Oiliphants and Biting Monkeys

(Emily)

ni men hao!

sorry this is a day late! we got into xi'an at 12 am last night, leaving no time for us to go scope out an internet cafe.

yesterday was mucho fun.... as well as impossibly tiring. we went to emei-shan (mt. emei for non chinese speakers). it is pronounced EUH-MAY, not eh-may like i stupidly said to one of the concierge (he blinked at me a couple times registering the ignorance of it then was like "oh! EUH-may shan!"). i won't make that mistake again!

so back to yesterday's events. we went to emei shan after breakfast, which was not the finest and was probably capitalized by cady mistaking the soy sauce bottle for a cream one... drew had been up all morning because of his cough and opted to stay at the hotel because he felt so lousy (note: he's feeling much better now!). the weather was quite dreary- it was rainy and very chilly. we rode our bus to a bus station that had eco-friendly buses, which in turn took us part-way up the mountain to a cable car station. the cable cars took us to one of the largest temples of the mountain: wannian temple. the mountain's temples are dedicated to the bodhisattava puxian (a bodhisattva is someone who has reached enlightenment and can help people reach enlightenment, but is not a buddha). the temple was a complex of buildings first seen after ascending 238 stone steps,(ric and terry were counting) which opened up to a shrine at the top and on the right, a bell tower. behind the shrine was a path lined by elephants (oiliphants for your lotrs people) that were tri-tusked. they are animal of the bodhisattava puxian. at the end of the path were more stairs (yay!) leading to the shrine to puxian. the shrine was gorgeous and haunting? at the same time. it was very otherworldly with a monk reciting prayers with a drum and gong at the side of puxian's altar. in the center of the domed structure is a large white tri-tusked elephant which puxian is riding. puxian himself is painted gold with an elaborate gold headress (a sign of being a bodhisattava) and red lips. he wears a stare that was narrowed and fixed at those who dared to enter the shrine. very intimidating! surrounding him are arhats on shelves that are embedded into the wall of the structure. arhats are people who have reached personal enlightenment, but are not able to help others reach enlightenment. after paying our respects to puxian and touching the elephants right hind leg- it's the left hind leg for guys- we were on our way! we went to a shrine to all three buddhas that was behind puxian's, which the monks of the mountain pray in two times a day, which was near a well that people had thrown money into (as well as a few token goldfish- an extra measure for goodluck).

after the temple, we walked down more stone steps that had been carved into the side of the mountain to the monkey reserve. the stone steps, surrounded by lush forest, was beautiful surrounded in in hazy gray mist. however, there were A LOT of steps and by the time we reached the bottom, terry's knees were aching, so she opted to stay behind in a pagoda while the rest of us foraged on to the wild monkey area. the walk to the wild monkeys was just as beautiful, with trees standing guard on either side of a creek that ran through the gorge. the monkey area was SO COOL! there were actual monkeys just hanging out on the paths as eager tourists (ourselves included) were snapping pictures of them mere inches away from them! there were many wide eyed baby monkeys clinging to their mothers, which were very adorable (eliciting several "awwws" from everyone). at one point we tried to go higher up to another path, but a woman guarding it blocked cady and then proceeded to imitate a monkey (making ooh ooh ah ah noises) while pretending to bite her arm. that being said, we did not go up further lest we be mauled by biting monkeys.

after going back to the pagoda where terry was hanging out in, we decided to have lunch, which consisted of us walking up more steps to a remote mountain village which had perhaps four families. the food was great (the mildly spicy and garlicy tofu was probably the best dish, though cady contests that the bamboo shoots were the best) but the lunch was pretty uneventful. after eating, we proceeded down the mountain and walked for about thirty minutes to the bus station, where we all collapsed wet, tired, and happy.

we then went to the hotel and picked up drew, and drove 2 and a half hours to chengdu. in chengdu, our guide asked us what we wanted for dinner. we were all a little tired of having chinese food for the past couple of days (very tasty, but with many repetitive dishes). so we went to the very classy kendoji restaurant. we came....we saw....we conquered....the popcorn chicken. yes, kfc was where we dined for our last night in chengdu. and let me tell you, it was delicious. we ordered popcorn chicken, french fries, and several fried chicken sandwiches. oh yeah, we also got bingchiling (ice cream in chinese). the whole experience was quite hilarious- it was a full house and our group was the only one with white westerners. we got stared at for quite a bit. ric has it all documented with his camera skills. after dining at kendoji, we went to the airport, where we bid farewell to our guide zhang han and hoisted our bags onto a scale (for the last time until we come home!) and came to xi'an, which is where we are now!