Today was yet another early morning but we were all ready to start our day and do some hiking. We figured we needed a decent breakfast in us if we were playing on hiking for 5 or more hours so we tried to order some eggs and toast but the hostel insisted that they didn’t not have toast but they had garlic bread so we said that was close enough. Sure enough when they brought it out it was literally toast with chunks of garlic on it, but it worked. After we ate we checked out of the hostel, Bryan, Joe, and Catriona grabbed bamboo hiking sticks to fend off the monkeys, and we made our way towards the bus to take us to Wannian Temple which not very far from the base of the mountain. From there we started on our trek up the mountain, once again not even knowing what we were getting ourselves into. After hiking for only an hour we were all already sweating and our legs were already getting tired. Joe and Catriona were lagging behind and just decided to head back down and bus up to the top, but the stubborn three of us decided we wanted to stick it out.
First of all, we made some great friends that we seriously owe the world to. We met this guy and girl, Miles and Ross, while hiking who were probably two of the nicest people I have ever met. Before we even knew their names they were offering us Dove chocolate and Chinese gummy snacks. They were great hiking buddies as they were right on our pace and kept us entertained. We stopped for a quick lunch on the mountain, which was pretty awesome since we didn’t know if we would get to eat all day. Jess and I split a plate of eggplant and Bryan got some fried rice and potatoes. We talked with Miles over lunch and got to see all of his pictures from Cambodia that looked absolutely amazing. Just from seeing the pictures Bryan, Jess, and I have already made a pact to someday make it back to Asia and go to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.
I was set on getting a picture with one but every time I got close Jess and Bryan would freak me and out and tell me it was going to jump on me so I eventually gave up. We did get to see a few jump on other people’s backpacks which was pretty scary but they were really only interested in the food and water and if you hit the sticks and on the ground and make loud noises they eventually leave you alone. Miles told us that we might be threatening to them since we just look different than everyone else so we played it safe and didn’t try any funny business. We also felt pretty vulnerable because we were the only people in shorts and short sleeves and everyone kept telling us to put on more clothes because they are known to scratch people. We just took our chances on that, and it turned out to be fine. After we made it past the monkeys we still had quite a ways to go up the mountain.
Some parts were better than others but most of the time we were pretty exhausted. Ross took the slow and steady approach and just hiked up the whole mountain without breaks and managed to never get tired. We weren’t exactly going very fast but we definitely still needed breaks so we still don’t know how she did it. After hours of hiking Miles asked someone how far away we were from the cable car that takes you the rest of the way to the summit and was told 30 minutes. Unfortunately that was not at all a close estimate as we hiked for a half hour and then Miles broke the news to us that is was going to be another hour or hour and a half before we got there. That is when we really started moving slow and were pretty ready to be done hiking. We could only 5 or so steps at a time without stopping and were really struggling. After pushing through we finally made it to check point F, which is where the cable car was supposed to be. Unfortunately the cable car is actually a little past F so we had yet another 30 minutes of stairs ahead of us before we could make it to the top. At this point we are absolutely drenched in sweat not to mention how wet we were from the misty fog as well. Luckily on the last leg we had a brief moment where the fog started to clear and we got a pretty good view down the mountain.
We made sure to get a group picture with Miles and Ross and then as soon as we were done we ran into Joe and Catriona. They had just gotten down from the top and said that the view was amazing and that all of the fog was cleared and you were above the clouds. With that we had some motivation to make it the rest of the way and after not too much longer we were in line for tickets to the cable car. Rather than the typical cable cars we have taken up mountains that hold around 4 to 6 people this was just one giant one that held up to 100 people which was pretty crazy. It was actually pretty scary because it moved at about a 70 degree angle and you literally could see nothing out of it since it was so foggy. Every once in a while you could see another car pass which was pretty scary because then you realized how fast we were actually moving. Of course once we got out of the cable car there were still more stairs to get to the Golden Summit with the famous Buddha on top. Unfortunately Joe and Catriona had taken the great view with them when they left because we could not see a thing.
I walked maybe 20 feet ahead on accident and Bryan and Jess thought they lost me because the fog was so thick. I kid you not we got probably 30 feet from a 20 plus meter golden Buddha and we couldn’t even tell it was right in front of us. We could see a vague yellow tint in the sky but other than that we would have had no idea. We took a quick lap around a got a few pictures that are awful compared to Joe and Catriona’s and then went inside, which was pretty cool. With that we were about ready to be done with the mountain so we got back on the cable car down.
