10. really. big. buddha.
Really, there's not much else to it. This Buddha is really big. It's the biggest in the world. You could have a picnic on his big toe nail. He was also very Buddha-like: stoic, peaceful, with plants growing in his ear.
9. take macro photography shots
Lugged my huge camera around. At times I just wanted to throw it off the mountain. But, in the end, I got a few cool pictures. Pictured here: some candles at the first monastery we stayed at, and an icicle on the roof of the temple at Emei's summit.
8. hawk merchandise
Our program arranged a 3-day homestay experience with a local family on Emei Shan. My family sold stuffed monkeys and other monkey-related merchandise for a living. It was such an interesting experience...their way of life was so totally different from life even in Shanghai, not to mention America. We had a tub of coals to keep warm (no heat), no real front door on the house. I feel like I really got to experience Real China - the way the vast majority of China lives, not just how the people in Westernized, cosmopolitan cities do. Also got to observe them selling their stuff to tourists one day, haggling over a few kuai, while most of the Americans in my program easily spend a couple hundred going out one night. Pretty sobering.
7. eat delicious pork fat
We enjoyed home-cooked meals during the homestay. Along with really spicy food, Sichuan's specialty is pork. I've never had so many varieties of pork in my life! My favorite was twice-cooked pork - I am definitely going to learn how to make it once I get back to the states! It was pretty interesting too because the dad did all the cooking and kitchen housework, while the wife seemed to be doing most of the business at work. The daughter, who was probably in her late 20's, didn't seem to do anything.
6. morning stretches with pandas
PANDAS! Who doesn't love them? We went to Chengdu's Woolong Panda Reserve and fawned over pandas and took thousands of pictures of them. Some people loved them so much that they paid 1000 kuai to hold one and take a picture with it. (1000 kuai = $135 US) Being the frugal and moderate panda-lover that I am, I opted to take pictures from afar, for free :)
5. climb stairs for 2 straight days
Most Chinese tourists take a bus/cable car to the summit. Our group decided to tough it out and hike up the entire way. It's not normal hiking either - essentially we were climbing stairs, continuously, for 8 hours each day. It got progressively harder as we went up because of the elevation and the cold. The experience was rewarding, but definitely tiring!
4. brave the snow
As if climbing stairs weren't hard enough, it started snowing up near the summit. It made me kind of homesick to see the snow. Minnesota - I miss you! We ended up singing some Christmas/holiday songs to make the hike more enjoyable (and keep warm).
3. sleepover at monasteries
We stayed at a monastery at the base of the mountain, and another one somewhere in the middle during our hike. It was pretty cool hangin' with the monks. They chant every morning at sunrise - I tried to wake up to see it, but failed miserably. It was pretty cold at night too, and accommodations were pretty basic. But hey, how often do you get to sleep at a monastery?
2. gaze into misty mountains at sunrise and write classical chinese poetry
The top of Emei Shan at sunrise was absolutely beautiful. A lot of famous ancient Chinese poets made pilgrimages here, especially because of a natural phenomenon known as "Buddha's glory." Something about the elevation and angle and refraction of the sunlight at the summit makes your shadow appear on a cloud, with your head surrounded by little rainbow arcs! I didn't see this (it's pretty rare), but I did see some awesome scenery anyway.
1. avoid rabies
I wasn't particularly fond of monkeys before, but now I am terrified of them! Emei Shan is home to the Tibetan macaque, an endangered, and in my opinion, dangerous species of monkey. They are everywhere, they are not afraid of people, they WILL steal food out of your hand (or pocket, or bag), and some of them foam at the mouth. 3 people on my program got bit by monkeys - resulting in a series of painful and expensive rabies shots. Luckily the worse that happened to me was that one of them grabbed a package of crackers I was holding and ran away.
