Stunning Emei Shan (峨嵋山) And Meeting Mr Big Guy in Leshan (樂山大佛)
Posted On Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at at 7:58 PM by Alvin
Ding Ding ! The Main Event of this trip - Climbing Emei Shan (峨嵋山) and visiting Leshan Big Buddha (樂山大佛) ! We hit Emei Shan City (峨嵋山市) around 7P.M. in time for another ass-kicking chili hot dinner and Paulette went out to the city to buy some worshipping incense afterwards. The sky opened on us and Emei was in its customary rain-soaked glory with atmospheric lingering mists and thus giving an overall pristine impression. On the first day, we warmed up our limbs with a gentle 4 hours' hike up to 萬年寺, 清音閣, 神水閣 and 純陽殿. Along the way, we were ATTACKED by the famous Emei monkeys, Paulette had her water bottle taken, I was bitten three times (no damage done - must have been my tough skin or something...) and Mandy had her wet tissues mistakened as biscuits and these human close relatives just snatched at them within half a second. So, thankfully my nuts remained intact and their ploy of 猴子偷桃 unsuccessful. Meanwhile, we saw passers-by in even worse dilemma - the monkeys climbed all over their heads (think woolly hats) and licked their faces (think face masks), probably because they forgot to wipe clean their mouth after lunch - 有驚無險 - take a look at the photo below when Paulette was cornered by the group's alpha-male !
Having dealt with our close relatives, we moved on to the Summit the next day - Jinding (金頂) and one could never predict the weather when hiking in the Chinese mountains - after taking the bus up Emei for 1.5 hours and hiking up a further 1 hour in the wet fog and slippery moss, we were rewarded at 3,500 metres by an impossibly cloudless blue sky and the Emei Summit (峨嵋金頂) shone in the glorious midday sun and we could see below us endless sea of clouds (雲海) and snow-capped mountains in the distant - what a stunner !
With aching limbs, we boarded the bus for Leshan (樂山) the following day and, as always, I felt calmed, soothed and pleasant to meet Mr Big Guy - the famous Leshan Big Buddha (樂山大佛). The coy, all-knowing smile of The Big Buddha would be a lasting impression after this visit. See if you would agree ?
With aching limbs, we boarded the bus for Leshan (樂山) the following day and, as always, I felt calmed, soothed and pleasant to meet Mr Big Guy - the famous Leshan Big Buddha (樂山大佛). The coy, all-knowing smile of The Big Buddha would be a lasting impression after this visit. See if you would agree ?
