I left Chengdu on Friday afternoon. It was a nice place. I visited the pandas and Leshan Buddah. Amazing place. I made friends with an Italian girl called Angela who was really nice! We stuck together when the guide told us we couldn't go down to see the whole buddah because the que was long. We said we want to go because we paid and after arguing a bit he said we can go. Will hopefully meet Angela again as she lives in London.

I arrived in Emishan on Friday afternoon by bus. I almost got ripped off but the dodgy Chinese people because my driver told me to get the taxi to my hostel with them. I paid the money and then they were rude and weird so I asked for my money back and she said no so I took it out her hand and walked away. I asked a random guy to use his phone and he ended up speaking to the hostel getting me a legit taxi and paying for it for me!! Nice guy. Thank god for smart phones because we spoke by translator app.

Saturday morning, myself, a French couple, a French girl and an Indian guy met at 6:30 to climb Mount Emei. We had planned the route the night before. We got the bus to the mountain and started our hike. I had a hiking stick to help me and wouldn't have made it without it. The first part of the hike was okay. The first 4 hours that is. Lovely scenery etc until we got to the monkey area.

There were signs to say not to scream, cry or fight if the monkeys attacked you and the monkey helpers would get them away. I just ignored it because monkeys are nice animals right. Er noooo!!! These fricken monkeys jumped on our backs (pulled our hair) tried to rob us by literally going in pockets and bit my friend!! I was so scared hahah they were everywhere running around the place. I pointed my stick at one that was trying to get me and it grabbed the stick and was looking me dead in the eyes! People were running away, it was hilarious but horrible at the same time. My opinion on monkeys have changed. I was so glad to get away from these crazy animals. We met some Chinese guys in the monkey drama who joined us for the rest of the trip.

The next 4 hours were hell. I reckon thousands of steps. On and on and on and on. Awful! Then it started to rain and it just got worse. There was no other way but up and it felt like the stairs were going on forever. My stick was a life saver. For about 2 1/2 hours I counted 1,2,3,4 up to keep me going. Telling myself that I can do this and it won't be long.

Just after 4 we got the the monastery where we were going to stay. We had walked around 10 miles. It felt like heaven when I saw the building, we had made it! The lonely planet guide says 40 yuan a room but that's not what we paid. We paid 70 yuan each for a room after lots of misunderstandings. The Chinese guys helped loads. The woman were rude. We got to our room and I'm not exaggerating it was like a flipping crack den. The Chinese guys had a different room so we went to see and their room was actually okay. We even saw a 10 bed dorm and that was ok too. The Chinese guys asked the women to change us to their room. They said no you can't mix. So we said okay we will split girls and boys ,that is fine. They said no. Imagine in the monastery in the mountain we were told we can't change room because we are not Chinese and we can not share a room with Chinese people as we must be kept separate!!!! Are you having a laugh! They chuck us into a crack den that stinks like mould and has no heating away from everyone because we are not Chinese. Absolute joke. Lonely planet will be getting an email from me! We had dinner with the Chinese guys and then rested ready for our 7 hour hike the next day, 15 miles =| .