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.

Views from The Golden Summit

Top right: Close up of Puxian Bodhisattva. Notice the Ruyi in her hands. A Ruyi is an "S" Shaped ornamental object used for good luck in ancient times.

For more information on Ruyi's see:

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

Top Left: The Golden Temple located behind the Puxian statue

Middle: The Silver Temple that is located across from the Gold Temple.

Bottom: Mark Van Loan contemplating the beautiful view. A view like this helps you understand the traditional paintings of cloud shrouded mountains.

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