Mount Emei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site 3,099m/10,167ft above sea level, is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains and has been an active spiritual and philosophical centre since the 4C. Some thirty or so active temples are scattered over the mountainside amid exuberant vegetation. Whether you walk up or travel by cable-car, the vision of the sea of clouds, clinging to the mountainside and shrouding the plain below, is truly breath-taking.