Saturday

Today I woke up a bit earlier than necessary, and as is custom for me – went out for a walk in search of a coffee that was going to taste anywhere better than instant coffee. Then with the group we hopped in a private bus to Leshan. We had lunch then visited the Giant Buddha. The building of the monument began in the year 713 and finished in the year 803, taking more than 90 years (and thousands of workers) to carve. Then, we drive to the foot of Mt. E’mei, located southwest of Sichuan Basin.

We had a group dinner as it was Katrine’s birthday. She had an interesting story – divorced and recently surviving a battle with cancer, the desire to make the most of life inspired her to book this tour of China. That’s the thing you realise on these tours, everyone has an interesting story and reason for being there.

Monday

We spent all day yesterday hiking around Mt. Emei, stopping in at various temples and a monkey ecological area.

The temples were fascinating, and quiet. There were many impressive statues of the Buddha. The monkey area was funny in that everyone was just throwing food at the monkeys – many of them were clearly overweight.

We walked for hours and hours, starting around 9am and not getting back until 4 in the afternoon. We took the bus back, gladly as my feet and legs were ruined. We finished the day at some nearby hot springs, and then I shared dinner with Dave, Rachel and Jack.