Emei Mountain Rare Botanical Garden

Sichuan Vlog: Emei Shan (Mount Emei)!

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April 11, 2015

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We left the South Train Station of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, at 7:42am with Emei Shan (Emai Mountain) Station as our final destination. The train ticket cost just 74 RMB per person!

Once at Emei Shan Station we made our way through the crowds and found the booth that sells tickets for the mountain. We bought bus tickets to take us to Wuxiangang parking lot (40 RMB per person). We purchased our entrance tickets to the entire mountain here, which cost 185 RMB per person. From Wuxiangang, it is about 50 km to Golden Summit, a hike that we were told is strenuous and takes two full days. We didn't have this kind of time or energy, so we went for a short walk instead. We took the trail to QingYin Pavilion and the Monkey Forest then back to Wuxiangang parking lot, which took 2.5-3 hours total. This walk was absolutely beautiful, and we highly recommend it!

The trail follows a stunning river valley that is lush with bamboo and trees. The trail itself is made up of paved walkways and bridges, which makes it accessible to hikers of all fitness levels. We particularly enjoyed breathing in fresh air and looking up to see a bright blue sky.

As it is with most mountain parks and trails in China, you will come across numerous vendors selling their wares. This could be food (steamed corn, sweet potato, cured pork, etc.) and drinks or trinkets. Tim couldn't resist the urge to buy himself a toy snake for 10 RMB, which we lovingly now call Hou-Hou (meaning Monkey-Monkey) in honor of the trail where he was purchased! :p

We were surprised that we only saw two monkeys on our walk because we heard and read a lot about the number of monkeys around the trail and their aggressive behavior. Still, we were fortunate to spot two monkeys on our walk before we turned around for lunch closer to our starting point, the Wuxiangang parking lot.

Back at Wuxiangang, we purchased roundtrip bus tickets to Leidongping for 70 RMB per person. The ride to Leidongping took about 1.5 hours. By the way, be sure to keep your bus tickets because they are roundtrip! ;) (The 40 RMB and 70 RMB tickets allowed us to get from Leidongping to Baguo Si/Village at the base of the mountain the next day for free.)

At Leidongping, we realized how unprepared we were as far as clothing was concerned because it was COLD. It turns out we're not the only tourists who find themselves in this conundrum because vendors actually rent out long, warm jackets for just 30 RMB + 170 RMB as a deposit. The same option is available at Golden Summit on top of the mountain.

From Leidongping it takes about 20 minutes (on a quiet day when the path is clear) to walk to the cable car station. The station runs from 6:30 - 18:00, and tickets cost 65 RMB to ascend the mountain and 55 RMB to descend per person.

At the summit we made our way to the Golden Summit Hotel and got a room with spacious bathroom for 880 RMB. However, the room was rather cold and it took time for the heating to warm up the room. In addition to heating and hot water, the hotel has wifi in the reception area. The hotel doesn't have a restaurant, but there are plenty of snack shops and restaurants at the summit. We paid 108 RMB total for a set meal that consisted of rice + 2 vegetable and 2 meat dishes. Food is definitely more expensive at the summit (and not necessarily more delicious), but it's nice to have the option for those who spend the night at the summit.

After dinner we made our way back to our warmed up hotel room, drew the curtains and caught an early night's sleep in order to rest and catch the sunrise the next day!

As always, thank you for watching!!

Happy travels!! :)

Music:

Eden (CharlestheFirst edit) by CharlestheFirst


Live Action by Tortuga

Sichuan Vlog: Sunrise Emei & Leshan Buddha!

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April 12, 2015

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After a chilly night's sleep at the Golden Summit Hotel on the top of Emei Shan we got out of bed at 6:00 am to catch the 6:45 am sunrise.

We dressed warmly (Glo wore six layers on top!) and headed to the summit, which was a short 10-15 minute walk away. The summit has a Buddhist temple and a massive shrine that overlooks the valley below. The platform wasn't too crowded when we arrived, but you should get there early to stake out a spot right at the railing. As it was an overcast morning, the sunrise wasn't as spectacular as we hoped for. Nevertheless, it was much clearer than the previous day, and we were happy to have seen peaks of brilliant orange, yellow, and pink rays of sun shining through the clouds! After sunrise, we walked around for about 30 more minutes, taking in the serenity of the mountain views, valleys, clouds and trees.

