Hike day! 7am comes quick and with it I am enthused and jump out of my still damp bed. I head down to the desk and meet the Swedes and we get some breakfast, bacon and eggs. That should keep me going for a while. We had ordered some food from the restaurant the night before so we get bacon and egg sandwiches, an apple and a bottle of water, that'll do for lunch. Of course I have all the usual, snickers, nuts and sweets for energy during the climb. Today I am sporting my new gear and I am feeling confident that it will be a good move, hopefully comfort hiking. I leave my big rucksack in the hostel, but I take my camera and iPad with me, as i'm not too comfortable leaving some of my stuff in the room. We are told by an English speaker that the train station is 500m up the road, so off we go. After a lot of walking around it is nowhere to be seen so we make our way back down and see a bus station, we go in there and that was the place to go, about 50m. why the false intel??? It is about half an hour on the bus to the bus station, up through the mountains by the river, winding roads.
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We get to the station and it is time to go. A whopping 150 for me to gain entry to the mountain, those lucky Swedes getting it for half the price because of their student cards. Damn them. There is a path that we walk along, the weather is perfect, its cool, with slight mist, but there is still good visibility and so you can see the mountains and the views. I am looking forward to our hike, 10 hours worth today. We keep up a good pace along the slight gradient and the fresh air is a welcome change from the city. From looking at the map we have, there are a number of temples along the way, as well as a couple of areas where we are likely to see some monkeys. Emei Shan is another sacred mountain in China and one that may Chinese want to climb. It is also a natural ecology monkey reserve, I don't really know if i'll see any monkeys, but it would be pretty cool if I did. We plod along for a couple of hours and then we get to the first temple. It's a little temple with a covered area over looking some waterfalls, there are a couple of Chinese sitting sketching and painting the scene. Of course there is also the usual amount of people trying to sell us some tat. We walk up and through the temple and on with our climb. There is no one on this climb. We have literally passed nobody. It's great.
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We get to the first monkey zone, various signs warning us not to feed them, or provoke them. Not sure what we'll find we head on. The path forks and we go for the bridge and it is not long before we see some monkeys up ahead, a mother and baby. We don't get too close because they are on the path. We get some photos and then wonder how to approach. A Chinese woman who was sitting nearby walks ahead and motions for us to follow. She beats the ground with her bamboo stick to move the monkeys along. They are quite stubborn and take a good few whacks before they move on. I'm surprised how tame they are, especially as the mother has a baby, I thought she would be quite aggressive, but no. They move out of the way and we pass, as we walk round the corner we see an adult male, just chillin out on the fence, relaxing. There are a couple of people near by, but he is not concerned, I guess they are used to people by now. We take plenty of snaps as this may be out only monkey experience. There is even a wee station here where people will take a photo of you with a monkey and print it out for you. Just a photo printer, in the middle of the mountain, just sitting there. Ohhh China! As we walk on we talk about how lucky we were to see some monkeys and how we couldn't believe how tame they were. Little did we know, this was a false taste of what was to come.
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Progressing further we come across a lot on monkeys. At least 20, all over the path. We are on our own, no woman with bamboo to help us. There is a scout monkey sitting on the fence just before some steps where the rest of them are. He is not particularly big, but he is looking right at me. I decide a quick photo is in order, then as the monkey comes closer, the camera goes away for fear of having it removed from me. After we exchange some nervous words on how to pass I decide we just have to go, we can't stand here forever. So I lead off, suddenly I feel this weight on my bag, Linda lets out a scream, there was a monkey on my bag. It had jumped off the fence and on to my bag as I passed. I started shaking my bag while moving backwards, eventually after some violent shakes I feel the weight removed as the monkey had jumped back off me on to the fence. The Swedes tell me he was trying to get in to my bag, pulling at the zips. We are back where we started, the monkey still looking at me. Moving closer along the fence, me backing away to keep him at a safe distance. I'll be honest, I'm slightly concerned. If any of us get bitten or scratched that's it over, back down the mountain to get checked out. It is not an option. After some hesitation I formulate a plan. I swing my bag to the front and lead off again. I tell the Swedes to keep in tight formation and I will just lead us through, no stopping, no looking, no running, no screaming. As I set off Linda panics, and doesn't move, I tell her we have to go, now. I don't stop, I pass the monkey, and it follows me up the fence. I don't look at it, I get up the steps and walk to the side of the other monkeys, they look at me, some are really big, I feel some fear, I keep moving. I hear Martin and Linda shouting behind my, their footsteps increase and suddenly I have monkeys grabbing at my feet. I keep my composure and keep on walking, Linda is grabbing me screaming that they are attacking here, I tell here to stop running and stop screaming, just 10 more meters. There is a real sense of panic amongst us, I break in to a slight jog for the last few meters, I make it up the steps and free from the monkeys, the Swedes close behind. Hearts are racing as we see a monkey free stretch of path ahead. I think we coped the best we could, given our situation. I'm no professional when it comes to monkey behaviour but we got through and no one got eaten. It's not long before see more monkeys up ahead about 15. These are massive, stocky, brutes of males, I even see one with scars down his face from an attack. They are hissing and chasing each other. How the hell are we going to get past these? Same plan, I'll lead. Apprehension runs strong. Go go go. Straight through, no screaming, no running, I figure the monkeys aren't interested in us, just fighting amongst themselves. It's tense, but relief washes over us when we pass through without incident. Scattered all over the area are remnants of previous monkey attacks, on people. Food, bags, umbrellas and maps all lie by the wayside, forcefully removed from their owners by the monkeys. We are still not clear of monkeyville yet, more monkeys just swinging in the trees, emerging from the undergrowth, following us down the fence, waiting for the chance to pounce. We keep moving, our plan has worked so far, I'm not changing it. The remaining encounters pass without incident, until we are eventually free from the monkey area.
