Mt Emei, Sichuan province - part 5 of 5 by BASIL

CHAPTER FIVE: EVERYBODY WAIT YOUR TURN TO WALK, PLEASE…

When we wake up the next morning, we start hiking after a quick breakfast. Actually, it’s more like waiting than walking. There’s so many people trying to get to see the Summit that the trail’s so packed we literally have to wait in line. It’s awful and boring.
And the worst part is, it changes the experience completely.
Before, we were hiking up a beautiful mountain.

Now, I feel like I’m part of a tourist attraction. It’s basically just sort of trudging along in an army.

A weak army.  An army of tourists. 













When we reach the top in about an hour, Mom takes some pictures of me and Kayl next to the Golden Buddha, and we ate a Dove chocolate to celebrate.
I just thought about everything we had done.
We conquered Mount Emei on our own two feet, while so many others fell behind us, took the midway bus down, or simply gave up and walked back down.
But we continued.
While so many people took the chairlift and bus up, we walked the whole way.
And that is why we experienced so much more than these people.
Because we were the ones seeing the monkeys, we were the ones going into a cave in the side of the mountain. We were the ones that got to see everything that we did while everyone else missed out.

Because this hike’s not about the Golden Buddha.

It’s about being attacked by monkeys, arguing, getting hurt, being woken up by gongs at 5:00 am.

But if you make it through that hardship, this is what you get.

The experience of a lifetime.

Mount Emei

Mt. Emei, Sichuan province - Part 4 of 5 by BASIL

CHAPTER 4: THE PLACE WHERE THE BODIHISSATIVA PUCKION WASHED AN ELEPHANT’S FACE... OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

After the twenty minute walk back to the surface of the earth and another twenty minute walk back to the monastery, we continue on. After a little while, we go up a few stairs and break.


There’s a Chinese family sitting next to us, and they open their backpack and start pulling out snacks and handing them to us.  They hand us so many snacks I start wondering if they’re poisoned or something, it’s just so out of the ordinary. but then, Dad pulls out a precious Snickers bar and hands it to them.




I feel like I’m part of the Ice Age movie where the elephant, Manny, is trying to find food for the baby and they steal a watermelon from the Dodo birds, who revere melons. Basically what happens in the movie is the scene freezes, then you see one of the Dodo birds in slo-mo, yelling with some blown-out speaker effect, “the last melon…”.  That’s what I feel when Dad hands them the Snickers.  I’m so upset for some reason.  Looking back, it was totally ridiculous, but I’m just so mad about that Snickers.  They sell them everywhere, but I felt like we hadn’t even wanted their stuff and so why should they want ours? 

We continue on, me kind of mad at Dad. Dad starts telling us this reallyyyyyyy long story about how the Bodhissattva Puxian stopped there to bathe his elephant, whom he rode through the sky on, and his elephant drank from the water, purifying it blah blah blah. Soon we reach a little place where a whole bunch of food places are kind of making a little aisle that you walk through, and at the end it looks like it stops because of all the trees in the way. There’s people crowding everywhere, so unfortunately we couldn’t see the trailhead. Dad’s uncertainly like, “Well... if we were going the wrong way, these people would tell us like they did last time. Right?” We all uncertainly agree. We walk for about half an hour, and then come to a monastery. It’s only like two or three in the afternoon, and so we think it’s a little weird that we’re at the Elephant Bathing Pool already. 

After the monastery, the trail goes down. We seem to be at some sort of peak. There are four peaks, the Golden Summit being the tallest, but the Bathing Pool is not one of them. Also, another weird part is how Zuantian Slope is before the Elephant Bathing Pool, and we haven’t seen any monkeys. Just then, a bunch of english-speaking people come up the trail. See, there are two ways up the mountain, but both end up here before the golden summit. We think that these people are just getting back from the summit, but in actuality they’re just ascending the mountain a different way. We, apparently, should have gone through the aisle of restaurants. Instead, we learn that we’ve been going the wrong way for thirty minutes now. We turn around, disappointed at having our dreams of reaching the summit today crushed. Now, we’re barely going to make it to the Elephant Bathing Pool. we start back down. It’s actually much faster going down, and we’re back at the place that we started off course in only ten minutes. 

We eat quickly, then go through the “aisle” and actually turn behind the shops and go down. We walk and talk for a few hours, and then reach the real Bathing Pool at about 5:00. 




I’m wiped and feel like we should stay here, but Dad thinks that we should push on to Lidongping bus station and find a monastery there.  After some reluctance, I agree on the condition that I get a whole Snickers to myself after we reach Lidongping. We walk, and then encounter some monkeys. Mom needs to use the bathroom, and goes into the brush. Me and Dad and Kayl wait for a minute, but then Mom speaks in this petrified yet calm voice. “Ryan (that’s my Dad’s name),” She says, “I think there’s a monkey right next to me.” Kayl and me kind of look at each other, unsure of whether to start laughing hysterically or get really scared. We hear a big snort, then a whinny. “And,” Mom says, “a horse.” This time I can’t stop myself, I start cracking up. The way she’s saying it is just too funny. 

She eventually comes out and shakily starts down the trail. We see a monkey just sitting on the path, but it doesn’t frighten me any more. It just looks at us as we pass and then jumps off the trail into the brush. We walk on, and then come to a bridge. We look over the side, and I, once again, am at a loss for how to describe it.

We’re so high up, and you can see through the two pieces of rock another peak in the distance, silhouetted against the sun, which has turned a bright shade of orange and is surrounded by clouds, but apart from the ring around the sun it’s a cloudless sky.
It’s just so amazing I can’t speak for a minute.

I learn twenty minutes later to hold onto these moments while you can.
We continue, and when we reach Lidongping this is what I see: there’s buses all over, hotels and people trying to get you to stay in their hotel, bus and car fumes filling the air, and tons of people in cars causing a traffic jam.  I suddenly feel sick to my stomach.
All I want to do is just leave.

We see, in the distance, a monastery, and all agree that we have to go there and get out of this place. But when we start walking, this is what I see. There’s a monkey up in a tree, and a person below holding a slingshot and shooting rocks at the monkey, who’s just innocently sitting in the tree. I’m seized by a sudden rage and don’t even know why, but suddenly I’m throwing all the swear words and cruel things I know at this person. He looks over at me, not understanding my words but getting the tone. Dad pulls me away, but looks more in agreement with me than angry. “I should knock him out with his own stupid slingshot,” I mutter. “That monkey’s totally innocent.” We continue, feeling so upset.
What a reverse this is from the magical feeling not more than twenty minutes ago! So much is happening, and I can’t make any sense of it most of the time.
We see monkeys sitting on a railing and having people yell at them and throw food at them and we walk by silently.

We reach a place to stay, and it sort of looks like some sort of a temple. There’s a completely unhelpful and rude guy who we try to book our rooms with, and the price he offers us for a room with four beds is 360 RMB. The last place was 200, so we think that it’s an unfair price. Four Chinese people walk by and we ask them if there’s another place to stay nearby. They say that they’re staying in a four-bed hotel room with a shower (we haven’t showered in days) and a heater for 400 RMB. We go in and a lady shows us a room. It’s warm, has a shower, and three beds. Then she holds up a calculator with the price on it for Mom and Dad. “Oh my god,” is all Mom says, and then she starts walking away. I catch a glimpse of the calculator as I walk by and my heart starts pounding fast. “What is it?” Kayl asks. “Why aren’t we staying here?” “900 RMB,” I say, but Kayl gets it. The lady runs outside after us and offers 400 RMB for a four person room. She leads us down a bunch of steps and we joke that we’re staying in the dungeon. She opens a door that I think is a closet, but she points to it. There’s one queen sized bed just filling up the room, with no space to even get up. We just leave without a word, hoping that the 360 RMB room isn’t taken yet. Luckily, it’s not. There’s only three beds, not four, and the door doesn’t lock, but I accept that it’s all we’re going to get. there’s actually even heated mattresses, so it’s not all bad. We go eat, but I’m not hungry. After, Dad suggests this thing called foot bathing. We get basins filled with hot water and soak our feet. It’s so relaxing that we could just keep refilling the basins with hot water and doing it all night, but we eventually go to bed. 

