down, down we went until, finally, we saw the ear, which is 7 metres high. Again, down we went and after about 45 minutes of descent, we arrived at the feet of the Buddha. It is, indeed, a "grand" sight. It was begun in 713 AD by a Buddhist monk who made it his life's mission...and it was finished 90 years after the monk's death. Trying to see it almost ended mine!

We had a short break to admire this engineering feat and the beautiful point below at which 3 very large rivers converge, just in front of the Buddha. I suppose that's why the monk chose this site...or else he was just a hermit because it is sure not easy to get to.

The "Grand Buddha" is very imposing. He is seated, with his hands resting on his knees. He is over 71 metres high and he’s carved into the cliffside (sort of like a Chinese “Mount Rushmore”). His insteps are 8.5 metres broad, and my tourbook says that "you could picnic on the nail of his big toe - the toe itself is 8.5 metres long." , although it would take too much effort to get up there!
Then we started the grueling trudge up the staircases on the other side of the Buddha. At least this time, the stairs were not quite as steep, but because there was no railing or banister, it was more dangerous and more difficult to boot - pun intended! Mei, my host and very dear friend, helped me a lot. - Did I mention the drenching humidity? - I made it up to about the halfway point when I had to sit down, taking advantage of a niche in the rock. I was huffing quite a lot for air and my heart was thumping madly. I had sat for about 10 minutes when this older woman waltzed right by me. She and her daughter sat down near us and her daughter told me that her mother was 73 - that made me feel just great! I must have looked as bad as I felt because the daughter gave me a bottle of water and I accepted it gratefully.


This was the only way out so on I climbed, with more and more breaks being required. After another 10 or 15 minutes, I felt very dizzy and nauseous. I felt absolutely awful. Luckily, by this point, there was a low retaining wall that I could sit on. I don’t know if it was the physical exhaustion, the heat & humidity, or elevation sickness (we were well above sea level before we hit the mountain ranges). My high blood pressure didn’t help the situation, either. My pulse was racing and I was afraid that I was going to pass out. I was also in a weakened state before this journey even began - I had spent the preceding day in bed with food poisoning and the only things that I ate the whole day were a cup of chicken broth, about 1/2-cup of rice broth and 4 soda crackers the night before. I had managed to eat a small breakfast the morning we left on this trip but my stamina had definitely not been at my usual level.

I had to rest for quite a while before I felt strong enough to go on. Finally, we reached the top where there was a concession stand. Wen Qing ran to get me some cold water but I felt like I needed some sugar, so Wen Bo ran to get me some Coke. The Coke was so cold that there was ice in the bottom of the bottle…it tasted delicious and did double-duty as a cold pack for my cheeks and forehead! Then I drank the water. Again, I rested for quite a while before proceeding because we still had the steps down to the foot of the mountain. Mei wasn’t taking any chances - we all piled into a convoy of bicycle-rickshaws to go the last bit to the car. The breeze coming by me as we careened through the traffic down the incline was heavenly. Finally, Nirvana! The air-conditioned car! We drove for about 20 minutes, following a fellow on a scooter who was leading us to a restaurant on the other side of the rivers from the Grand Buddha in LèShān proper. It turned out to be a bit of a trick: this lunch that should have cost about $50 actually cost $100, so I witnessed a second gouging. The food was okay - to be quite truthful, food was the last thing I had on my mind at the time.

Today has been such a contrast to yesterday. We are being pampered. I have just returned from a very relaxing swim and soak in the therapeutic hot springs…let’s see if they really work! It will be dinner-time in about 15 minutes and I’m not the least bit hungry. We had a Chinese-style buffet breakfast this morning and a fantastic lunch an hour before our swim.

Well, it’s time for dinner. I’ll pick this up later. Zaitian!

ps: Ignor the map - somehow, it got gibbled! I'll fix it when time and opportunity allow. See ya!

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Comments

[NormCC]

What Are You Thinking Girl?
I know you want to see all you can see Linda but you really have to take care of yourself too. If something is beyond what you know you should be doing than you have to listen to yourself and not just keep going forward. very reckless girl. Have fun - but not at the expense of your health. :)

[Linda B]

No signage to warn people of the danger
Thanks for your concern, Norm. I didn't know what I was in for when we started this trek to see the Grand Buddha. The guide books tell you about distances involved but their isn't any information to let you know about the physical challenges that may exist in a particular venture. Basically, about all you might get is a sign at the halfway point telling you to be careful. Just an aside, had the weather been clearer on the second day of our stay at Emei Mountain, the plan was for several of our group going on a morning-long hike. I had already decided that I was going to address my need for rest and a bit of pampering. The previous day's experience left a lasting impression. As it turned out, the hike was off because it rained quite heavily. The sound of the pelting rain on the bamboo forest is really something to behold...it's almost musical!