8 December 2014
It was one hell of a looooong journey.
I climbed painfully for about 2 hours – it was so challenging that my grandparents weren’t allowed to join us on the climb. And at so many points during the climb, I felt I should’ve just joined their club.
But then I saw sights like this…
Imagine the background was all just clouds…
So worthwhile.
Only halfway through my China escapade! 😀 Sorry, totally didn’t have the time nor energy to properly pen (type) down my experience.
At this point, I was actually pretty used to waking up at those diabolical hours. Simply because I knew I was about to head to somewhere awesome!!
And because we weren’t complete noob-lets anymore, Kath and I stocked up plenty on tissue paper for our washroom purposes!
We pulled out so many pieces of tissue, folded them nicely and stuffed them into all our pockets!
And we were on our way!!!
Oh, cannot forget to mention my adorable scarf! ❤
Every single day, the countryside continues to fascinate me with their lavatories… Basically we had to climb through all this rubble…
To get to the loos. 
The most disturbing thing was that the males & females could actually SEE each other! WTF.
Like one of the uncles just shouted over, “Hi!!!” And we all freaked out.
Sigh, need to get my mind off that traumatic moment. My bladder had trust issues since then.
Anyway, the highlight of the day was climbing the ever-gorgeous 峨眉山! (E Mei Shan) Or known in English terms – Mount Emei.
Got my ticket & was all ready to head up, up, up!
There were countless tickets because of the tram rides and all that… I almost misplaced a few of them. So typical of me. 
Upon entering the area, we were brought to this adorable little cottage to have a hearty lunch!
Grandparents were soooo happy over the warmth the indoors had to offer. 🙂
The lovely view from our dining room! Sure, the food was totally delicious and the warmth was tempting – but I was all ready to head out to see the real magic this place had to offer. *claps*
Being so high up till you’re practically in heaven doesn’t mean you can’t be connected to earth.
After settling our grandparents nicely in a cosy room with entertainment & heater, we were all set to go!
For those who are planning to take on a similar climb – DO NOT forget to take some altitude pills in advance. They help so much! Cannot thank my dear Yi Cheong enough who really ensured I took them.
He drove down to pass me the pills, reminded me then.
Dropped a message some days before to take them.
Dropped another message on the actual day to take them.
Questioned if I took them often.
ONWARD THE CLIMB!!!
On the climb up, the entire route were filled with some distant cousins.
Namely – these baboons.
Super furry – they were obviously prepared for the weather.
And they were hardly shy. If anything at all, they were downright daring! 😮
They were literally everywhere! They could be standing next to you, sitting on the railings or perched on the rooftops of the little shops.
And I went, “How is there SO MANY of them??”
Then I saw my answer…
The shops were selling loads of food! …which I couldn’t buy because I left my wallet all the down with my grandparents.
The baboons tried in several ways to get their fingers on some food, but the store owners were fierce as hell!
So they actually stole from tourists. I saw this guy actually pull the haversack of a tourist and ripped it apart! 😮 She was quite taken aback and kept on yelling at him while he sat by the cliff – rummaging through her bag.
Only to find nothing edible. Well, the only edible thing was… the flu medicine. Which he gobbled anyway.
At least he’ll be quite healthy despite the cold?
Saw this sign and found the English translation rather amusing. I might actually not commit suicide because I’m so happy after reading the sign! 😀 …or might just fall off accidentally because I was laughing.
I was clutching onto the handrails throughout because I was wobbling around like a 不倒翁…
The steps were super slippery… It was actually scary.
But give it up to Chinese innovation – they sold SOCKS! For 10元 a pair, I was half as sure-footed as a mountain goat! 😀
Sure-footed, baby!
I’ll have you know that I fell & landed on my butt only about 3 times the entire climb.
Which is actually quite above average.
I was pretty pleased to know that we were cable-cared up for quite a bit of the journey. Oh, thank God…
And, yay! We (almost) got up to the scenic temple!
It was a super tiring climb. I had to walk so much, the pedometer in my iPhone was super proud of me.
They even had carriage services which I swear I would’ve used if I had my wallet!
