2006 - Beijing to Bangkok overland (Part 4 - Emei Shan)

Wednesday 8 November - After another slow breakfast, we left for the drive to Emei Shan. We stopped at a tea factory on the way which we thought was an odd place to stop but was kind of interesting. We then carried on to Leshan and the world's tallest Buddha. Very expensive to get in and those who did so said that it was not worth the 70 Yuan entry fee. We arrived in Emei Shan late afternoon and checked into the Teddy Bear Hotel.

The gateway to the tea factory.

Tea anyone? Yes, with milk and two sugars thanks.

The tea factory.

Part of the Giant Buddha complex.

Leshan and the Dadu River.

Yep, this is where we stayed.

Emei Shan is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China and has 76 Buddhist monasteries scattered all over it. You can stay in one of the monasteries overnight for a small fee. A couple of the guys did that and were rewarded with a superb sunrise over the mountains below.

Thursday 9 November - Caught the cable car up the mountain to the first temple. The prices are very expensive, the cable car being 40 Yuan ($8) for a ten minute ride. There were a large number of people at the first temple and surrounding area. The paths are all concrete with a huge number of steps everywhere. Very hard on the knees. There are a number of different routes that take you past many temples and the monkeys. Once we past the monkeys, crossed the river and climbed the hill, the number of people on the paths dropped to almost nil. Just us in fact. About six hours later we emerged back in the village of Emei close to the hotel.

A small section of the crowds at the top of the cable car.

Inside one of the temples.

One of the numerous temples on the mountain.

And again.

Yet another temple.

One of the many rivers on the mountain.

The walkway around the river.

A leisurely way to get around the mountain.

An infant tibetan macaque.

One of the monkey keepers.

A male tibetan macaque.

One of the long walks down the mountain.

It is not a wilderness at all. All the paths are concrete, neatly signposted, and lots of pilgrims / tourists everywhere. Dinner was in the hotel and was a typical Sichuan dish. It looked like a bowl of molten lava. Once you got past the initial heat, it was very tasty. The beers in the bar across the road helped.

Friday 10 November - This was a lazy day wandering around the town although there is not much to see. The others went back up the mountain.

The entrance way to the mountain.

A great looking sculpture.

The entrance way to the mountain.

An interesting menu item.

The bar across the road.

Saturday 11 November - A wasted day as we had to go back to Chengdu to catch the night train to Panzhihua. We could have stayed in Emei as the train actually stopped there on the way through. The road to Panzhihua is too dangerous to drive the truck with passengers in the back. Andy and Ting Ting left the day before for a two day drive and would meet us in Panzhihua.
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