City of pandas & sacred Emei Shan

  It was nice to get out of the capitol. Even though you cant really call Chengdu a small place either with 14 million people walking on it's streets. Travelling by train was fun experience once again. Imagine yourself laying on your bed in a overnight train, trying to spend the time reading a book while all the rest of the people (all Chinese) have gathered there to stare at you. How's that for a relaxing!

Monument in Renmin Park

Wenshuyuan monastery

Streetfood in Chengdu

 Some lovely Sichuan style food and few beers on the roof terrace of our hostel and we felt ready for some sightseeing. It wasn't cold in Beijing either, but now it was time to get those shorts out of the bag. It was sunny and warm, well at least warm and I think that is the sun somewhere behind all that smog. To be honest Beijing was worse. In Chengdu you could actually see the blue sky as well.

 Even though Chengdu is massive I felt more relaxed over there than in Beijing. I'm not sure is there actually something wrong with all the capitols or is it just me feeling anxious and distressed when I'm in one.

                

Fun for kids

Pandas at the research center

 Top three things to do in Chengdu for me was the Wenshuyuan monastery and it's gardens. It was amazing how good and calming energy the place had considering the fact it was in the middle of the city. Beautiful place!

 Renmin Park is famous for it's tearooms and that's where we headed as well. We just didn't realize how popular the place is among the locals so didn't actually stay for tea. Instead we wandered around the park and rented a cute lil boat to cruise around the pond. Great fun!

 Third but maybe the best thing was the pandas. We took a bus to the Panda Research Center on one morning. Early enough to be there when they feed the cute lil fellas. There they sat stuffing bamboo into their mouths and looked innocent and adorable. I wish I could of go and hugged them but yeah, you know, all the fun is forbidden... The Panda park itself was beautiful and tidy and the baby pandas will break your heart if you will ever see one, I promise. Seeing the pandas was one of the best things on my trip.

Sunrise on the sacred Emei Shan

Sacred mountain

Xixiang Chi-temple

5.00 am

 We took the challenge and decided to hike the mighty Emei Shan. The mountain is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China and the highest one of them being 3099 meters high above sea level. If you want to do it easy way you can take a bus and a cable car to reach the top, but we wanted to do this properly. Only way to find some true wisdom from this ancient Taoist mountain was definitely to hike the "10 000 steps to heaven".

 Emei Shan is one of the UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The mountain is stunning. It's steep and it's tough. Climbing the endless steps of torture, as I started to call them, really makes you loose your faith more than a couple of times. How much more steps there can be?! A lot. And a lot more. But it's worth it, trust me.

10 000 steps to heaven

 I felt wrecked when we reached the Xixiang Chi monastery on the evening. Climbing the ancient steps all day left me hungry and my clothes wet with sweat. I was steaming because of the chilly evening. But damn I felt good, I made it this far. On the way we saw some beautiful Buddhist and Taoist monasteries and temples not to even mention about the stunning views.

 Xixiang Chi, meaning an Elephants washing pond in English, is one of the most important Buddhist temples in Emei Shan. It is built in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and it's more than 2,000 meters above sea level. The story tells that Bodhisattva Samantabhadra washed his elephant in this pond on his way to the top and that is how the temple got it's name. When the moonlight reflects from the pond at night it seems like you are immortal in heaven. Shame it was a cloudy night.

 Vegeterian meal the monks offered was delicious and it was plenty. I was so hungry though I think I could of eaten anything. We slept in a simple dormitory room, but there was no other travelers. Toilets were holes on the floor above a cliff and do I even need to tell about the "shower"? Three words: a yard, a garden hose and water so freezing we skipped the shower.

Misty view from Xixiang Chi

 We left before the sunrise. Good thing we had a flashlight so we didn't fall off the steps. After an hour or so the sun started to rise and the misty mountain showed itself. Breathtaking. The route got a little bit easier in the end and it wasn't just all steps. When the sun came up the monkeys started to crawl out of their hideouts. One cheeky bastard even stole my water bottle.

 With aching muscles but satisfied minds we jumped on to the bus to take us back down and back to Chengdu. We did it, conquered the sacred Emei Shan. Now all I dreamed off on the way back was a cold beer or two in the sun on our cosy terrace. After that and a good nights sleep I would be ready for the next challenge. Thank you China!