If you look closely enough at the photo above, you’ll realise there are two children on the carriage. One stacked above the other. 😀
At that point, the scene was practically to die for. It felt like I was walking in a postcard.
These photos don’t really do the entire experience justice. You really need to be there yourself to feel the gorgeous combination of Mother Nature and human architecture.
But there’s a high chance you’re not on Mount Emei right now as you read this… So here’s the next best thing – some really awesome pictures!
The entire temple itself was pretty filled with stairs… And because of my sore bum, I had to hold on tight onto anything I could grab my hands on! And climbing around in that many layers is.not.easy…
Albeit everyone who was a lot more sure-footed moved around a lot faster. I was just doing things my own way.
Kath caught a picture of me looking utterly exhausted & somewhat defeated.
And look at how easy my dear Yi Cheong makes it all look. Bah.
Ah, I haven’t introduced Auntie Vivian!
Oh, I’d love to go travelling with her & Uncle Jeok again! They’re totally adorable.
And check out this whole line of beautiful padlocks!
They were love-locks! Like those that you can engrave your name, lock it up & throw the key into the abyss below. So romantic! ❤
“Engraved” ice. 😉
And because it’s all about love – I couldn’t resist trying to do the heart sign… Which was mighty difficult with all the layers. I felt so constipated.
So anyway, my luggage was in need of a padlock! So I decided to get one of these pretty ones for myself! ❤
I told the lady my Chinese name and she went on drilling away quickly. Done within 3 minutes.
Now an interesting thing happened after she was done with my padlock… Remember, I bought it for my luggage.
Me: 好漂亮哦！钥匙呢？(How pretty! Where’s the key?)
Shop Lady: 这个没钥匙的！是一辈子的！一锁起来就不能打开！(This one doesn’t have a key! It is for life! Once you lock it, you won’t be able to open it!)
Me: 😮 哦… 这样啊… (Oh, I see…)
Totally defeated the purpose of getting the padlock… I even had to borrow money from Uncle Jeok to buy the padlock because I didn’t have my wallet with me.
Good thing Yi Cheong quickly took out the moolah for me to return him! ^^
Adorable things you see – leaves & my little baby cousin!
Speaking of babies… Look at this one!!! WTF.WHY.SO.CUUUUUTE!!!
I wanted to squiiiiiish his cheeks so bad.
The layers of ice created on different surfaces were utterly fascinating!
And this was our trusty tour guide the entire trip – Xiao Zhang!
Leaving Mount Emei…
And clinging onto Yi Cheong for my dear life because I kept on slipping. ^^” So he escorted me down all the way back to the foot of the mountain, while going on about how my own daddy spoiled me rotten.
Despite being thoroughly exhausted from the climb, we managed to muster up enough energy to enjoy quite a feast with yummy alcohol!
Alcohol is an absolute LOVE during the cold weather. It was wonderful… Ahh. My insides sent their eternal gratitude.
After another hour-long bus ride… Seriously, I was actually beginning to enjoy the long bus rides without going in circles.
In Singapore, if you took the bus for about 2 hours – you can expect to go for another round around the entire country again, because there’s no more land to drive on. Unless you’re cool with driving into the ocean and all that… whatever makes you happy.
So anyway, after another hour-long bus ride… We got to our next hotel! It was a lovely & cosy place. 🙂 I was beyond elated to just throw myself on those comfy white sheets.
And sure, my luggage was still without a padlock – but I do love the one I got nonetheless! 🙂
I didn’t know it – I actually chose the safety lock. Well, it sounds a lot nicer in Mandarin – 平安 (ping an). In English it sounds like some safety feature or whatever.
And at the back, I told her to wish my family to be safe. 🙂 Because the entire trip showed me how much my family cared for me deep down in their hearts, and I spent too long not realising that. So I want them to be safe so we can keep on caring for each other for as long as we can. ❤
I haven’t locked it yet… In fact, I stuffed some tissue into the hole to prevent it for being “accidentally” locked. I haven’t found a place where I want to put it just yet.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one! 🙂 More to come!
XOXO, G.
Gera Shen 