After a quick breakfast of jioza we left the city, we set the boys a mission of spotting 10 panda images. We obviously made it a little too easy as we saw 218 before we had left the city boundary. It kept the boys entertained at least.
The drive to Emei Shan mountain took just over two hours. Which finished with a dramatic ride up what can only be described as vertical roads. Husband jokes about what is black, white and red did not help my feeling of nerves.
Thankfully the drive was totally worth it. The predicted weather was rain the whole time so we were very thankful to find we had arrived at a cloudy but dry lake side hotel.
The above pictures show the screanery much better than I could ever describe but the fresh, slightly wet smell of trees and plants was exhilarating.
After a quick lunch we decided to go for a short walk around our hotel, this of course turned into a slightly larger walk, which we were unprepared for and ended up buying masks and other supplies 🤦♀️. We walked to the nearest village, took a bus to a cable car then walked back down to our hotel via the many monasteries and calming things woods. The hundreds of steps testing our old knees.
All in all a pleasant start to Emei Shan.
Day 2 we hit the main tourist track to the top of the mountain. A massive 3000m above sea level, the trip took 1.5 hours on a bus, a cable car and over an hour of walking. And at the top we were greeted with …
White out! A very useful sign information sign told us that the top of mountain is surrounded in fog 323 days a year!
It’s a good job the views are not the main draw… Swirls of fog mix with intense smoke and hum of Buddhist chants to make the misty Buddhist temple feel rather unearthly, almost heavenly. you can see why it became a place of worship.
However it was packed and did take some patience to navigate. When we stopped for our usual sausage, we soon attracted a crowd as big as that around the local Buddhist monkeys.
By about 3 o’clock we were ready to escape the crowds and returned via a slightly different route, involving 2 cable cars (much to BBboy and his fear of height’s disappointment) 1:15 bus ride and two walking sections. Thankfully all not as busy as the main route up.
The evening was once again spent ordering unknown plates of food to a table with a stunning view of the lake. Waiting for the food BBboy became centre of attention talking away to his crowds of middle aged fans during a table tennis game, middle man disappeared exploring local forest while boy blue went on a rather successful spider hunt.
All in a couple of days exploring Emei Shan had been totally worth it… unlike paying for an extra bed, which was wholly occupied by swords.
Tomorrow’s adventure is Le Shan and it’s grand Buddha.
A Wright Adventure 
Incredible pics and fascinating blog, Annie! When does experience and information overload kick in?! Your boys are so privileged to have all these adventures and see so much at such a young age. (Guess you are loving it too!) Am really enjoying accompanying you on this amazing trip! ❤️xxxxx
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