Emei Shan

So Florence + The Machine have a new album.  And it’s awesome.  You should probably be listening to it.  Now.

Also, one of my dear cousins just had a baby!  A healthy baby girl, though my Internet is not working currently, which is frustrating because I’d like to know more!

Anyways, to continue where I left off…

I awoke Thursday early to an annoying cell phone alarm.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  Nah, I’m not going mental, I’m just talking to my past self who packed a tramping bag like a mad man only a few hours prior.  I didn’t feel great, so I lay in bed…thinking; something I do far too much for my own good.  I wanted to climb Emei Shan, but it was supposed to rain, I knew I didn’t know much Chinese, I knew I was going alone, and I was stuck.  I was stuck in the bed for about forty minutes.  Suddenly going to Emei Shan felt like a big life decision.  If I went, I would be trying to find that person in me who fearlessly jumped from a plane and hitchhiked.  If I slept in, I would be a teacher exhausted by his new circumstances and probably waste the day and post-pone the difficult work of rebuilding the self that needs to be done.

Well, I procrastinate enough about teaching.  So I jumped out of bed, took a shower to wake up, ate a very quick breakfast, and walked to the bus stop.  The bag was heavy, too heavy, but I was on an adventure and so excited about it that I fell asleep on the bus.  I was exhausted; I had dragged my sleepy tired body out of bed, put on a huge pack, and laced big boots around my feet.  The mind wanted to go, the body wanted the mind to go…alone.

After what felt like forever, I ended up at the long-distance bus stop.  I went up to the counter and was able to get a ticket to Emei Shan.  The only time on the ticket was 16:45!  But something told me not to worry, so I went into the station found the gate and waited, until a Chinese woman asked me where I was headed (in English) and it turned out there was one seat on a bus boarding at that moment!  (Apparently you buy a seat for the day and just need to get on a bus when you feel like it).  It worked wonderfully, language barrier passed, right?

WRONG! 2 hours later found me over-thinking as people kept getting of the bus.  I thought the bus went to one station!  What was this?  So I did what foreigners do, I stumbled like a mad man from the back seat of the bus to the front, tripping over people, to try and pronounce Emei Shan to a bus driver who gave me the stiff arm.  I thought it was only 1.5 hours away, and too much time had gone by, and I was tired, and blah blah blah, you get it!

And then a magical thing happened; we pulled into a station and the bus stopped.  And the station said Emei, the town where I wanted to go.  Suddenly I was overjoyed.  It was now around 1:00, much later than I had planned on arriving and the joy faded.  Crap---still need to get to the mountain.  A man outside the bus asked me “Emei Shan?  30! 30! 30!”  I politely declined, got out the Rough Guide and then realized I didn’t want to deal with two more buses, 30 yuan sounded so much easier.  So I got into a strange man’s van and another man jumped in and we set of for the town at the base of the mountain.

We pulled into an alleyway between two buildings.  Apparently we were there.  I didn’t see a mountain.  This was SO much easier when I could communicate!  I asked him/gestured to him: Which way for Emei?  He pointed.  I walked.  I asked another guy, who pointed the other way.  Seeing as the other way seemed to lead to a waterfall and an entrance, I picked the second guy’s advice.  Thank you good instincts!  So I found my mountain.  And then proceeded to spend 20 mins trying to find a bathroom as the signs kept pointing in different directions!

Finally I found it, and changed out my sweats into some hiking pants; performing an incredible circus-balancing act over a hole-toilet without touching sock to foul floor while changing!  Johnny: 1; Hole-in-floor: 0.  Great success.  Finally I was ready to begin hiking around 1:40 or so.

I took a picture of the map, instead of buying a map, and had one in the guidebook (that happened to be a bit lacking of information as it turned out).  So then I needed to find the trail.  After only ten minutes, I picked a path that led me face-to-face with a Taoist temple.  Yeah that’s cool and all, but it was almost 2pm and I wanted to find a place to stay on the Mt.  Sorry Taoism, I’ll learn about you later.  Felt bad to rush but I still wasn’t sure where I was going or where I was even trying to get to?  After ten minutes of walking, I looked exasperated to a woman and then gestured stairs and she pointed the way I was walking!  So I kept walking.  And then…I saw the bridge.

The bridge was a humble bridge full of color from dozens of prayer flags.  Instantly, I woke up all over again.  This time I wanted to go on an adventure: mind and body.  Two more bridges followed.  Then after some flights of stairs, I came to my first temple.  Incense burned at the entrance.  It felt calm.  Then I noticed the entrance fee.  Sure it was only 6, which is less than a US dollar, but an admission fee for a Buddhist temple feels wrong.  Asking for donations feels different.

