Mt Emei

---

We travelled from Chengdu to Mount Emei on a private bus, arriving at our lodgings in the afternoon. Baoguo temple, located at the base of Mt. Emei, was not quite the secluded mountain temple we had expected. Scores of believers and tourists shouldered through the grand gates and disseminated though the complex, photographing each other or offering incense before prostrating themselves. Once we reached our rooms however, the spirituality of the place was already starting to leave an impression on its newest guests. We sat on benches on a wooden walkway, polished to a sheen by countless lifetimes of footsteps. Below us, in a walled courtyard, a monk slowly and delicately walked in a circle, his gaze downturned in contemplation. Apparently unshakeably dissociated from our terrestrial world, every few minutes his eyes flicked up for a split second as if to check for an unseen supervisor.

Our rooms were basic but reasonably clean for China. Communal hole in the ground toilets were available at the end of the block and sex segregated showers in the main temple building could be used between the hours of 17:00 and 21:00. A 15 minute walk into the small town took us to local restaurant were we enjoyed a hot pot. We helped ourselves from large fridges to kebab sticks of skewered uncooked vegetables, eggs and meat. Returning to our stools around a bubbling cauldron of oil, water and spices, we dropped in our selections and waited expectantly. On our walk home, we passed many more eateries, there doorways flanked by cages of chickens and despondent looking rabbits, their sagging ears seeming to reflect their predicament. Alongside them were plastic containers of fish which appeared on the point of asphyxiation, gulping desperately at the air bubbles from a hose.

The next morning we awoke at 04:30 to the unwelcome sound of drumming, chanting and other instruments of torture. What had leant the place a rich ambience the previous evening, at least to us, was less welcome at this hour. We began our hike before seven. Our destination for the evening was a home stay near Wannian Temple. We had planned a a route as best as we could from the grossly inadequate maps available, which appeared to be a painting of the area with a few place names written on. After assurances from our local guide that the route was obvious and no better maps existed, we departed. On setting out we passed a young couple who stopped and prostrated themselves in prayer every three steps along the road. We wondered how long they were intending to keep up this patient act of devotion. Surely not to the Golden Summit, an elevation of more than 2.5 km higher than our current 500m?

We followed a mixture of roads, ancient flagstone paths and steps through dense forest. There were occasional bouts of heavy rain which delighted the opportunistic hawkers who shouted and waved overpriced waterproofs and umbrellas at us from their nests along the route. All members of our tour, walking in several separate groups managed to stray off the 'unmissable' route, finding themselves reluctantly back at 500m after a morning of negotiating steps. We visited the tourist information centre in search a real map but none existed. We were waved away nonchalantly by two adolescent employees there who listlessly played a card came together on a computer rather than help us. We climbed again and found ourselves in a monkey sanctuary, a large area of mountainside that was crisscrossed with wooden walkways and bridges. Lines of tourists trudged around the route while monkeys looked on malevolently at the bamboo canes gripped by these invaders. Some officials in blue tee shirts bribed the monkeys with food for photographs, while others, armed with catapults, like compassionless prison guards discouraged any uprisings. Past the monkey corridor and the number of visitors dropped off dramatically. We continued upwards and upwards, along a never ending stone staircase. The effort required to climb it giving a sense of awe at the work required to construct it. With the afternoon drawing on, we eventually had to turn back but not before a stop for chocolate and banana pancakes with a cold beer at the 'Hard Wok Cafe'. This tiny hut and platform is perched next to the steep stone steps, surrounded by a small garden and manned by a famously friendly couple.

I arose at 04:45 the next morning, with no reservations about leaving our filthy guest house. I had agreed to attempt to hike to the cable car station just below the Golden Summit. With estimates from locals ranging from 8 hours to 2 days, and a cartoon for a map, we decided to give ourselves the best chance of success and set a start time of 05:00. Our first challenge was leaving the guest house as the front door was sealed with a bicycle lock and we could find nobody who worked there. Perhaps fire safety precautions are yet reach this area? In the end we opened a kitchen window and slipped out into the night like criminals. We managed several ours energetic plodding up stairs before the sun appeared, boosting our spirits and reducing our perceived vulnerability to monkey attack. Breathless and dripping with sweat, but satisfied with our progress, we were awed by the beautiful vistas. Dense foliage covered acute peaks, with layer upon layer becoming increasingly faint in the morning haze towards a dreamy horizon. We passed a number of small temples, humble but beautiful in their solitude. Fuelled by water, coke and snickers we continued past groups of smiling aged locals, also making there way up the hill as if in defiance of their advancing years. There faces brown and crinkled by toil and time, their short stature further dampened by a hunched posture, a result of the heavily laden baskets they still carried on their backs.

We reached the cable car station around midday to find a line of coaches unloading passengers who wished to travel to the summit. Tired but smug with our peaceful walk we decided to miss the summit, which was shrouded in cloud, and caught a bus back to Baugoa temple. We had a time for a quick swim in a refreshingly cold river before heading to the airport to fly to Lijiang.

---