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My goal of coming to this province was to see Zhijin Cave, which is one of the biggest caves in China. I got some information that there was a bus leaving at 7AM from the bus station. I woke up at 6AM, walked 30 minutes to the station and found out there was no bus. I got pointed to where there may be a bus, but it was too late. I also had the option of taking a non-tour bus to the nearby city, but I wasn’t sure I could make it back at this point.

I decided to do Plan B, which was to see a different cave near the city of Anshun. So I got on a bus, got to Anshun, walked to a second bus station, took a minibus the rest of the way to the Longgong Caves. I passed a black river that smelled like sewage on the way.

Once arriving, I found myself inside the ticketed area of the park. Actually I didn’t know for sure until I went out the exit, bought a ticket, turned around and entered again. There was a nice waterfall at a cave entrance. There the local TV channel interviewed me on camera with 3 or 4 questions with the waterfall in the background. I was interviewed because I was a foreigner in China.

I walked around to the upper side of the waterfall and then got in a boat (needed my ticket for this) for a trip through some of the caves. Got out, and in another boat for more. Then walked more and entered a huge cave. I was surprised I was the only person in the cave! I think most people just come to see the waterfall at the entrance and leave. Then I exited this cave, passed a couple of caves with no lights or path. If I had a flashlight and more time I think I’d explore some more since there were no signs warning not to. Then I walked outside more and through another cave, and outside again, and walked through a Buddhist temple inside a cave, and out for the last time. Then I could either walk through all the caves again or walk along a road at least 3km to the main road to catch a minibus. I did the road walk.

Then it was back to Anshun and all the way back to Guiyang. On the bus I felt one of my hairs being plucked out of my head. I think the person behind me wanted a blonde hair sample, since he probably has never been this close to it before!

One other thing shocked me here. At the hotel I’m staying at, they have a 20Mbit Internet connection. Although this isn’t your standard ADSL hookup, it was in a big hotel, it was the first time I’ve seen such crazy speeds outside of Japan and Korea.

I took the 10:10AM bus from Chongqing south to Guizhou province and it’s capital of Guiyang. There must have been 100 bridges and tunnels on the 5.5 hour stretch of new highway between the two cities. It was quite impressive. There was only one bridge that was unfinished and half the road was blocked at a time so one direction could pass.

On the way I saw a small van that rolled over on the road. I snapped a picture of it as the bus drove by. Later zooming in on the photo, you can see blood that dripped out of the van onto the road. I think the people were still inside, possibly dead.

After arriving in the city, it was a long, hot walk to the hostel. When I got there I wasn’t sure I was in the right place because it looked like a fancy hotel, not a cheap hostel. And I was right, it is more of a hotel there. The staff does not speak any English. Not many foreign travelers make it here. I got my under $10 dorm room which was pretty nice with air conditioning, good shower, cable TV, and Ethernet.

Today I did a organized tour to the Dazu Rock Carvings. Since it was a Chinese tour, the first stop was at a rundown temple where they would try to charge big money for good wishes and the like. After that it was the included lunch of 8 dishes. I ate like crazy here since there was plenty of food!

Then we went to the carvings area. The tour guide spoke in Chinese. There were a couple Chinese people in the group that spoke English and they explained a few things to me. All the carvings were impressive. Nothing quite like this in Japan or Korea or other countries I visited.

I was dropped off in the center of the city after the tour. I went to look for a new lens for my camera. Heading towards the huge Canon sign, I found a shop but they refused to help me because I couldn’t ask in Chinese. So I looked for another store and I noticed a Canon sign in a bookstore. I was able to by a Canon EF 50mm 1.8 II lens for $114. It is Canon’s cheapest and lightest lens, but still a good one.

After a simple free breakfast at the hostel and after I washed my clothes, I went into the center of the city. Actually I was planning on going to the Three Gorges Museum, but there was no direct bus there. I was planning on changing buses, but the conductor never told me to get off at the right spot. Instead I was kicked off at the end of the line.

I walked and found the cable car going over the Yangzi River. For only 2 RMB I was able to get to the other side quickly. Then I decided to to the other cable car, over the Jialing River. Then I visited Arhat Temple. After being accosted by beggars while buying my ticket, I went inside the strange city temple but was unable to find the 500 Arhat hall that was mentioned in the book.

Chongqing is probably the least tourist friendly city I’ve seen in China. It is very difficult to get around. Many bus stops are not labeled.  Barely anyone speaks English in the city. Luckily some staff at the hostel do.

With some help, I was able to recharge my prepaid SIM card in my phone today. I ran out of credit a couple days ago.