On the walk from the cable car to the buses we had a really interesting conversation with Miles. He all of the sudden brought up Mao and asked our opinion of him. We have been told not really to talk about Mao but he told us that he knew Americans didn’t think of him like the Chinese people do. He even asked if we thought he was a monster. We decided we wouldn’t really candy coat it but kind of compared him to Hitler and how we would definitely consider Hitler a monster and we have just always been taught that regardless of how much you know about the subject. We said that Mao isn’t exactly the same in that people really don’t know nearly as much about him but that he definitely has a negative connotation. We explained that it partially has to do with the fact that he was a Communist leader which in general Americans do not support but also that we don’t like how many people died under his rule. He was very open-minded about it, which was pretty crazy because most people are not at all. Everyone else just thinks he is great and know nothing about all of the horrible things he did because people are just so sheltered from the actual facts. We then talked a little about the school system and how Americans teaching English aren’t allowed to bring up politics or anything like that to the kids or they will be fired. Ross didn’t even realize that Americans didn’t like Mao, which completely proved our point. The conversation wrapped up in perfect time for Ross and Miles to help us buy tickets for the bus down and then we just hopped right on.
Unfortunately the man who took our tickets directed us towards the wrong bus and we ended up on the completely wrong side of the mountain. Ross and Miles talked with some people and they arranged for another bus to pick us up since it was their fault we were in the wrong place. While we were waiting I got a call from Joe and Catriona saying that our hostel we were planning on staying at was booked and so were all of the hotels they could find in the area. They had caught the last bus back to Chengdu and were going to stay in a hostel there and we really had no idea what we were going to do. We decided we could try to stay in Leshan which is a town about 30 minutes away where the Giant Sitting Buddha is. We originally were planning on coming back to the Buddha on Saturday but realized that would be really out of the way so it was worth a try to find a place there. Ross and Miles worked their magic and somehow managed to get us a private driver to Leshan for only about $3 and he got us rooms at a hotel. Relieved that everything was taken care of we attempted to relax on the bus down although it was pretty tough since you could see nothing the whole way down this winding and bumpy road. After a somewhat nauseating ride we were finally at the base of the mountain. We weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to Ross and Miles so we decided to meet up for a hot pot dinner in Chengdu Friday night. With that we hopped in with the private driver with four other friendly guys and were on our way.
On the way we were instructed to get out of the van and for once we actually knew what was going on. We were at another CNG station like we were in Xi’an and had to get out so he could get gas. As soon as we got out our fellow passengers asked if we could get a picture with them and of course we agreed. We talked with them and within 30 minutes they got dropped off and after another 15 we were at our hotel for the night. Walking up was kind of like a horror movie because it was pouring rain with lightning and the lobby was under construction, which made it look pretty creepy. We checked in and made our way up to our rooms only to pass 2 or 3 rooms on our floor with the doors open and they were just completely torn apart and were being redone. A lady followed us to our room and turned on our faucets, which was kind of weird but we just went with it. At this point we were all starving so we went on an adventure to find food.
We pretty much seemed to be in the middle of nowhere so we just went to the place we could see across the street which was basically just a family's home. The menu was all in Chinese so we just asked for fried rice and gongbao chicken. They seemed a little confused but they just cooked us something right up and it turned out to be really good. It was pretty obvious that they kept it very simple for us since it was not spicy and just had basic veggies and such. The cook was so nice he even made us up a giant bowl of egg and tomato soup for free and was just so happy to have us and was so concerned that we enjoyed our meal. The family was really cute and had two little girls who were just adorable. We kept telling them to sit down and neither of them would and the littlest one just kept saying bu yao, meaning she didn’t want to, and running away which was hilarious. We tried to make as much conversation with the family as we could but our Chinese is definitely limited. We told them that we study in Shanghai and that we were in the Chengdu area to see the pandas, climb Mt. Emei, and that we were going to the Giant Sitting Buddha in the morning. We eventually realized one of the older girls spoke pretty decent English, which kind of helped out. The cook kept offering us cigarettes as a sign of friendship but we all declined yet made sure to thank him for the offer. After we were done eating and talking we told them thank you so much for the food and asked how much it was. They kind of just looked around and said 100 yuan, which is very reasonable for the amount of food we got but then the cook said 90 yuan, which was nice of him. With that we said our goodbyes and crossed back across the street to the hotel. As soon as we got back we were all in dire need of showers so I hopped in. I once again fell victim to the shower, which was pretty funny. I was smart enough to point the spout away from me this time, which was clutch because it totally would have sprayed me but that wasn’t the only issue. I used the detachable shower head but there was no good place to put it. The way it was set up it was aimed horizontally at your face and if you raised it up the water pressure tilted it upwards so it would spray over the shower doors. I just held it most of the time but put it back in the holder to test out the overhead spout to tell Jess whether or not it was decent. It turned out to be awful so I flipped the switch back only to be blasted in the face, which actually just made me laugh. I could then barely open the door to get out but just came out of the bathroom laughing to Jess and told her good luck. With no internet we really had nothing to do other than make some notes for our blog and get a much needed good nights sleep after an absolutely exhausting day. Jess and I looked back on the whole day and decided we were very happy with it even though it turned out completely different from what we were expecting. It made it more exciting, we made some great friends out of it, and we were actually going to save time and money not having to come all the way back out to Leshan from Chengdu. Such a success.
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