So I took my moment of pause and caught up with a girl who I had greeted while going up the steps.  She seemed lost, I was lost, and she was an Aussie!  Meet Jess, the 22-year-old who also teaches in Chengdu; vivid blue eyes, large frame glasses, and a warm smile.  She was energetic about life, though a tad ill-prepared: left her big bag at the hostel (my back was jealous), though she carried a large water bottle, a camera on her wrist, and a large bag of potato chips.  Together we caught a ride to the next temple (being ferried over a muddy road due to construction).  So we started climbing to the next one.

Jess greeted everyone we passed with a warm “ni hao”.  Though Jess could actually say much more.  She’s only been here a month longer than me!  She dropped out of university as she wasn’t enjoying it and is now on an internship teaching in China after spending a year saving funds.  To say her company was pleasant would be an understatement.  I think I was also in shock about finding a same-age, likeminded person.  We reached the temple and Jess got us into a conversation with a young French boy and his sister and mother.  They’ve lived all over and as I watched Jess, I was reminded of stories told about my Nana, whose socializing skills were legendary.  I’ve inherited much of them it seems, but Jess was right up there with my Nans.

Jess was willing to keep climbing with me, even though she had her bag in a hotel at the bottom, meaning she was going to need to return to the bottom.  The task of getting to the next landmark, a palace, involved many many many stairs.  Stairs would become the norm for the next two days.  If 10 feet is a story (or there abouts), and I was planning on ascending 8,000ft then that’s about, 800 flights of stairs.  Granted the stairs changed; sometimes steep, sometime big ones that slowly ascended.  And then of course, my favorite, descending hundreds of feet via stairs while trying to go up the mountain!

We finally found the palace.  No entrance fee so we walked in and had some quiet time.  I saw an accommodation sign, but wanted to get farther on my first night.  Jess was still willing to keep going, but was not in the rush I felt I was in.  Then, after continuing a ways, we met Sherry and Carol.  Both Chinese and both 23; together they could understand us!  They were hiking all the way to the top and I wanted to join their party.  They were headed for the temple I was trying to maybe get to that night and Jess had no choice but to continue as we had started descending.  Jess very much wanted to stay at a temple, but having booked the room wasn’t sure she would.  Noticing how much she enjoyed the girls’ company I encouraged her to come with us.

We talked about various things.  Carol taught me the words for many things, of which I remember little.  Eventually evening came, and we reached a bus stop where Jess could catch a bus back.  But we pressed on through village over a lake, crossed some neat bridges (all not photographed due to lack of light), and eventually to the temple.  A lady who wanted us to stay at her house agreed to show us to the temple.  Sherry and Carol wanted to stay with her, while Jess and I decided to stay at the temple.  We parted ways but exchanged numbers.

The monks (or staff, not so sure) prepared us some dinner for additional funds, but the lodging was 30 per person.  I had read about mats on floors and cold, damp rooms and had brought my sleeping bag, sleeping bag mat, and sleeping bag sheet along with warm clothes, gloves, hat, etc.  It sounded like we were going to sleep in separate quarters as well.  But we were escorted to a room with two beds that even seemed clean.

Jess had no supplies so I offered her my sleeping bag and I used my sheet with two comforters; not too trusting about Chinese beds: I wonder why?  Jess and I talked parents, siblings, US politics, life, etc.  She was relived to hear that I had similar concerns over the US.  We talked about the culture of fear that seems to often control a lot of our governments: US and Aussie.  And finally, it was bedtime.

After hiking Abel Tasman with friends in NZ where we’d hike until dark, I insisted with Jess that we wouldn’t go to bed at 8!  We had to stay up until at least 10, otherwise after a few days I knew I’d be exhausted from all the sleep; trust me, it happens.

We awoke late.  Or later than anticipated.  After a small breakfast of a banana and some wheat crackers, we found Carol and Sherry at the temple.  I braved the temple bathroom (hole-in-the-ground) and we continued on our way.

Jess had to leave out party, so Carol, Sherry, and I set our sights up…on plenty of stairs.  Big stairs, fat stairs, small stairs, skinny stairs; I’m gonna climb some stairs!  And climb we did.  The first temple we paused at was home to Garfield!  An orange rather chubby cat warmly greeted us; its behavior far more dog-like than cat-like.  Carol’s heart was moved, which is an easy feat if you’re a cute hungry animal, and she generously shared some of her rations.  Of course, then a cleaner came by and scooped up the rations.  Even on the way up Emei Shan, everything is still cleaned!  In fact, we passed many leaf-cleaners, raking all the stairs.