I took the 8:30 morning bus for a 7 hour trip to Chongqing, one of the biggest cities in China. For the second time in 3 days the person sitting next to me on the bus vomited. This time right on to the floor in the hallway. Coming down on the bus from the mountain two days ago, a man was spitting and vomiting into a bag, but luckily I had my music player with me so I could ignore it then. This time the woman just vomited once and went back to sleep for most of the trip down the bumpy, unfinished highway.

I met up with a friend and we had hotpot with a total of four people. We tried the authentic hotpot with the dark red soup from all the chillis and peppers. Then we all drove to a spot to get a good nighttime view of the city and the Yangzi River which flows around it.

After coming down the top of the mountain yesterday, I took another bus today to the middle of the mountain. It was a different situation today since it is a holiday weekend in China. The bus station was crowded and everything was a lot slower. Buying a ticket meant I had to go through the Chinese style pushing and shoving today. I even woke up early so I’d have a head start, but I was locked in my hotel for a while since it was early!

I did get on a bus and took it to the middle bus station. Then I walked up to Wannian Temple. It was a lot warmer here compared to yesterday since I was at least 1000m lower today. I was wearing three shirts today, but I only needed one. I walked to the 1000 year old Wannian Temple. I noticed one man just pointed a camera directly at me and took a photo. Kind of funny taking a picture of me just because I’m a foreigner. I noticed the same thing happen to me a week ago near Lijiang too.

Later I walked to Qingyin Pavilion, famous for two bridges over two deep parallel streams cut through the rock. Then I wanted to walk up the mountain to the most scenic areas. This was unfortunately through the “Monkey Zone.” It was similar to a zoo, but Chinese style with pushing and squeezing your way through the path. In the middle of all this, a monkey was down by my feet clawing on the plastic bag I was carrying. The monkey was grabbing onto it and I was grabbing onto it. It was like a nightmare. The bag tore open and my water bottle fell out of my reach off the path. The monkey left and I was able to move on.

Once past this area there was virtually no one on the path and I was able to continue in peace (with the exception of some monkeys trying to frighten me). Most people have sticks to scare them away, but I had nothing. When a monkey blocked my path next to the same area, an employee with a stick got him away. And for other monkeys I just walked quickly past.

Next I had to walk up the mountain, but the water I was saving was all gone. I went on anyway. And I walked up a vertical 400m to Hongchun Terrace. When I got here there was a large group of art university students drawing. By the time I got here I was sweating a lot and needed a rest. Some of the students started talking to me and then asking for photos with me. Then they wanted group photos with me. I was like a celebrity up there! Hongchun was a nice quiet temple right in the middle of the mountains. I figured it won’t get much better than this, so after a while I walked down the mountain to the bus station.

I notice no cars or buses were moving either direction on the road from the bus station. The road must be blocked somehow and I don’t think it is a good situation waiting around here as more and more people fill the station. I had three choices: 1. Wait 2. Walk along the main road 3. Walk the high mountain path back. I decided on the crazy choice, going up the mountain and getting back to the town before it got dark. It was 4:00 in the afternoon right now.

I walked up and up and then down and down. I was almost running down the mountain to get back before dark. On the way back I quickly visited some monasteries, including Leiyin and Fuhu (with an impressive hall of 500 arhat statues). In total, about 2.5h to get back that way, but I was sure tired after these two days.

Emei Shan, as it is called in Chinese, is 3077m or 10100ft high. I decided to take the bus most of the way (2400m) and then walk the rest. The two hour bus ride was nice, winding along a river up the mountain. I knew it was going to be cold at the top, so I put on nearly every piece of clothing I had. When I got off the bus, there was a spot where you could rent a coat, but since I was walking up I figured I’d be warm enough in the near freezing temperatures.

The walk up was dangerous at times. A few days earlier there was freezing rain on the mountain so the trees were covered with ice. Today was a little warmer, so the ice was melting and falling off the trees onto the people below. I thought this is like walking up a skyscraper in a hail storm! I must have passed 50 people since I was walking up the stairs fast with little rest.

When I took the bus up, I noticed we went through a layer of clouds, so you could see clouds below. Then when I started walking, I started entering an even thicker layer of clouds. So there was snow on the ground, and so foggy you couldn’t see much of anything for a while. I was close to going through the entire winter without touching or seeing snow, but now I can tell everyone back home in Michigan that I did experience snow, for one day this year.

