Boston's run to remember

Ehrin ran a half marathon today with a number of other MGH medicine residents (including our program director, Hasan Bazari). It was a beautiful day for the run, which started at the world trade center and went along the Charles River. Corey Hardin designed the MGH team shirts, dubbed the "Blossom Street Clinic Track Club."

Le Shan

At 71 meters, the Buddha statue in Le Shan is by far the world's largest. It was originally built around 750 AD to bless the harbor, because a large whirlpool in the area kept sucking in fishermen. It seemed to have worked, if nothing else becase all the stones removed to sculpt the Buddha filled in the whirlpool. Some memorable details: the Buddha has a bald spot on his head, and his big toe is 9 feet long.

Emei Shan, Day 3

After a refreshing sleep, we woke early to tackle the last 12 km. After a long uphil climb, we stopped at the Shen Shui (Holy Water) Temple, unique in that it is run by Buddhist nuns.The place was very clean - next time we go to Emei Shan, we're staying there.


Near the end of our hike, we reached the Crouching Tiger Monastery, which features the 500 Arhat (celestial being) House. Yes, there really are 500 statues.


After 52 km, leaving Emei Shan was a bittersweet (and sore) experience. But, there were larger things to see. Specifically, the world's largest Buddha.

Emei Shan, Day 2

After a few hours of hiking down from the multifaceted Buddha (and our fateful run-in with angry monkeys), we spent the night at the Elephant Bathing Pool Monastery, a small Buddhist monastery on the edge of a clif at about 9,000 fet altitude. Legend has it that the Boddhisattva Puxian flew his elephant up to the elephant bathing pool for a wash, bt there was no pool to be found, other than the puddles formed from the incessant rain. Not be daunted, we set out down the 10,000 or so uneven slate steps that would take us to the bottom of Emei Shan.

The going was slow, with multiple stops at the handy trailside snack shops for shelter and some goodies. We passed by beautful waterfalls and numerous scenic vistas, and eventually reached Magic Peak monastery. The monks there have a cave that we explored -- it's about 0.5 km in length with, of course, a Buddha at the end. The cave was a lot of fun until we realized there were thousands of bats roosting above us. One bat flew right by Ehrin's face.

After stopping by at Venerable Trees Terrace for lunch, we walked through the "Ecological Area for Watching Monkeys" (see prior post), and then reaced the Pure Sound Monastery, a beautiful monastery surrounded by multiple streams, resulting in the sounds of water coursing by in multiple directions. The place was so beautiful that we decided to spend the night there. After approximately 20 cups of tea, we hit the sack, exhausted.

When Monkeys Attack!

One of the draws of Emei Shan is the "close" interactions with the local macaque population. As Lonely Planet sagely points out, "a single monkey can stop an army of 10,000." Emei Shan abounds with monkey tollgates, where a band of monkeys will suddenly swoop down onto the trail and take hikers hostage. Most of these interactions are benign - the standard procedure is to show empty hands and walk onward.

Unfortunately, the monkeys at the top of the mountain are a little more aggressive. Our first monkey interaction was with a troop of 10 bandits who all took turns sticking their hands in our pockets. When this didn't yield any results, one of the truly fearless monkeys climbed onto Ehrin's back and started methodically destroying his backpack. Ehrin flung off his backpack and offered up the only bag of food we had. We then hightailed it out of there before the monkeys got any hungrier. All in all, we felt a bit violated.

On our second morning, monkeys figured out that there was only one exit from our sleeping area, and therefore decided to block the exit. We had a standoff for a few minutes, until a Buddhist monk came to the rescue with a rock attack that held the monkeys at bay for a few minutes.




Further down the mountain, the monkeys are a bit more tame, and are willing to eat morsels of food out of the hand. But the natives still carry large rocks in their hands in case things get out of control.

Emei Shan, day 1

After spending a week in Shanghai visiting family and friends, we embarked on the adventure travel part of our vacation. We opted for a trip to Emei Shan, a 3,000 meter mountain in Sichuan (central China). Emei Shan is one of the four sacred Budhist mountains in China (the other ones are Putuo Shan, Wutai Shan, and JiuHua Shan). Emei Shan is the largest of the four mountains, with over 100 km of trails.

In order to reach Emei Shan, we flew to Chendu, the capital of Sichuan. We then took 4 hours of buses to Emei Shan -- altogether, it took approximately 24 hours to get there from Shanghai.

On the first day, we made it to the top, where we came face to face with the dizzying multifaceted Buddha -- a 41 meter statue on top of the mountain consisting of 4 elephants, two Buddha bodies, and then sequential tiers of four, three, and two heads atop the Buddha bodies. There was mist flowing around the statue the entire time, adding to the already mystical qualit of the experience.



The statue is so large that you can see it from miles away. (Look along the summit line).

Funny Signs in China

Over the past few years, there has been a profusion of English language signs and brand name translations in China. Unfortunately, many of these translations lack cross-checking with a native speaker, and appear to have been translated by a computer. A brief cross-section from our trip included:

1. Three sequential reminders posted at urinals in Emei Shan:




2. An unfortunately translated brand name ice cream:
3. I'm not sure if this one was an accident or intentional, but it was funny:

Friends Visiting

What's even better than travelling to anther country? Having friends come visit while you're there, of course. Mayu, Yuki, and Eryi flew from Japan to Shanghai for a three-day weekend. Mayu also brought along her son, Takuma. On Thursday night, we met up in central Shanghai, went out to dinner, and then walked along the Bund (that's the Pearl TV tower and the Jinmao tower in the background. On Friday, we shopped and toured through YuYuan gardens, then went to April's aunt and uncle's for a huge feast. April's aunt is truly an amazing chef -- much better than any food that could be found in any restaurant. Of course, you have to be willing to try the occasional eel or turtle -- but what's travel without a little culinary adventuring?

Home in Shanghai

We went to Shanghai for a two week vacation this May, to take April's grandmther back to China and to see relatives -- April's aunt, uncle, and cousin.



We went out to together to the Shanghai Botanical Gardens: