Finally we were really out in the countryside. Emei Shan village is a small but still quite touristy area as many people use it as a base to climb Mount Emei. There are also lots of monasteries/nunneries. On nights 1 and 3 we stayed in Baguo Si monastery. Only 2 cockroaches in the room and a shower that would make most of you shudder/collapse with fear but a real experience. Very different from the luxury Japanese monastery we stayed in but we felt much more integrated as we could freely wander around and watch ceremonies being performed. At night, the place was lit up with numerous candles and smelt of incense.

We met Patrick, the local wheeler dealer/Don/tourist coordinator at 6.45am with bags of egg sandwiches and coffee to get us started. Anything you need, Patrick can get, before you know you need it. That's if you can get him to stand still long enough to tell him what it is you need. If he's not on one of his many mobile phones. Absolute legend and made us laugh a lot. One of our fellow travellers hinted that he might want to use the phone later and some phonecards magically appeared from Patrick's sleeve. Or that's how it seemed. Plus you can summon him just by saying his name in your head.

We managed to walk up to the Mount Emei Golden Summit instead of taking the cable car and enjoyed a spectacular view (see picture) in the mist. Good walk though. Later we walked up one million steps and journeyed through the forest to get to our next monastery. There were less and less people around as we travelled and through the evening mist, it took on quite an eerie feel. Then there were the monkeys. Tibetan Macaques. They lie in wait in the 'Joking Monkey Zone' safe in the knowledge they will be fed if they are a) patient b)cute/carrying a baby c) put the fear of God into you. These monkeys are out of control and they are mean. I avoided eye contact and trembled as I passed through the monkey zone. We were glad to arrive at 'Hard Wok Cafe' - a cafe in the mist in the forest. It was a pretty surreal experience sitting there in the forest, rain falling hard on the roof, with dish after tasty dish appearing before us hungry, wet, steaming travellers.

The Hangching monastery was very different from the first and had amazing showers, electric blankets, a TV in the room.... but the toilets. Oh, the toilets. Didn't see much monk action in this monastery but still enjoyed the experience of staying under the forest canopy in the middle of nowhere.

Started the day with a tasty breakfast of pancakes from the happy lovely lady at Hard Wok cafe (where we learnt the Mandarin for 'Monkey' - phonetically 'Hootsi' (as they were closing as we left!) and 'Yummy' (in reference to the pancakes) 'Hotsaw'. Putting the 2 together caused much amusement to our friendly host so we did it a few times. Ad nauseum. This walk through the monkey zone didn't go so well for me. We made a small stop to wait for the others to catch us up. Nathan, our local guide, became agitated as apparently the monkeys are very hungry first thing in the morning, and he insisted we stayed closely together and kept moving. We had been given monkey sticks to beat the monkeys in case things got out of hand. That's how these monkeys roll. I became nervous as I saw the trees above and ahead of us start to move. Then little (and some very large!) brown shadows started gathering on the path ahead. They were heading us off! As we arrived at the group, 3 particularly scary looking monkeys started eyeing us up. The girl in front of me slowed right down blocking my exit. I got the fear... and as I walked through.... I felt something land on my back and little paws scrabbling on my jacket. I screamed (a real girl scream) and ran blindly. At some point the monkey left my back and I was laughing hysterically but I can't remember it clearly. One of our party has the lower half of my body on video during the event, with the scream on audio and it's quite funny to watch back. Walked through the rest of the monkeys shaking a lot but laughing. Never again. Did a long walk back to Baguo Si monastery through the forest looking forward to the Hot Springs treat we so deserved at the end - to find it experiencing a power cut. 11 of us walked back, dejected, to use the slimy dark shower instead : ( . Off to the River Yangtze boat cruise next. Just heard we've been upgraded to the luxury 5 star Dragon Boat instead......Huzzah!