After a while, the sun started shining again as I passed through the layer of clouds. It is kind of amazing doing this on land. I’ve only gone through cloud layers on a plane before. It was nice to see a clear sky and the sun, but this also meant the ice was melting even faster on the trees and now it was like I was in heavy rain. I had no hat or umbrella since I wasn’t expecting anything like this!

Finally, I’m a little wet and tired, but I reach the summit. I get above all that Chinese haze and clouds and I can feel strong sunshine for once! It is so clear I can see Mount Gongga, over 100km away, and what looks like some mountains of the Himalayas to the west. I look down and I view the “Sea of Clouds” below stretching out as far as I can see. The other side of the mountain has a cliff face that falls vertically into the clouds. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was like I was on an island on the ocean.

There were a few temples up here and a huge 11 headed golden statue of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva riding 4 elephants with each having 6 pairs of tusks. I saw a man pointing up. I looked up and saw a 360 degree rainbow circling the sun. Not everyone gets to see this, but it is a phenomenon called “Buddha’s Halo” that occurs up here when conditions are right.

Not too many foreigners know about this place but I think it is one of the best sights in China.

I’m staying next to Mount Emei, but first I wanted to visit nearby Leshan, home of the world’s largest Buddha statue. I kind of wish I had my student ID still, because students get half price admission on most things in China. For example, the entry fee today was $17 for me or $8.50 for students. I spent the day walking around the Giant Buddha, Wuyou Temple, and Oriental Buddha Park. A Chinese woman started talking to me in Chinese while I was sightseeing, and I couldn’t understand her. Good thing I had my phrase book, so we could communicate some things. But was good practice for me trying to understand Chinese since she spoke no English. She was trying to get my phone number and email because I’m the only foreigner she has ever talked to, I suppose.

It was a nightmare getting back to my hotel. On the way here, I only had to take a single bus. For the return trip I had to take five buses! I didn’t have clear instructions (my book didn’t have any Chinese characters for the station I wanted) and I just wanted to make it to a bus station, so I took a bus, then got off, changed to another bus, assuming it would end at a station. At the end of the line, there was no station, so I had to stay on the bus the other direction (I hate when they charge you again when you stay on the bus). After a few minutes they told me to get off the bus. No bus station that I could see, just the middle of no where in the city. I decide to eat some dinner at a place where probably no foreigners have ever ate before. The people there couldn’t stop staring and smiling while I ate the strange food I randomly ordered! I walked the rest of the way to the bus station and found out no direct bus to where I wanted to go, so I had to go to the next closest place. So many other people were going to the same place there was a huge line to get on the next bus.

I arrived at the Emei bus station. According to my guide book I had to take two more buses to get to where I want to go. So I passed up all the taxi drivers, took the bus, then changed to the final bus and finally made it back. It took about 3 times longer for the return trip.

My camera fell again. This time it will out of my backpack while I was wearing it onto a brick floor about 5 feet below. My backpack was overstuffed and the zipper came open while I walked. At first I heard and saw my computer AC adapter fall on the floor, so I turned around and prepared to take off my backpack but then I heard my camera fly all the way to the floor.

My $400 lens is broken. Some of the plastic is chipped off at the end, a plastic ring cracked, and the outermost glass has been pushed out of line. I can still take photos, but the glass not being straight means out of focus photos. They look ok on wide angle, but when I start zooming in, half of my frame is out of focus. And when I zoom all the way in I can’t get a focus at all sometimes.

Hopefully insurance will cover this, but still I’m in the middle of visiting some of the most amazing parts of China and can’t take the photos I want to take. I’m thinking of finding a replacement lens in Beijing or something, maybe a 50mm 1.8.

I took some side trips outside of the city. One was to Sanxingdui Museum at the site of a once lost civilization of the Shu. I also visited the XinDu BaoGuang Monastery. Inside Chengdu, I visited Wenshu Temple. I stayed at Mix Hostel while I was there which I thought was pretty nice.

While in Chengdu, a friend took some money out of an ATM and then walked away leaving the card in the machine! Ten minutes later she realizes she forgot the card and fears all her money is gone now. However, we find out there is a 30 second inactivity timeout on the ATM so not much chance for someone to take your money out. She went into the bank and later was able to get her card back and no money was missing.

On my last day in Chengdu, I took the bus to Mount Emei.

I’m officially in a new province called Sichuan now. The capital is Chengdu, and I arrived here after 18 hours on the train, 2:30 in the afternoon. I don’t really think too much about the long train rides anymore.

I was able to meet some friends and try the authentic Sichuan hot pot. It is known for being spicy, but it didn’t seem too bad compared to what I’ve had in Thailand and elsewhere. Then we tried a Chinese card game for a while.