October 14, 2015: Dujiangyan, China — Sid and I returned to Mount Emei this morning and, unlike yesterday, we were waved through the entrance gate when we arrived. Today’s mission was to bird the mountain’s high elevations. Emei is just over 10,000 feet tall and is one of the four most sacred Buddhist peaks in China. At the top are several temples and monasteries amid an incredibly scenic landscape, above a layer of clouds and surrounded by fall foliage. It’s a popular spot to watch the sunrise but you must get up early. To ascend the last couple of kilometers you have to either walk a stone staircase or, as most people do, take a high-speed cable car. We looked at the stairs today and realized the climb would take hours, and lined up for the cable car with the other tourists. The place was cheek-to-jowl crowded! Mount Emei is one of China’s most popular summer destinations and thousands of people visit every day, almost all from China. Among the hordes, I couldn’t...