We passed stall after stall selling beads and food, though eventually they thinned out between temples.  We broke for a bit of lunch: some PB&J, Carol’s generous rations, an apple, and some water.  We stopped by a woman’s home/store.  Two cats, a mother and kitten, shared in our lunch; especially Carol’s!

After many more hours of stairs, we bumped into two guys.  One I dubbed the red-musician as he wore a red fedora and just looked like a musician.  The other was dubbed musician’s friend; creativity was not very high.  They joined our party though they knew no English, so I had a bit of fun attempting to communicate.

Eventually we came across monkey-row.  After seeing signs for hours, and passing through a temple with monkey statues, we finally found our monkeys!  Warned that they are aggressive thieves, we used our sticks to scare them from our path…while other visitors feed them.  I must have seen a hundred signs about not feeding the monkeys, but maybe in Chinese they say the opposite?  They were very clever—opening up water bottles and other goodies—though it was also a bit sad seeing how they were treated.

We pressed onward with dusk falling and came to our stopping point: a home/hotel across from a temple.  They were the same price as the temple (unless you were a pilgrim…though it was a bit vague as to how one would prove he or she was a pilgrim…hoping there’s not a membership card).  We ate, talked, and feel asleep on heated blankets; though I was wide-awake most of the night: too warm to sleep, even if the air in the room was freezing.

6:00AM came too soon, as it often does, and we continued in darkness to the top.  First it seemed that we might catch the fabled sunrise, which lights up and over the famed sea of clouds.  Then as we climbed higher, the cloud around us became even thicker.  Sure enough, at the top it was rainy, cloudy, and light; we’d missed the sunrise through the haze.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or my diet, but I did not feel good.  I wanted to go down.  Now.

Instead, I visited the temple; the goal of all those stairs.  I offered up a pear-thing that I brought from Chengdu and sat to meditate.  A man at a desk murmured something.  Carol told me I couldn’t sit, I had to kneel.  WHAT?  Is this not a Buddhist temple?  Can’t I meditate?  Apparently Chinese Buddhism is a bit different than Tibetan.  So I kneeled.  But I wasn’t about to pray to a gold statue.  So I meditated.  Another love and kindness meditation; at 10,000 plus feet.  After, my mood pulled a 180-turn and suddenly, even the rainy clouds were good.

I read that a path/railway led to the final summit, but it was closed due to weather/season.  So we descended.  Everyone seemed bummed, but I felt at peace.  Then, only after twenty minutes, I looked up and saw…could it be?  Blue sky.  Just a small patch.  I called out to the others.  After starring at the sky waiting and wondering, a couple more patches tore from the overcast sky.  We turned and climbed again.

This time, the rain had stopped and then…we could see!  Not much, as the sea of clouds was thick under us, but we could see the sea of clouds!  The gold of the golden summit glowed.  It was beautiful.  My attitude soared even higher.  After we’d taken in all we could, and I’d tried to take pictures with a Kodak camera that just really doesn’t suit me, we headed back, but not before I had posed with several people for pictures.

Going down was difficult.  The steps are smaller than my big boots and the legs were sore.  Of course the steps were also slippery.  I wiped out only once, on flat stone luckily, but I was glad to finally reach the final bus stop (1.5 hours or so from the top.)  We took a car down, instead of a bus.  No, not a taxi, a car.  He drove us all the way down the steep, narrow, switchback road, and, of course, passed other cars on the way!

After almost two hours we were back in Emei town eating noodles on the street before saying goodbye to the boys and busing back to Chengdu.  Carol, Sherry, and I admired the small farms, rice paddies, and tea steps on the way back.  Back at the bus station, I said goodbye to Carol and Sherry and thanked them for all their help.  And then, like any American, I found pizza hut!

Eventually I made it back to my place.  The adventure was just what I needed.  Post the adventure; I’m better at waking up and thinking “I’m in China.”  And that morning smile usually lasts until bedtime; very similar to my NZ experience.  Minus the whole job thing.

(Chinese Buddhism has been capitalized; which makes sense with the large atheist population.  Tourists are more common than pilgrims.  Still, the Chinese have done a good job of preserving their past; even if they fix it up a bit to make it more attractive.)