Getting from Golden Summit to Baguo Si (Baguo Village) took about 3 hours and started with a 55 RMB per person cable car ride from the summit to Leidongping. There, we returned Glo's rented jacket in exchange for the 170 RMB deposit. We used our bus roundtrip tickets from the previous day to ride from Leidongping to Baguo Si for free, which took about 1.5 hours. At Baguo Village, we had lunch then paid 25 RMB per person for the hour-long one-way ride to Leshan. If you take a taxi, you could probably make it from Baguo Si to Leshan in 40-45 minutes. Our van just happened to make an extra stop that required a short detour.

At Leshan, there are actually two separate parks that are right next door to each other, the Oriental Buddha Capital and Leshan Giant Budda Park. It cost 170 RMB per person for admissions into both. Both parks are large and consist of nice paved paths meandering through beautiful forests. We spent three hours exploring both parks but kind of rushed through the Giant Buddha Park because we were tired and trying to get back to Chengdu before dark. We probably could have easily spent 4-5 hours there if we had more time. The parks are lovely but a bit overpriced in our opinion.

We caught a bus back to Chengdu from right outside the Giant Buddha Park. It was very convenient and cost just 50 RMB per person and took just under 1.5 hours!

Music:
Luminescence by Blure

Recommended walks in China: Daqingshan National Park

In this second recommended places in China's Zhejiang province, the Drone & Phone team leads you to Daqingshan National Park of Zhoushan Island.

India Vlog: Taj Mahal & Fatehpur Sikri!

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February 15, 2015

We were up bright and early again for sunrise at the Taj Mahal!! It was dark when we left the Radisson Blu on foot just after 6:00 am and headed to the East Gate ticket office, which is conveniently located just 500 or so meters from the hotel. You can queue inside, but they don't start selling tickets until 6:30 am. From there we took a bicycle rickshaw to the East Gate for 100 rupees. You can also take a shuttle for free, although we didn't realize this until the return trip!

The East Gate opened at 7:00 am, which is the same time as sunrise. For this reason, it doesn't actually seem possible to watch the sunrise from inside the Taj Mahal. But it's still worth it to get there as soon as the doors open to avoid crowds and enjoy the beautiful morning light. We recommend carrying as little as possible, which will allow you to get through security more quickly! If possible, try not to bring a bag at all. Also, camera stands and selfie sticks are not allowed.

We spent a little over two hours at the Taj. There's A LOT to see! The Taj is stunning from every angle, and we recommend taking your time walking inside and around all four sides. You need to remove your shoes or use shoe covers inside the Taj. You can get free shoe covers (and a free bottle of water!) at the ticket office. We somehow totally missed this. :/ Fortunately a free shoe cover machine is located right next to the Taj!

After a scrumptious buffet breakfast back at our hotel, we hired a car and driver to take us about an hour outside of Agra to Fatehpur Sikri to see the Dargah Complex and Jodh Bai's Palace. We paid 2,400 rupees for a 4x4 rental and driver for the afternoon, which we split with our friends.

Entrance to Dargah Complex is free. You have to remove your shoes in order to enter, but you can just carry them around with you. Don't believe the touts who say you need to leave them outside and insist that you pay them to watch your shoes! It was just 250 rupees if you have a Taj Mahal admissions ticket for entrance to Jodh Bai's Palace. Dargah Complex was gorgeous, but there are A LOT of touts and hawkers there. The palace is also lovely, and it's much more peaceful!

If you take a private car to Fatehpur Sikir, then make sure your driver parks the car and drops you off at the Gulistan Tourist Complex, which costs 80 rupees per vehicle. From there you can take a free shuttle to the Dargah Complex. Our driver was a bit sneaky and took us to an abandoned lot where tour guides were waiting. They tried to convince us that a guide is absolutely necessary. After 15 minutes of telling them we didn't want a guide, we managed to get away in a rickshaw for 150 rupees to the complex.

Alas it was time to say goodbye to Agra as well as Uttar Pradesh Province. That evening we boarded a train at Agra Fort Railway Station bound for Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan Province!

As always, thank you for watching!!

Happy travels!! :D

MUSIC:
Tu Muskura - Yuvraj
Tujhe Bhula Diya - Anjaana Anjaani
Sohni Lagdi - DJ Hans