Mt. Emei, Sichuan province - Part 3 of 5 by BASIL

CHAPTER 3: THE MOST OFFBEAT MUSIC IN THE WORLD

I wake up with my ears resounding. I can hear, inside the monastery, somebody hitting an enormous gong as hard as they can. The worst part for me is that it’s totally offbeat. The gong keeps sounding, over and over, and all I hear is GONGGONGGONGGONGGONGGGGGGGGGONG. It’s awful! And the worst part is, we then learn that it’s not even 5:00 in the morning! Then, after ten minutes of rapid GONGing, it stops. I breathe a sigh of relief, but then guess what I hear.
Yeah, you guessed it
GONG.
I wait a few seconds, and then
GONG.
It just keeps going, like every seven seconds (which is totally offbeat). Then, it stops. I wait for several minutes, and then somebody starts hitting a really loud cymbal on a one-count. Also, every monk in the monastery is singing random Chinese things, like Ga Do Sa Ray Ra So A Do Mo Say.
I take a vow right then to never be annoyed again by the gong.
We get up (after all, the alternative is sitting in bed listening to the creepy chant), and go down to the Hard Wok Cafe for pancakes. If you ever climb Mount Emei, I recommend pushing yourself the first day just so you can eat at Hard Wok Cafe. You’ll live through the gongs.
Maybe.

Afterwards, we continue on, our goal being to get to the Elephant Bathing Pool. Mom pulls out a map to show Kayl how far we have to walk.

Then, Kayl makes a horrifying discovery.
On the map, there was the place filled with the worst creatures on earth, labeled the joking monkey zone (yeah, right), and there was a monkey face to show that there were monkeys there. What Kayl sees is that on Zuantian Slope, a slope that we’re ascending today, has a monkey face on it. We are all immediately scared of Zuantian Slope.
To reassure us, however, we meet english-speakers on the trail who tell us that the monkeys on the slope are actually even WORSE than the ones we’ve encountered. We all freak out and start realizing that since there’s no bus until Lidongping, and so we’re stuck between two armies of the worst creatures on earth.
We start walking with despair in our hearts.
After like half an hour, we start seeing garbage scattered all over. We wonder what could’ve done this. After all, the monkeys aren’t due to appear for over five more hours! We pass a guy picking up garbage. We point up the trail, then at the garbage, then say “Ho zu (monkey)?” He nods grimly. [Cue for dramatic, despairing music.]
Okay, maybe I’m starting to exaggerate a tiny bit.
But it’s really freaky.
We walk down a ridge, and then back up the other side. As we start ascending the other side, Mom’s shrill, terrified voice calls out.
“Monkeys!”
I’m seized by a sudden urge to turn and run back up the other side, but the monkeys are already starting to pour over the ridge.
I used to watch this Chinese movie called Mulan when I was little, and there was this one part where the tiny Chinese army of lame soldiers watched the colossal army of huns come sprinting over the ridge, and Mulan and the troops are in a gorge.
That’s sort of the feeling I’m getting now.
Before, I thought that the most monkeys I would ever see in one place would be ten or eleven.
And that was all I wanted to see, right?
There’s at least thirty monkeys, just sitting there, watching us.
We slowly, shakily, start whacking our sticks and moving forward.
The monkeys just watch us.
I keep my eyes down as to avoid eye contact, but a flicker of movement catches my eye and I look up.
The baby monkey is edging forward to grab Kayl’s staff.
I know that if the monkey gets a hold of it, then Kayl will jerk it away, and the Mama monkey, feeling that her baby is threatened, will attack.
I pray that the baby monkey will stop moving. Then, suddenly, he leaps forward and grabs onto Kayl’s staff.
Time seems to stop.
Okay, okay, rewind. I’m being too dramatic again. Sorry. Let’s go back a little...
I pray that the baby monkey will stop moving. Then, suddenly, he leaps forward and grabs onto Kayl’s staff.
Mom lets out a little muffled scream, but Kayl cautiously edges away. The Mama sort of just eyes him, but then decides that eating garbage is more important that protecting her

baby, and we pass safely. 

