Leshan and Emei Shan

So on Saturday, after a night partying with Captain Morgan (no seriously, my friend eli is captain morgan. check out his blog elisweetisapirate.blogspot.com ) i went with my friend David from italy to leshan, about 2 hrs from chengdu. we got dropped off at the bus station, caught a cab and ate at an overpriced touristy restaurant, complete with 20rmb cups of tea we didnt ask for. that sucked. from there we caught a pedicab to dafo (the giant buddha, UNESCO world heritage site) and walked around, took some pictures and generally enjoyed the temples and the views down to the rivers. after that we got a ride in a breadtruck to emeishan, i lost my camera somewhere along the way and we spent saturday night at baoguo si at the base of emei shan. it was nice to sleep in a temple, and we were woken up by the morning prayers, which is a nice way to drift in and out of sleep, breathing the incense and passively absorbing the mantras. we got on the road around 830, hiking right up the mountain, lots of steps and well-maintained paths, few tourists. we hit 3 temples, including one in the middle of a grove of pines on top of a hill, covered in mist. it was really sweet. we stayed the night at wan nian si, eating dinner at 530 after a full day of hiking. the sun began to set and because of the cold (at like 1000-1400m or something) david and i decided it would be a good idea to get warm so we climbed into our respective beds and were immediately asleep, only to wake at 10 after a full 14 hrs of sleep. wow it was nice. we hiked down to the bus stop (about an hr of hiking) then caught a bus up to the top of the mountain and bought some cleats, hiked in the snow and ice, saw some monkeys, took a cable car up to the golden summit (jin ding) and walked around. the views over the cliffs are incredible but the clouds were a bit high, so it was ok. the giant statue of the golden buddha was awesome. it was very cool. we took the cable car back down and i got bit by a monkey when he reached into my pocket. it sucked, i got a little scared and ran down the path. then we got a bus down, as the wind was picking up and the sun was setting, the melting snow had turned to ice and it was clearly time to get off the mountain. on the way down i struck up a conversation with the dude next to me, he was an alum of xinan minzu daxue (where i study) and he offered david and i a ride back to chengdu, which was awesome considering the rough guide said the last bus left for chengdu at 5 and it was 6 already. so tired, dirty, cold and basically penniless, we made it back to chengdu. so i got a monkey bite and lost a camera. so it goes sometimes. it was great to use my chinese a lot and im confident that i can travel on my own, which is really cool. so yeah now im back, its nice to be warm and in a place where you can do things and move around after dark. i look forward to returning to emei, its pretty sweet.