By Felix Pouce (Shanghai Star )
Updated: 2006-08-04 08:55

Situated in south-central Sichuan, Emei Shan, also known as Mount Emei or Mount Omei, is quite famous abroad. It is especially known for its rich biodiversity. In fact many plants and animals were described from specimens collected in this mountain range

Being a nature lover, I have known the place for a long time, while I am just discovering many others in China. So when I decided to put Mount Emei on my travel list while I was in Chengdu, I was not alone to do so. Besides being a beautiful place, Mount Emei is also an important Buddhist pilgrimage site and is one of the five most sacred mountains in China. For these reasons and more, Emei Shan is also a world heritage UNESCO site and really worth a visit.

At the foot of the mountain is a city from which you can begin your hike. The park is quite big. This is the problem with the word "Shan" in China, sometimes it's something we would call a hill - in this case it stands for a mountain range. The mountain is about 3,000 metres in height, including a few hundred kilometres of paths and stairways. You should at least spend two days exploring the site. We decided to take the bus midway from the peak. On our journey, we encountered a pleasant surprise: Tibetan Monkeys.

In three days of travel, we covered most of the mountain, landscape, plants, animals and temples.

At the most famous peak rising about 3,000 metres, visitors will be impressed for one side of the mountain consists of a high cliff. This place is also very famous for a "sea of clouds"-a kind of halo which was long interpreted as a manifestation of the mountain's holiness. It's in fact a rare phenomenon due to odd geological factors. The vegetation there is clearly sub alpine with megaphorbia, a kind of meadow with giant grasses and plants. You can find this kind landscape about 1,000 metres lower in the European Alps.

Like in every scenic spot in China, the path is paved with granite and incredible stairways are everywhere. Many plants were introduced from Sichuan at the turn of the 19th century, so plant lovers will easily identify Rhododendrons, Cotoneasters Lilies, Maples and a few other beauties that are now common in European gardens.

As an amateur botanist, I was fascinated by the number of species I saw and the odd mixtures of tropical and temperate plants. About one-tenth of all the plants growing in China and one-third of that growing in Sichuan can be seen on Mount Emei.

Many insects, birds, frogs and bugs of every kind turn the path into an endless discovery adventure. As the elevation decreases,the vegetation turns increasingly tropical, ending up as a lush laurel-like forest,one of the best of its kind in China.

But the most famous "bugs" around are the Tibetan Macacas, a specific kind of woolly monkeys that can stand local frost. And indeed we were lucky enough to meet our hairy cousins. Etiquette is to be respected when dealing with them. If you want to feed them, offer them food on an open palm. Avoid touching them, especially the young. If you have nothing to offer them, show them your open palm. But keep a distance if you don't want to interact.

Observing the monkey can be great fun. At this time of the year, young males were having conflicting relationships with elders, so you could observe the competition to "bribe" the tourists. Elders were group organized chasing lonely youngsters. Females were more peaceful, accompanied by one or two babies. Guards were here to see that the etiquette was respected on both sides of the primate meeting.

Like in "A journey to the west" we had monkeys and monks. At least a dozen temples are located in the mountain. Most of them have exquisite architecture and interesting inner landscaping.

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