Packing up my small rucksack and pulling myself out of bed, getting ready for a day of hiking and lots of moaning (on my behalf). I packed my basics and met the others, Dan, Ella and Nicole in the hostel lobby, ready to set out. We grabbed some baozi for breakfast and then grabbed the lovely clean, easy, beautiful, cheap subway :) It was a 3hour bus ride to the bottom of Emei Shan mountain where we would then begin our climb near the top, taking us around 3hours then sleeping the night in a lodging. We arrived at our start mark, grabbed some lunch and some bambo walking sticks and beginning the many steps up the mountain; not before i got to sit in one the chairs people carry you up and grab a photo. The steps started to kill me before i really got started and we continued up and up, never really resting as we thought we would never get back up again if we did. Dan stormed through it and lead the way for us girls, although Ella was very good too! I managed to not trail off in the back and was glad for my recent exercising, making my fitness that little bit better (yay me). We climbed for around 1.5hours, very sweaty and lacking water, until i asked a Chinese guy how long until the top .. '10 hours'... WHAT!!! 10 hours, how is that possible, i thought it would take us 3hours to get to the top and we have already been going for 1.5hours. ... well.. turns out that we began climbing from the middle, not the higher up point, meaning we had a long way to go. To my annoyance, Cat knew this and thought we wanted to climb it all.... what! We would never make it. In the end we had no choice but to walk back down the mountain, catch the bus and begin climbing again from the higher point! This point was no easier than the first and the steps continued to come. The weather was much colder up here and it was starting to get darker and darker... not great! We did reach the end though but it had hit around 10pm and it was pitch black, me having to use a stick to guide me along the way, walking at a steady 1mph. We ended up walking to the very top and saw the statue, lit by candles along the floor. It was very beautiful although we could only see the bottom half of it. With all of us being tired and cold we decided to find a place to stay near the top, not wanting to walk back down to some hotels we saw along the way. Easier said! We searched around but nothing was available, only finding some toilets.. very warm toilets at that though! We went to one place which looked good but they just lead and left us at a weather station.. what! Honestly, we did think about camping in the toilets and Dan was really up for this but, being tired and now grumpy, most of us really wanted a bed. The only thing really cheering us up was Dan and Ella's puns (they were pun-derful) and the lack of oxygen making us a little giggly. In the end we had to walk down for about 15minutes, asking everywhere, until we finally found a hotel, where we paid a fair bit to camp out. We didn't even get luxury, having to share 2 beds between 4 of us girls... awful night sleep and having Cat whisteling in her sleep.. thanks girl!

The next day we woke up at 5am to catch the sunrise. I was very tired, smelly (in yesterdays sweaty clothes) and not really in the mood. Nonetheless, i pulled myself out of bed, put my hood up and grumpily walked along with the others and some hotel guests to go and see the sunrise at the top. It was only a 15minute walk but it was freezing and everywhere was full of mist.. nothing to see but a few metres infront of you! We were hoping that the weather would clear, allowing us to see the statue this time and the sunrise. Much to our delight though, the mist stayed and we shivered on the top of the mountain for around 1hour until we all had enough and took to walking back down the mountain in the lovely rain. The walk down wasn't too bad though although my legs were burning at this point from yesterdays hike. Finally! I was never so happy to see flat ground and get on our bus home, all of us falling straight to sleep against the windows and on strangers shoulders. Arriving back in Chengdu and into the hostel was another dream though, each taking it in turns to shower and nap, finally getting clean clothes and a big bed to ourselves. I ended up being last to shower and suffered having cold water, but i was beyond caring and just needed to wash the grime off and feel clean again.. and boy did I! Then for a cheeky nap, some nice chinese food and a chill around the hostel again with our laptops and beers... perfect, all ready for our epic week in Chengdu! Despite not seeing the statue and the sunrise i'm glad to say that i did climb part of a pretty big mountain and didn't cry, success in my books :)