Sichuan Vlog: Emei Shan (Mount Emei)!

* Please expand the description box for itinerary & music details* April 11, 2015 www.instagram.com/timandglo We left the South Train Station of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, at 7:42am with Emei Shan (Emai Mountain) Station as our final destination. The train ticket cost just 74 RMB per person! Once at Emei Shan Station we made our way through the crowds and found the booth that sells tickets for the mountain. We bought bus tickets to take us to Wuxiangang parking lot (40 RMB per person). We purchased our entrance tickets to the entire mountain here, which cost 185 RMB per person. From Wuxiangang, it is about 50 km to Golden Summit, a hike that we were told is strenuous and takes two full days. We didn't have this kind of time or energy, so we went for a short walk instead. We took the trail to QingYin Pavilion and the Monkey Forest then back to Wuxiangang parking lot, which took 2.5-3 hours total. This walk was absolutely beautiful, and we highly recommend it! The trail follows a stunning river valley that is lush with bamboo and trees. The trail itself is made up of paved walkways and bridges, which makes it accessible to hikers of all fitness levels. We particularly enjoyed breathing in fresh air and looking up to see a bright blue sky. As it is with most mountain parks and trails in China, you will come across numerous vendors selling their wares. This could be food (steamed corn, sweet potato, cured pork, etc.) and drinks or trinkets. Tim couldn't resist the urge to buy himself a toy snake for 10 RMB, which we lovingly now call Hou-Hou (meaning Monkey-Monkey) in honor of the trail where he was purchased! :p We were surprised that we only saw two monkeys on our walk because we heard and read a lot about the number of monkeys around the trail and their aggressive behavior. Still, we were fortunate to spot two monkeys on our walk before we turned around for lunch closer to our starting point, the Wuxiangang parking lot. Back at Wuxiangang, we purchased roundtrip bus tickets to Leidongping for 70 RMB per person. The ride to Leidongping took about 1.5 hours. By the way, be sure to keep your bus tickets because they are roundtrip! ;) (The 40 RMB and 70 RMB tickets allowed us to get from Leidongping to Baguo Si/Village at the base of the mountain the next day for free.) At Leidongping, we realized how unprepared we were as far as clothing was concerned because it was COLD. It turns out we're not the only tourists who find themselves in this conundrum because vendors actually rent out long, warm jackets for just 30 RMB + 170 RMB as a deposit. The same option is available at Golden Summit on top of the mountain. From Leidongping it takes about 20 minutes (on a quiet day when the path is clear) to walk to the cable car station. The station runs from 6:30 - 18:00, and tickets cost 65 RMB to ascend the mountain and 55 RMB to descend per person. At the summit we made our way to the Golden Summit Hotel and got a room with spacious bathroom for 880 RMB. However, the room was rather cold and it took time for the heating to warm up the room. In addition to heating and hot water, the hotel has wifi in the reception area. The hotel doesn't have a restaurant, but there are plenty of snack shops and restaurants at the summit. We paid 108 RMB total for a set meal that consisted of rice + 2 vegetable and 2 meat dishes. Food is definitely more expensive at the summit (and not necessarily more delicious), but it's nice to have the option for those who spend the night at the summit. After dinner we made our way back to our warmed up hotel room, drew the curtains and caught an early night's sleep in order to rest and catch the sunrise the next day! As always, thank you for watching!! Happy travels!! :) Music: Eden (CharlestheFirst edit) by CharlestheFirst https://soundcloud.com/search?q=eden%... Live Action by Tortuga https://soundcloud.com/search?q=tortu...