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We started at the top edge of the Sports Field and, of course, this sign reminded us of where we were.
Baguan Temple
We live about a ten or fifteen-minute walk from the largest and best known temple on Emei Mountain. This is the starting place for most travelers and his highly commercialized with sellers and touts all over the place.
One sees the evidence of the great amount of moisture the mountain produces as everything is covered in moss.
The Guard (Devil) Dogs and all the other stones are covered with a growing layer of moss and other plants. Makes for a nice green picture.
Emei Mountain Museum
The official Emei Mountain Museum is situated across the road from the Baguan Temple and about two hundred meters on past the huge bell immediately across from the temple. The museum is a world class exhibition hall with fantastic and beautiful items from the history of the mountain. Also a great collections of flaura and fauna that shows just how exotic Emei Shan really is.
This was an all-bronze statue with bronze works surrounding the statue. A very beautiful display of a famous character from the local area.
This is an example of the many beautiful buddha images throughout the museum. This one was especially eye catching.
Not sure who this general was but it may be Guan Yu of Three Kingdoms fame. He looks like the guy we saw in Jingzhou earlier. I get confused easy. That is what happens with such a long history. American history is a piece of cake compared to Chinese history.
These are three of many porcelain figurines on display. They were perfect with little sign of wear. They must have been at least four hundred years old!
Some terra cotta figures which seem to be quite common. I remember seeing and taking pictures of a bunch I saw in the Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing. Same style, same color, same positioning. Are these as old as the ones I have seen elsewhere? Probably.
This is a huge image that looks very much like the elephants on the peak of Emei Shan and, of course, the four-headed buddha is the same. This, as you can see, is a well done image.
Baguan Village Area
These signs are at all the crosswalks and crossroads in Baguan Village. They are really neat because they have English, Japanese and even Thai directions. Difficult for anyone to get lost, right?
This is the bronze pagoda and the end of the street in Baguan Village. It serves as the starting place for the trek up Emei.
This man-made waterfalls is to the right of the bronze pagoda. It is very spectacular at night (inchinahil.travellerspoint.com).
Tom with one of our junior students. This is Duke. He was working in an intern program at one of the local banks. This was his last day. He is an excellent student of English. I remember my first time meeting his class. We were touring Baguan village area and looking at English translations of the Chinese. We had lunch in a beautiful setting overlooking one of the many ponds. It was here that Duke told me that he felt that languages were magic and learning them was like flying on a magic carpet to another place and time. This had always been my impression as a military linguist. Just knew I was going to like the students and the university. This was over a year ago.
Found some Teh Guan Yin to buy. This is really a good tea but the best is supposed to come from Fujian Province.
This is Kuding Cha or Bitter Spike Tea. It is very bitter but is supposed to be good for you. I personally like it a lot.
A New Tea House
As we walked over to check out what was going on in the oft deserted Exotic Street, we came across this newly build tea house. The entrance was definitely inviting.
Incorporated with the teahouse was a pretty new looking guest house. It looked more like a good hotel.
Tom checks out the huge ebony wood tree trunk in the center of the courtyard. In the back is the actual teahouse. They had just opened the preceding week for business.
Exotic Street
This pond area around Exotic street is always a pleasant place to visit. The last time we were there, all the stores were empty. It was Exotic But Empty.;
Another beautiful scene at Exotic Street.
Seems one of the buildings had been turned into a Chinese Art Gallery and Culture Center. This girl has been studying Tai Chi (Emei Style) for over two years. She put on a demonstration for us complete with her own photographer.
This is the local Tai Chi teacher. He offers free classes on the weekends. When Sunee gets time, she wants to learn. Sunee also found a Chinese watercolor instructor who agreed to teach her. How exciting!
On the way out from Exotic Street, Tom challenged one of the fighters to a deadly dual. He lost!
We finished the day off with some Zhu Ye Qing Green tea at the restaurant of Tom's good friend, Nathan. We had a great walk today.
