Climbing the tallest holy mountain

There are four holy Buddha mountains in China: Mount Wutai （五台山）in Shanxi, Mount Emei (峨眉山） in Sichuan, Mount Jiuhua （九华山） in Anhui, and Mount Putuo （普陀山） in Zhejiang. As I consider myself culturally Buddhist, one of my goals in life is to pray at all four holy mountains. As a young girl before I left for the U.S, I visited Mount Wutai with my mother. When I came back to China to visit as a teen, I went to Mount Putuo with my father. In June, I went to pray at Mount Emei with a friend. Each instances, I feel the connection you make as you pray is distinctly different, yet held together by a common thread.
Mount Emei is the tallest of the Holy Mountain, where the temperature at the Golden Peak is usually just slightly above freezing during the summer. You can hike the mountain all the way up, from Baoguoshi all the way to the Golden Peak. That usually will take 2-3 days, where you can take rest at the local "motels" or monasteries. My friend and I took the bus up to close to the Golden Peak, then stayed at the Golden Peak Hotel, so we can wake up early to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the weather was uncooperative and we waited in the clouds for an hour without success. What was cool however, was the mist. It was so cloudy that you can barely see a few feet in front of you. Even at the base of the golden Buddha, I was unable to see it clearly.

We also spent a day hiking down to the Elephant Pool, which is just a silly little temple were people can see the monkeys. The monkeys are CRAZY! They're fat, greedy, and completely unafraid of humans. If you touch your bag, they will come and attack you until you have food! My friend and I were definitely attacked by these oversized monkeys and required other hikers to fend them off for us. Yikes. On the way up from Elephant Pool, we missed the last cable car up to the Golden Peak, resulting us in hiking over 30 kms and 8 hours on our journey. I felt very tired, but super accomplished afterwards.
 

We climbed over thousands of these stairs.

Wished I spoke Korean

I love South Korea. Really, everything is wonderful. When we arrived Friday evening, the weather was cloudy, but pleasantly cool compared to Hong Kong. The drive from the airport to our hotel was smooth, with the most beautiful bridges along the river. On the drive there, one can see the heavy American influence littered around Seoul. The road signs look distinctly American - with combination of English and Korean on the signs. They even have the same red octagon stop signs along the road.

While the flight and hotels are quite pricy in Korea, food, souvenirs, cabs, alcohol, and almost all other items of living are incredibly cheap for a developed nation. The streets are clean, the people are friendly, and the food is absolutely amazing. Everything is Korea tasted good. From the noodles we had at the Namdaemun Market to the waffles at Samcheong-Dong coffee shops, every thing we ate from kimchi, fish, bimbimbap, to dumplings were all wonderful. Everything tasted better than the next.

The highlight of the trip was definitely Sat, when we woke up early at 6AM to go on the USO DMZ tour. After an hour bus ride, we arrived at the Joint Security Area, where the North Korean tower and Soldiers are less than a hundred yard away. Between the two Korean towers, there four flat houses, where 2 are painted blue for South Korea, and two are painted grey for North Korea. One of the conference rooms is where the Armistice treaty was signed on July 27, 1953. The funny thing is, both side can use this conference room. Obviously, they do not communicate with each other when using the room. The procedure is that they surround the building with their soldiers, bring the tour group in from either the South or North side, depending on who gets there first. Sometimes, if there's a conflict of timing, the Soldiers will stay in there as long as possible to annoy the other side. Yes, both side of the same tour uses the same buildings. It's actually very cool. For the South Korean side, we are guided by the U.S. military. Since the conference room straddles the MLD, the U.S. soldier is not allowed to cross into the North side. Therefore, the door to the North side is guarded by ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers. While military service is compulsatory for all young men, the ones stationed at the DMZ are super cute! Another positive for Korea.

The North Korean Guard was only a few hundred yards away!

Inside the DMZ, both sides were allowed to one village. On the North Side, there's Kijong dong, what the U.S. military officer foundly called as Propaganda Village. There is situated one of the largest flag poles in the world, flying a 600 lb North Korean flag. According to the officer, if you can get a one meter by one meter piece of that flag, the CIA or wikipedia will pay you US$10mm. Of course, you'd have to cross the landmines, 2 sniper teams, and the North Korean army. Good luck.

Also at the DMZ, we went into the tunnels dug by North Korea trying to get into Seoul but was stopped just a few kilometers across the MLD. We also went to the Dorasan station, where it's an empty station with no trains on the tracks because it's suppose to be the first station on the train to Pyeongyang. While highly symbolic and full of hope, the station's emptiness brings an eerie reminder of a country with an uneasy peace with its neighbor.
 
 

Where will I be next weekend?

Tonight concludes my whirlwind of travel for the past weekend. Here were my travel itenaries since the beginning of June: Chengdu, Singapore, Bangkok, South Korea, and North Korea (granted, only for 5 minutes under the watchful eyes of the US military and ROK forces). For all of this has made Hong Kong worth it, for I don't think I shall ever have another opportunity to travel as extensively and frequently again. Details on each trip to be followed.