On the other side, we do a Humke handshake (which is where we make a circle and put our hands in the middle and then throw our hands in the air), but the thing is, I don’t feel the sense of terror I felt with the other monkeys. Dad explains that it’s probably because the other monkeys were annoyed because so many people violated their privacy every day, yet these monkeys weren’t as used to it so they were happier and less likely to have a grudge against humans and attack. They just sort of see us as other creatures passing through.

We keep walking for a little while, and then come to the bottom of a valley. There’s a waterfall, and Dad stops to take pictures. 

We get some food at the restaurant, and these random people come up and offer me a duck leg or something. I politely refuse, but Kayl takes one. Chinese people are always giving us random things we don’t want, like we’re their kings or something. A few people point ahead and say “Ho zu,” freaking Kayl out. I’m kind of getting annoyed because the monkeys aren’t that bad at this part of the trail and Kayl is making them sound evil. Okay, I know I’m being hypocritical, but I’m just writing my feelings from back then, not now. Up ahead, we see a few of the stairs just like totally destroyed and falling into the abyss. Dad and Kayl are making a big deal about how I have to stay super far away. When I slip a little, Kayl starts screaming at Dad about how he has to stay behind me so I don’t fall. The gesture is kind of nice, but ever since I fell off the path at the beginning, Kayl’s been super overprotective, which is somehow annoying because he’s three years younger.
A little while later, we get to another monastery. We break a little, and then the next thing I know Mom and Dad are paying some lady and then we’re walking down a path. 

I ask them if we’re on the trail going to the Golden Summit, and they say that no, we’ve gone on a little detour. No no no. No detours. But they’re just totally adamant. I just kind of go along with it, annoyed. We come to this tiny little building with a tiny altar and tiny incense sticks inside. There’s some music playing, and that’s it. Now I’m mad. “We detoured for this?” I yell. Mom and Dad aren’t really answering. I just am like, ‘yeah, whatever. This is so lame.’ I stand on the railing, and Dad starts yelling at me. Mom yanks me down, and I climb back up for some reason. Now Mom’s really mad because I disobeyed her. I didn’t even really register what I said. Mom takes away some privilege and they start walking away. I’m mad, so I stay behind to cool down. 

Eventually I start walking after them. They’re on some separate path winding down and down. I’m really mad now. They’re just extending the detour! I catch up and start talking to Dad. He says that we’re going to Jiulao Cave (cave of the immortal beings).




I ask how far away it is, and he says maybe twenty minutes. I start yelling about how we’re never going to make it to the elephant bathing pool if we keep detouring. Eventually I just stop talking and walk. We get to this building that’s locked, and two big rocks. We walk in between the two big rocks, and then the other side (which we reach in less than ten seconds) is covered with trash. Now I’m mad that we came this far for nothing, and I start talking sarcastically. “Oh, wonderful! This is so fun! Hahaha! I could just walk in between this two rocks for days on end without getting bored. It’s too awesome to describe! I’m so glad we came here! What a GREAT way to waste our time!” Nobody’s really listening, and when I finish, they’re all gone. “Hello?” I call out uncertainly. I look around and see it.
There’s a big gap that leads into some sort of cave. I walk in and see a staircase. There’s dim lamps everywhere. Mom and Dad are far ahead. I walk for like five minutes, and the stairs keep on going down. I notice some... well... signs that there are probably

bats down here. I uncertainly continue, hoping a bat doesn’t bite me. “Come on, guys! These stairs probably wind inside the mountain all the way to the bottom! We need to go! Now!” Then it hits me.
We’re inside a mountain.
I don’t even really realize it until I say it. I breathed, and in the lamplight I could see my breath. I call out again, but find Mom and Dad in a cavern with a giant Buddha statue. 

“This must be where the monks came to pray,” Dad says. “Wow” Is all I can say. We try to take pictures, it’s just too dark. I can’t even really put the feeling I have into words. It’s a feeling I haven’t felt yet on this trip.
I think it’s wonder.