Ginkgo, Motorcycles, Hefei, Jiuhua Shan

At the temple we were shown some nice trees. The first one, I understood to be a Bodhi Tree, the same type tree that Buddha sat under when he reached enlightenment. There were also some nice Ginkgo trees. Ginkgo is dates back 270 million years and is considered a living fossil. The leaves and nuts are used in Chinese medicine. Here's a link for more information on Ginkgo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba

It was now time to return to Chengdu. Our next stop was a flight east to to Hefei and then on to Jiuhua Shan. On the way back I snapped pictures of some motorcycle riders carrying various things. Many people have motorcycle's and if they are not solely used for transportation then they are loaded to the max.

Our guide Ying Ying took us to the airport and got us on the plane safely. It was late afternoon and we got into Hefei when it was dark. Our new guide was Wu Han. His chosen English name was Bob. Wu Han was self taught in English and never had English speaking clients before. In fact, I'm not sure that he even had talked to someone in English before us but he was thrilled to have the chance. Wu Han took us to a restaurant in Hefei and we were shown to a small room. It is common to have private rooms in restaurants. Ours was hot and full of mosquitoes which didn't settle down until the airconditioner cooled the room off. The food was good though and after dinner we headed off into the night to Jiuhua Shan. It was hard to stay awake as we had a long day. After riding for several hours and traveling up a mountain road on our last leg we arrived at our hotel and settled in for the night. We were to meet Wu Han in the morning after breakfast.

Top Right: Bodhi Tree.

Top Left: Ginkgo.

Center: A decoratively shaped Ginkgo tree.

Bottom Right: Motorcycle rider with large baskets. Helmets are not too common in China from what we observed.

Bottom Left: A rider with empty baskets stacked behind him instead of hanging on the sides.

More of Emei Shan

We headed down the mountain in the bus full speed. At least that's what it seemed like to us. We were hanging on pretty tight. To the driver I think it was just another day on the job. The driver's wife sat in the front seat and their little boy sat on the motor cover between them. As we headed into curves full speed and braked heavily the boy would slide back and forth or sideways depending on which way we were turning. There wasn't much for him to hang onto and I think it was fun for him. The mother finally grabbed him though and had him sit on her lap until they got off the bus at one of the stops.

We made another temple stop. While waiting to get tickets we were observing the activity below us when a donkey came walking, by itself, up the road. It was loaded down with two heavy baskets of bricks. Apparently it knew where it was going. A lady finally came running up to catch it and continued in the same direction with it.

There's always steps going up to mountain temples and our legs were developing calves of steel from all the uphill walking. The walk is always worth it though. The temples and the artwork is fascinating.

Top Right: Boy in the front of the bus.

Top Left: Donkey carrying bricks.

Middle: More Stairs - empty but they should have been packed with people. The May 12th earthquake really hurt the local tourist industry.

Bottom: Another Emei Shan temple

Mountain Monkeys

We took the cable car down the mountain. There were lots of local people carrying large, heavy bags with them and we followed them down the mountain. People carry incredible loads up and down the mountain.

We returned to the bus stop and while waiting for the bus to leave a troop of monkeys made an appearance. Monkeys (macaques) are common in this area and will accost you for food if you are on the trails. If they do come up to you you're supposed to hold your hands open to show that you don't have any food. I managed to get a quick picture of a monkey in the parking lot before we left.

Top Right: Hannah Czehatowski walking down the mountain. Local people are in front of her carrying heavy bags.

Top Left: An Emei Shan macaque. Our guide told me was about a medium sized one.

Emei Shan: Sunrise on The Golden Summit

We went to bed late and got up early for the sunrise. At first we thought we would have to get up around 4:30 am but then we were reminded that there are no time zones in China. We got to sleep in until around 6:00 am instead and were treated to a beautiful sunrise. I thought how lucky we were since the tour books say the fog is often so thick you can barely see over the edge of the mountain.

Top Right: Sunrise on Emei Shan.

Middle: Mark Van Loan contemplating the sunrise.

Top Left: Another view of sunrise.

Bottom: An early morning view of the Temple on the ridge.

Emei Shan: Sunset at the Golden Summit

We had arrived late in the evening but it couldn't have been a better time. We were treated to a spectacular, rapidly changing, sunset as rays of sunlight broke through the clouds and illuminated the mountain tops far away.

Top Right: sunset on another Emei temple off in the distance.

Top Left: Sunset viewed from Emei Shan.

Bottom: (left to right) Michel Czehatowski, Guide Li Ying Ying, Mark Van Loan, and Hannah Czehatowski with the sunset to our backs.

Golden Summit Video

This video, taken by Mark Van Loan, gives you a better idea of the amazing views at the Golden Summit.

Emei Shan: The Golden Summit (Jinding Si)

We left the hotel and started walking up hill when suddenly we caught sight of a beautiful statue.
We continued on to the entrance and were enthralled by what we saw. At the summit of the mountain is a huge gilded statue of Puxian Bodhisattva under a clearing sky.
I have read the Lonely Planet tour book on China and here is what they write about the Golden Summit:
"It's constantly overrun with tourists, pilgrims and monks, and you'll be continuously bumped and jostled. The sun rarely forces its way through the mists up here and the result is that it is usually impossible to see very far past your own nose."
It was just the opposite for us. The sun came out, there were few tourists (mainly because of the May 12th earthquake), and the views were spectacular. Hannah and I both agreed that it was a photographers dream.

Top Right: There's always stairs to the top!

Middle: Spectacular views.

Top Left: Our first view of the Puxian statue.

Bottom: The Puxian statue.

For more information on Puxian, click on this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puxian

Emei Cable Car

Taking the cable car of Emei Shan gave us tremendous views. Normally the cable car should have been packed with people but due to the earthquake tourism was down and very few people were on the cable car. Mark Van Loan took this video with his camera on the ride up.

Emei Shan (Mt. Emei), Ganoderma

We left Leshan and our driver headed to Emei Shan. Emei Shan is 130km southwest of Chengdu and is one of the four famous Buddhist mountains (the others are Wu Tai Shan, Jiu Hua Shan, and Putuo Shan). Emei Shan rises 10,226 feet and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. We started off with a two hour bus ride up the mountain taking only small backpacks with a change of clothes. Our suitcases were left behind. The drive was beautiful with mountain streams and bamboo blending into the mountain scenery. We made a stop or two on the way where I took pictures of beautiful specimens of wild Ganoderma (Japanese: Reishi mushroom) that were for sale. Wild Ganoderma is rarely available in the USA these days. Almost ganoderma imported into the USA is cultivated and is of uniform size and shape so seeing wild ganoderma (and from a special mountain at that) was a real treat.

I also spotted fresh Pseudoginseng (Chinese: San Qi or Tian Qi) which is an important herb for stopping bleeding. Usually when we buy Pseudoginseng here in the US the color is dark black. There were lots of other specimens of herbs for sale in the store which made in quite interesting for me.

When we reached our stopping point we then took a half hour hike up the mountain until we got to the cable lift which took us to a hotel at approximately 10,000 feet. At the top the air was cool and fresh and we were glad to have brought our jackets. We took about 15 minutes to get settled in our rooms and then headed up to the top to see the Golden Summit Temple (Jinding Si).

Top Right and Left: Ganoderma (Reishi).

Bottom: Pseudoginseng (San qi or Tian qi).

For more information on Emei Shan, click on this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emei_Shan