I headed up to Emei mountain by taking the local public bus for 1.5 yuan. It dropped me off at an intersection on the mountain and I had to walk to the entrance. My walk was a lovely one. I really enjoyed looking at small patches of farm lands and all the luscious foliages everywhere. On the way to the entrance I heard sounds of children laughing. I followed the sounds and saw a small preschool of two classroom's worth of students dancing in the courtyard. It was very cute. The sounds of children laughing and playing are so joyful to the ear.
At the entrance I saw lots of tourists and the lines for the cable car were packed. Lots of people were being carried on bamboo seats by a pair of men. Back in the old days only the noble class could afford such a service. I hear from others that they want such a service now to get a little taste of it. Some people looked sick from their trip in tour groups that they needed to be carried. Some people could not hike the trail. Whatever each person's reason was, there are plenty of people whose livelihood depended on such an income. The locals like to make fun of Taiwanese travelers. They are labeled as having weak legs with money. Upon the sounds of Taiwanese tour group arrival at the entrance, all the workers make a mad dash down the trail in hopes of picking up a rider. It was interesting to watch how they put down their customers so terribly and in the same time could not live without them either.
I did the trail that would end up in WanNianShi. On the trail I met three woman, an elder lady and two younger ones who was in their late 20's looking in their 40's. The elder woman was carrying a freshly dead whole chicken in one hand and leeks on the other and was visiting her sister that owns a tea farm. She invited me to tea and to introduce me to her sister. She said she would pour me tea once I get there and I would not have to buy anything she says. The elder woman trailed behind while the other two walked with me.
On the trail I was like a hot cake. People all were curious of me and in the same time also wanted to sell stuff to me by connecting to me as a friend. But were they genuinely interested in a friendship or did they just want my money? The trail was a bit tight for the three of us to be walking side by side. Two was fine but three was a crowd so the two ladies started to fight over who would walk by my side. It got so bad and they were on the brink of physical violence that it was scary for me. It was a combination of a nasty chickens bickering and cats pouncing each other in a fight. The two fought over who could walk with me,.. weird, just weird! Maybe it's all the spicy food they eat here in Sichuan, too much fire? But the previous Sichuan people I met in Yubeng and Lijiang were all sweet, mellow, nurturing, and full of humor.
The elder woman and I came across her sister's place, it was a tea stand on the trail. She sold tea there. She came through with her promise. I had tea, two kinds of tea. One was said to be herbal, meaning good for your health. I didn't like the taste of this one. The other was a cross between a Dragon Well and a Mao Feng. The fresh tea leaves smelled good, they were properly harvested, roasted, and stored. Unfortunately these tea sellers didn't know how to bring out the potential of the tea leaves and burnt them, they were bitter and cut the throat on the way down. Silly isn't it for a tea grower to not know how to brew tea. Maybe they were imposters? I sincerely wanted to buy tea but didn't due to the bad serving of tea.
One of the ladies who were involved in the fighting was born on the year of the rabbit. She insisted on wanting to tell me the story of the fighting that just went on and that it was the other person's fault. That no one can mess with her and get away with it because she can defend herself. Let's just call this lady Rabbit. I told her that I was there and saw everything. She felt comforted by that somehow and mistakenly interpreted my response as support for her aggressive, competitive, mean spirited ways.
Afterwards, Rabbit decided to tell me about her life. She works at the hotel right outside the entrance gates and has a 7 year old son who lives with her mother. Her husband chops bamboo and then sells it for 1 yuan each. He recently got injured and can barely work. He complained of her unwillingness to care for him and visit him at the hospital. She complained of him spending his money on gambling all the time. Rabbit said she married her husband at age 21 because she felt touched by his meager background that someone who was raised this way would know how to cherish others and take care of others. They are now separated.
On this day, Rabbit is hiking up the mountain for her lover who died suddenly in a car crash in August and not for her injured husband. She met her lover while she was working at a university in her late teens. He was her manager who she regarded as her soul mate. I asked why she didn't marry him or stay with him if he was so important to her. She said she was too young to understand these things and that it wasn't till later that she realized he was her best friend, her love, her soul mate but by then she had married her husband. She hopes by making a pilgrimage up the mountain, she can help him move into the heaven by burning incense and making a wish. She said there is no love in her life anymore and if it is not for her son, nothing is worth living for. I felt sorry for her, for all her sadness, bitterness, pain, regrets, and blaming everyone else for every misery in her life.
As we approached the steps of Wan Nian Monastery, Rabbit switched gears into her sales pitch mode. She talked about skin care, on how she takes care of her skin by drinking tea and water. She asked me if I want to be beautiful because she has a relative who is in the cosmetic care industry and can save my yellow, tanned skin so that I can be beautiful like her. I'm Chinese, I am genetically born with yellow based skin. I live in California, it's known as the sun state. I love being under the sun, to swim in the ocean, to hike in the mountain or to just sit in the gardens to have tea and read a book. Yes, aging and the deteriorating of the body is a fact of living and dying. I am fine with the face I've got. Yes, it ages, and changes colors too. I showed no promising interest in buying her sales and right away she was no longer interested in me. So we parted upon the door of Wan Nian Si. I later met rabbit again on down trail and she had that very feisty poisonous look on her face again. Too bad, such a young person yet looking so toxic and old and insisting that is what beauty is made of.
Upon entering the monastery I noticed that it was filled with tour groups. I had originally wanted to stay and meditate and maybe stay at the monastery but I ended up just doing a few bows to the famous Samadhabadra image in Wan Nian Si, walked around it a few times quietly singing the new repentance song in English and then left.