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In a cruel exchange, monkeys are exchanged for steps. The path becomes like one giant, never ending stepper! As we get higher it is becoming significantly cooler, if we stop for any length of time you really get cold. We stop for lunch and I have to jump up and down a little to keep warm. The bacon and egg sandwiches were a welcome meal as we had been pushing quite hard. The problem with this type of climb is that you don't know how far you have come or how far you have to go. There are little signs, and the map we have is in no scale at all. Lunch is brief due to the cold, then we continue. For some reason there is a lot of up and downs, you tackle a particularly arduous uphill section only to hike down a greater distance after, soul destroying. The real positive is that the views are spectacular and with no one else about it is just ours to enjoy. We take it in turns to lead and be pace maker, and there is little talking due to the effort required.
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Finally we get to the Elephant Pool, this marked us as being more than half way to our destination. This area is supposed to hold significance, somewhere to bring luck. Indeed the pool itself is full of money that people have thrown in. However it is a merky, rectangular pool, with a white plastic elephant in the middle. What a disappointment, I was expecting more. I didn't even take a photo, it was that bad! Every time we stop we motivate ourselves on by shouting, 'final push, let's go' this is becoming less effective as the climb goes on. Of course the trail is covered in little shops to buy gifts and places to get food. We don't really stop at many for long due to the heckling. Until we get to this one in particular. We have heard pumping music echoing through the mountain for the past hour, I was expecting a party. What we get is another little shop, where there is an old woman who has a speaker set up, blasting the beats all over the mountain. Not really the type of music I would have expected from someone of that age, but funny none the less. I get a sprite, not cheap but I had been craving something other than water and it was the same price I'd pay at home so I treated myself. After we leave the beats lady we continue to climb for what seems like an eternity, but eventually, as it's starting to get dark, we reach quite a populated area, with a lot of building work going on. We believe this to be the place where we will stay the night. Then we made a series of tiredness related errors.

Number 1: we picked the first place to stay in. We were so tired by this stage that it seemed like a good idea. We were shown the room, which was ok, and given a price. I decided it was too much, so we drove it down. This meant a different room. We were lead out of the hotel and into the one next door. This hotel was abandoned. No lights were on, it was cold. There was no one at reception, the lobby was full of broken furniture, lovely place. Again we were shown the room, it looked ok and we paid. It was only when we got back that we realised the beds were so damp, luckily there was an electric blanket. There was a shower, but I had not brought a towel, the Swedes let me use theirs, life savers. It may have been the best shower if my life.

Number 2: We were encouraged to eat in the first place, so we ordered up. Easily the worst meal ever. I got a chicken curry. There was no curry. It was chicken (if you could call it that) bamboo and peppers. It was like all the left over bits of chicken that you don't eat. It was horrid, but I ate it anyway because I needed to. Not sure what the Swedes got, but they had a chicken head in theirs. We laughed because it stopped us from crying. At least the green tea was free, not that it was nice either! The room we are in is so cold we are all sitting in our coats, I can see my breath. We head back to our room after, play some cards before going to bed. The only part of the bed that is dry is the bit over the electric blanket, the pillow is still wet and the room is still freezing. It's 10pm, alarm set for 4, we want to be at the top for sunrise, hopefully the weather will be better, it's raining now. I wake up periodically throughout the night when my limbs stray in to the swamp either side of me.