Wayne and I took the 19:30PM bus from Chengdu to Emei. We arrived in Emei at night.

Woke up at 06:30 and took a bus half-way up the mountain. This was the gate to buy tickets. 150元

After about 1.5 hours, we suddenly broke above the clouds and were surrounded by blue sky in every direction.

This was the moment of decision we had been waiting for, cloudy or not. Beautiful beyond your wildest dreams.

Looking straight down!

Above the clouds!

Vertical cliff. The birds are flying UP

A sea of clouds

A monkey, Don’t fall!

Icey steps, had to purchase cramp-on spikes for our shoes.

Close to 2000 meters elevation

Me standing at a large temple before the trail begins.

Chris taking a few pictures before we start.

Wayne took the chairlift (can’t see him here)

We met Michael along the way

Ice-covered Path. Be Careful of Slippery.

Some roosters

A Buddhist monastery along the way

Gorgeous woods

Chris and Michael. Almost there!

Me and Wayne at the top

Friends

We are the best

Awesome

Mt. Gongga, the tallest mountain in China

Me posing for a picture

Some cool trees

A Red Panda! Incredible!

Getting tired

ME at the top

A glimpse of the Golden Summit!

WOW

Elephant

On top of the world

The Golden Summit

Some cool people from Chongqing

Buddha

The Silver Palace

Amazing View!

Amazing

A sea of clouds

Michael and Chris

The Golden Summit

At the top of the world

Me Excited

Relaxing for a bit

Relaxed

A monastery where the monks pray

Awesome Elephants

The view of a temple

Looking Down on the Mountains

At Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Morning

Sunrise

Sunrise

Mission Accomplished. Emei Shan was spectacular.

I know a woman who runs a popular backpacker’s hostel in Chengdu, Sim’s Hostel. After the quake, because of its convenient location, Sim’s Hostel became a meeting and working place for many of the organizations offering relief to the disaster area. Maki invited me to come visit some friends who live in the disaster area, after I had expressed some interest in the earthquake. I was curious to know more, and since I had never experienced an earthquake, she invited me to go with them one Saturday. You can read about the actual earthquake on wikipedia.org. The town we visited was in Mianyang City, about 2.5 hours from Chengdu via minibus. For the most part, the highways were very clear, it was only when we got into the country that the roads became bumpy and unpredictable.

When we arrived, the family we were visiting had prepared us a large lunch. We spent most of the day outside, lighting fireworks with the kids and staying warm near a fire. I was feeling adventurous and did a little hiking on the terraced hills that had been cultivated to grow all sorts of vegetables. The small village probably only had 500-1000 people and was located in a valley, surrounded on both sides by large mountains, that were generally unhabited, except for the first 500 meters was had been turned into farm land. The soil in the valley was wet, and agriculture was very important.

The houses had almost all been rebuilt. Maki and a few others that went with us had helped them enormously with the rebuilding process. They had stayed in the village and worked there for weeks with the local families. The new houseses were very nice and seemed comfortable. Our host’s house had a tv, stereo, a nice leather furniture and glass coffee table, and tiled floors. Most other houses seemed the same. They had constructed a brick factory for making bricks, because of the demand for bricks. Most of the old houses were wooden with slate roofs, all the new houses were brick with tiled walls and floors. The focus of the village was still farming though. Here are some of the pictures. I would like to learn more about the familiy, personally, and would like to go back some time.

Mountain terrain

Hill side temples

An old bridge

Rubble

A warm welcome

Looking at pictures

Daily life

Family

这个是鸭子 “Zhege shi yazi” (this is a duck)

Annie and Old man

认识你很高兴 “renshi ni hen gaoxing” (it’s very nice to meet you)

Family

Click to see more pictures. 点击观看更多图片

Dujiangyan (都江堰) is a town about 50km north west of Chengdu city. I planned a day trip there one day when I was not scheduled to have class. The bus ride took about 45 minutes and was very smooth. There is a large high-speed highway between Chengdu and Dujiangyan, which makes it a perfect day trip. The city is famous for its massive irrigation project that took place nearly 2000 years ago and is primarily responsible for the growth and development of Sichuan, Chengdu. Dujiangyan was effected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. I didn’t go to the irrigation project, but I took some pictures of what the city looks like today, over 1 year after the earthquake.

Collasped Agricultural Bank of China

Collapsed Agricultural Bank of China

Damaged Roadway

Rebuilding

Vacant Buildings

Damaged BuildingDamaged Building, notice the four minority symbols on the building

Ancient Temple, large mountain in the background

Repainting a Famous Bridge

Removing the rubble, notice the minority symbols on the gate

Each piece of steel has to be hand extracted from the cement

How the buildings get broken down

Cold and blue river

A large amount of cold water flowing very quickly

Destroyed Buildings

Destroyed Buildings, who chose?

Who chose?