Breakfast was a mixture of Chinese and Western food,
with delicious dumplings, rather sweet bread and eggs
boiled and fried. Liam excelled himself and ate 8 eggs
without obvious ill-effects.
The trek up Mount Emei Shan began from the hotel.
After 5 minutes we stopped by the pagoda at the top of
the road to do warm-up stretches and exercises, much
to the amusement of the Chinese onlookers.
Mount Emei Shan is a sacred mountain and home to many
monasteries and temples. People come from all over
China on pilgrimage, and so the trail up the mountain
has been paved. There are thousands of steps that lead
up and down the tree covered slopes.
For some reason, a number of the kids decided to wear
huge amounts of clothing this morning – long johns,
water proof over-trousers, fleeces and down jackets -
all this despite the fact that the morning was quite
mild. Within an hour or so they began to realize that
the teachers and guides were right and that a light
pair of pants and a T-shirt would have been better.
Having removed their waterproofs and down jackets,
they literally steamed.
Today’s walk wasn’t particularly long but the steep
flights of stairs up and down the hills between the
Buddhist temples were tough.
We passed a monk on pilgrimage. When I first saw him
he was prostrate on the ground. He picked himself up,
placed his hands together in front of his head, took
three steps, knelt and prostrated himself once more.
A tough way to travel and not one that I could ever
see me finding the urge to try.
During the course of the day we split into two large
groups – one fast and one a little slower. Although
there was some groaning about the number of steps, all
the students did really well.
We reached the Qing Yin Monastery about 3pm, dumped
the bags and then headed further along the trail,
where it entered a steep sided gorge. Although there
was quite a bit of shrieking as we crossed the river
on the stepping stones, nobody fell in. Nevertheless,
there were several cameras at the ready to catch the
decisive moment, should someone be unfortunate enough
to put a foot wrong.
Near the top of the gorge there is a complex of
elegant wooden pavilions linked with pathways of faux
logs – carefully crafted out of concrete. For years
tourists have been coming here to feed the monkeys
that come down to the paths. They are now completely
without fear – to the extend that each party of
tourists that visit can only do so with a guide
bearing a large stick to ward off over-enthusiastic
animals.
Some of the older males were battle scared, reminding
me of boxers several rounds past their sell-buy date.
There were mothers too, with tiny babies clinging to
their bellies.
Across the gorge were several suspension bridges with
chain supports and sides. They swung alarmingly as we
crossed. Signs warned us not to swing from side to
side and stand whilst crossing. Some of the signs here
use rather unusual English.
We had dinner at the monastery. The vegetarian food
was quite remarkable. Tofu had been prepared in
different ways to give it the flavour, texture and
appearance of pork, beef and chicken. Even more
remarkable were the prawn dishes. The ‘prawns’ –
totally soya based, were so realistic that I wouldn’t
have known that they weren’t real. The same was true
of the ‘fish’ which, even had a blackened skin. All
quite delicious.
In the evening the guides had prepared a trivia quiz
for the students and tried to teach them to count in
Chinese. Whilst they did that, I sat in the courtyard
trying to write this journal. It was a difficult job.
Every paragraph or so, either a student or a local
would come over to chat, ask me a question or peer at
my writing. Eventually, surrounded by about a dozen,
local men, I h\gave up and instead got them to teach
me how to write the numbers in Chinese.
Quote of the day: “Mr Hardcastle did you hear? Itch
farted and it made Joshe’s nose bleed!”
