Ok, I lied. We didn’t actually climb Mount Emei, we took a bus. Just along the main road of Baoguo Village, there is a bus station. It has destinations within Sichuan, but most importantly, Mount Emei. We bought the tickets to top of the mountain and waited. While we were waiting at the bus station, all of a sudden there was this huge commotion from one of the buses. It seems like there was a fight going on. The men were shouting at lot. I didn’t want to go any closer lest they turn into a riot. It thought it was amusing since people usually go to Mount Emei for a pilgrimage and yet we see fighting right here. It is like queueing up for enter St. Peter’s Basilica and picking a fight along the way.
Fortunately, the commotion soon subsided, I never really knew what it was all about. At least they didn’t start throwing stuff around. Our bus soon arrived so we quick hopped on board. There weren’t a lot of people yet, since it was just past 7 in the morning. We needed to beat the crowd or our shots will be ruined.
It seemed like another typical cloudy day in Sichuan and I didn’t have much hope of getting blue skies here. So we just have to make the most of what we have. The way to Mount Emei is along a road snaking around and up the mountain. The mountain is more than 3000 meters high, so I think it will take a while for us to get there. Just before we left the bus station, the bus attendant distributed small plastic bags, I was wondering what they were for when I realized they were for motion sickness.
I have read about stories where travelers got sick from the bus ride up to Mount Emei. I usually get motion sickness. but fortunately, I didn’t get one here. I guess the driver was quite good. Toward the end of our journey near the top, the grey skies started to give way to patches of blue sky. It seems like we will have some luck after all. Our bus then pulled over a parking lot. This is where everybody gets off.
A blast of cold winter air made me realize how cold it was on top of the mountain. There were strange splotches of dirty white stuff along the highway and I couldn’t figure out what it was until we saw it up close. It was snow! At least, it was snow from last night now the morning sun is starting to melt them all away. However, it was still not warm enough to take it all away from us. It has been a while since I saw snow again, too bad it was all dirty white now. Now, I’m sorry we didn’t make it to Baoguo Village the previous day before the last bus to the top left. Snowfall would have been a wonderful experience. Maybe some other time.
On the way to the stairs going up the mountain, there were a couple of macaques eyeing all the tourists. The macaques are part of the Mount Emei experience, but it seems that the macaques have been too used to the sight of humans that they don’t seem to be afraid anymore. Worse, they have been more and more daring, even taking stuff away from the hands of tourists. So it is best not to get too close to them. It is definitely not a good idea to show them food, whether intentional or not.
The path ahead of us is fogged up from the clouds below. It really looks great as I don’t really get to capture a lot of winter shots. I’m getting really excited about this trip.
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