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After sleeping for a very long time, we woke up and pulled down the laundry to see if it was still wet. Unknowingly we also pulled in a huge moth which Jeff released back outside. At that point we decided that it was time to eat breakfast since I slept through dinner the night before. Crazy thing was that around 1AM it sounded like someone was trying to get into our room which made me jump out of bed. Must have been a lost backpacker I guess.

Breakfast was a funny Chinese adaptation for french toast which were two hamburger buns dipped in egg wash and a quick fry along with 2 fried eggs and what was suppose to be bacon looked more like cha shiu. I dug out one of my instant coffee packets since coffee was super pricey and Jeff had a lemon soda. We ran into Pierre and Jessica again and they were off to hike the mountain, hoping to reach the summit by sunset. We said goodbye and packed up our stuff and headed to Leshan which was an hour by bus away.

Leshan is known for it’s humongous Buddha statue that is 71 meter tall carved into the mountain. The crazy thing is that one monk started working on it before blinding himself in a protest against the government. Other monks helped him finish off the statue later on. The one thing that we didn’t expect was a massive amount of stairs which is what we got. After about an hour of hiking, we finally made it to the big Buddha which is the biggest in the world. However we were short on time so we took a few pictures and headed back to Mt. Emei.

Once we were back at the bus station at Mt. Emei, we got 2 tickets and took the bus ride to the top of the mountain. The bus trip took about 2 hours and stopped at each of the major bus stops along the way. Right after we got off the bus who did we run into? Pierre and Jessica looking super tired. They were glad to see us and we were surprised to see them. They told us of the tedious hike up the mountain and having to fight off monkeys that were trying to take their food. We decided to hike up to the cable car that would take us to the summit.

Along the way we ran into more monkeys that were taking runs at Jessica. Pierre chased them off with a stick. We were all glad to have made it to the cable car which was pretty pricey for a five minute ride up. Beautiful views of the mountain greeted us as we ascended towards the summit.  Luckily for us the hotel was literally right outside the station.  We all checked in and took a quick rest before running up to the top of the summit for some sunset photos.

[caption id="attachment_2193" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Padlocks along the stairs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2183" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Near the top of Mt.Emei"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2185" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Cable car to the Golden Summit"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_2186" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Sunset at the Golden Summit"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_2187" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Sea of clouds"][/caption]

After waking up from our good nights sleep post-camping in Jiuzhaigou, we decided that we were pretty hungry and headed downstairs for breakfast. Lucky for us breakfast was included and the breakfast buffet at the hotel was pretty good. Jeff enjoyed the generic bao’s and bacon while I was pleasantly surprised that they had fresh watermelon juice. We did a quick pack after breakfast and headed out to the street to look around.

Most of the shops were closed so we headed out towards the Wenshu temple. Jeff noticed a large number of cats and we passed by a lot of people doing Tai Chi. As we got closer to a pond, there were a lot of turtles like the ones that we had back at home. Unfortunately the pollution from somewhere got to the pond since there were strange green slicks across the surface. After looking through some of the prayer temples we moved back to the streets.

A big highlight for us was that after leaving the Wenshu temple it was early lunch time. Most of the food vendors were opening up shop and Jeff wanted to try some skewers. I picked squid and chicken while Jeff chose beef and lamb. The squid came out first which was pretty spicy so we asked for non-spicy for the rest. Delicious! We walked around a bit more and I settle down to a bowl of tofu-fa while Jeff had a deep fried beef and green onion doughnut which were both delicious. Stuffed, we moved back to the hotel to pack.

We grabbed a cab to the bus stop after checking out and got onto the next bus to Mt. Emei, another UNESCO heritage site. It was a two hour ride so we settled in and tried to rest despite the bus honking at cars every minute for them to move. Once we arrived at Mt. Emei we met a French couple (Pierre and Jessica) who were also going to the Teddy Bear Hotel so we shared a cab ride there. They were going on a 3 month backpacking tour of the Far East and we would meet up again before the trip was over.

The Teddy Bear Hotel was pretty nice for the money. Since we were running out of clean clothes we did a quick wash and line dried our clothes overnight. We did a quick tour of the shops leading up to the base of the mountain and then took a nap.

Buddha Zen Hotel courtyard

Budda Zen Hotel buffet breakfast

Outside of Buddha Zen Hotel

Inside of Wenshu Temple

A guy taking a nap

Wenshu Temple district offers many choices on street food

Very delicious skewers

Jeff loved the street food in Chengdu

Jeff doing laundry at Teddy Bear Hotel, Mt.Emei

Outside of Teddy Bear Hotel, Mt.Emei

Waking up on our last day in Jiuzhaigou was a cold one.  We knew that we had little time left to take photos of the rest of the park and luckily Jay was able to arrange a pickup to the front at 8:30AM.  We quickly started to clean up, wash up, and pack while Jay prepared a quick breakfast.  Once the ride came and dropped us off at the entrance we set forth on a bus to start taking pictures of the park.  The morning was quite crisp and smoke billowed from everyone as they breathed.  As we started to walk more and more, our muscles reminded us how sore we were from the all day hike the day before.

We moved through the park at a good pace and got some really stunning photos that you will see below.  We wrapped up and met with Jay again at the Science Office to pick up our stuff and to say goodbye.  Jay presented us with a book about the park and we were really surprised how nice it was.   Again we dragged our luggage out to the cabs and were able to share a cab with another guy who was heading to the airport.  He told us that he’s been trying to leave for the last few days but all the flights were booked.  Sure enough once we arrived at the airport we couldn’t get a seat on an earlier flight which left us to explore the small but surprisingly modern airport.

Luckily there were no more delays as we left Jiuzhaigou and caught a cab at the Chengdu airport to our next hotel called the Budda Zen.  The room was quite nice but unfortunately the windows didn’t block out much of the noise from the side street and courtyard below.  Still after sleeping in a tent in a cabin the night before, this was heaven!

Today was the start of our big camping trip through Jiuzhaigou National Park. We packed up our stuff at the Sheraton and dragged it down to the park. We met our guide for our trip, Jay, at the Science Office and left our luggage there. After picking up some rolls for lunch and a snack, we quickly boarded a truck that took us down to our starting point.

Jay told us that we would first start off at a traditional Tibetan house. We toured around the upper floors of the house and then made our way down to the living areas. This was when we were graciously given some Tibetan tea with barley and yak butter as well as some unlevened bread for breakfast. Jeff was quick to notice a juice box next to the burner keeping our tea warm before it could blow up. After we said our goodbyes, we started our hike towards our cabin.

The hike was very scenic and beautiful. As we started to go up and down hills, we started to get warm so we began to unzip our jackets and open the vents in the sleeves. We passed by numerous rivers and abandoned Tibetan villages along the way. Eventually after a few hours we made our way to the campsite which was a simple cabin next to an old panda preserve. After eating our lunch we stowed any unnecessary gear and continued on our end point in the valley. We hiked up and down mountains and through brush. Our trip was tiring and we were glad to sit by a riverbed to take some photos and a break.

As the sun began to slowly fall we made our way back to the cabin but not before I started to get some cramping in my thigh. Luckily the cabin wasn’t too far away at that point and we made it back. Jay cooked a nice hot bowl of noodles for each of us and we talked for a while before washing up for sleep. We slept in the cabin due to the cold weather but we also had a tent and a sleeping bag each to keep warm. Jeff and I slept in one room and Jay stayed in the main room for privacy/security. Jeff was freezing so much that he had to put on his heavy jacket during the night to stay warm.