After a filling breakfast of fried rice with vegetables at 8 am we made our way to the shuttle bus to bring us to the starting point of the cable car, which we ignored to hike up the many stairs to Wangnian Temple, one of the older temples of the mountain. We continued our hike and visited Bailong Cave and other temples and pavilions, before heading up to the monkey gorge. In preparation we brought along bamboo sticks as we were warned before of the mischievous monkeys and it appeared many others were as well. However, either due to the hot weather or the slight overweight probably gained from all the food given to the monkeys by tourists (despite signs clearly prohibiting the feeding), they were a rather mellow bunch, resting on the ground or sitting in the trees. Buying the bamboos sticks was not for nothing though as they supported us on our march all the way back to Baoguo Temple visiting many more temples, palaces and pavilions and accumulating more than 41,000 steps on the way. Clearly exhausted we arrived at the hotel for a quick shower, followed by a quiet dinner of Kung Pao Chicken, rice and steamed buns in town.

Lush Mt. Emei Green

Day 9 – Mountaineering