At around 05:30 the monks in our monastery started tinkling bells and chanting but it was not very loud initially and we managed to sleep in till nearly 07:00.
After sunrise they were into full swing with larger bells, gongs and the chanting became louder and yet pleasantly melodious.
Buddhas in the Bauguo Monastery
Entrance to inner Bauguo Monastery (note beer cans)
We had a yoghurt and fruit breakfast in our room and then gathered our hiking gear and met up with Patrick at his hotel down the road. Before heading off, we managed to find a hotel with WiFi and were able to FaceTime our granddaughter, Zoe, to wish her a happy 2nd birthday.
Our group was then transported by Patrick’s cars to the Wannian cable car station and for Y65 we took the cable car to Wangnian Temple. Possibly because it was Sunday, the whole mountain was teeming with visitors and this was to be the situation for most of the morning’s walk to the Joking Monkey Zone.
The walk started with a gentle descent past the Bailong Cave and then on to the Niuxin Pavilion where the major climb was to begin.
The path upwards followed a spectacular and winding river gorge hundreds of metres deep cut through limestone rock and in places the gorge was only 20 m wide. The lush vegetation clinging to the precipitous cliffs was incredibly dense and typical of a jungle rainforest; bamboo and vines being the dominant species.
The concrete stepped pathway was narrow and in places where the walls were vertical it was anchored into the cliff face. This section is called the Heilongjiang Plank Way. The splendour of the scenery is undoubtedly marred by the ever present blue plastic water pipes and black communication cables that are visible much of the way up the gorge.
Along the pathway there were wider areas where Buddhist characters and symbols had been carved into the rock walls. As one might have expected there were people every few hundred metres selling drinks and food. Incidentally, throughout the whole day we saw no other Caucasians which maybe explains why the locals were so keen to photograph us!
As we approached the highest point on the track we encountered macaque monkeys about which we’d been warned. The monkeys will attempt to steal water bottles, hats, cameras, etc from unsuspecting tourists. The monkeys may become aggressive and bite which is a concern because rabies is prevalent in this region.
One monkey snatched a bottle of orange drink from Steph’s pack and within seconds had bitten the top off and started drinking.
During our return and descent to Niuxin Pavilion someone attempted to push a monkey off their shoulder and subsequently they were bitten. Fortunately a medical centre nearby had the appropriate (first) vaccination available for just this occurrence! The inappropriate practice of feeding the macaques with little bags of corn has led the monkeys to become increasingly dependent on the tourists and react accordingly, often with over exuberance!
The majority of the group elected to do the long walk back to our Baoguo Monastery even after having been warned of the length and steepness of the walk.
We took a further three and a half hours to return home with the first hour and a half being a near continual climb up to yet another temple called Chunyang Palace. This section is clearly not so popular with the general public and consequently we had very few other walkers joining us.
The final hour was practically all downhill on a concrete stairway which in places was quite slippery, uneven and precarious so the use of our walking poles proved highly beneficial.
We arrived back at our Boaguo Temple Monastery after more than 20 km and seven hours of walking in steep, hot and humid conditions. Needless to say our clothes were absolutely soaked in perspiration.
The shower room was a popular venue when it opened later in the afternoon.
After showering and resting we walked back down to the local shopping area and ordered a meal. Our difficulties with comprehension of the Mandarin language caused some in our group to order unexpected meals and much merriment ensued. The meals were, once again incredibly cheap even if it wasn’t what we were hoping for!
We then headed back to the Monastery for a good night’s sleep after an exhausting day of hiking on this famous Buddhist temple mountain.
Tomorrow we head off quite early for Leshan where amongst other things we’ll visit the biggest stone carved statue of Buddha in the world.