24. A Blue Road to the Golden Peak of Mount Emei

What, a blue road? You must be kidding! Just wait a minut or take a sneak peek below.

But first, after that very interesting giant buddha in LeShan in the afternoon, the bus took us west to the HongZhuShan Hotel just inside the Mount Emei (pronounced Er-May) Scenic Area. HongZhuShan used to be Generalisimo Chang-Kai-Shek's residence in the early 1930s. Since then it has been re-decorated into a very nice, quiet hotel nestled among trees and mountain sides. When we opened our room windows, we could see terraces of tea bushes grown right outside and one can taste the humidity.

An interesting modern feature in the hotel is that the corridor lights both turn on and off automatically by sensing whether there is motion in the hallways. This is a nice energy saving idea that I think also pleases hotel guests. The hotel's dining room, the Madarin Cafe, is known as one of the finest in the area. On this day, we had a real fine Szechuan dinner there but I can't really say it was spectacular.

Early next morning, we started our climb up Mt. Emei. Mount Emei is not only famous for its sceneic beauty, but when we were young, we used to read in kung-fu novels about the (usually pretty) swordswomen who are nuns and supposedly practice their swordsmenship on the mountain. No, we didn't see any, not in this twenty-first century date anyway. The entire area is of course dotted with many temples and pavilions. May be there are nuns there had we visited them.

There are several ways to climb Mt. Emei. Our tour guides were very thoughtful and arranged for us to take the easiset way up - by bus, then by cable car, ending with just a slight walk up a few stairs to the peak.



Oh yes, I did not forget the blue road. Because the drive up the mountain is through narrow lanes and is almost always foggy any time of the day, only local designated drivers are allowed to drive the tourist buses. To remind them of the fact that they are entering a 'drive-with-caution' zone, the first kilometer of the road up is painted blue. Presumably the blue color would alert the driver. We were impressed and wondered if this idea can be applied elsewhere.



The cable car was a fun ride through the clouds and mists. When one emerged at over 3000 meters (~10,000 feet) in elevation, the air was crisp and thin. Each step seems harder to walk now.

But everyone went oooh and aaah when we came to this panorama at the mountain top. It is a giant four-faced Buddha!








click to enlarge