January 22- I thought the scary parts were over after the first day?

This morning we had breakfast before we left. We never got to eat lunch yesterday so we figured it was a good idea. And a good idea it was! Lucas and I both got pancakes. I got a banana pancake with honey and it was amazing.

We left at 8:30 for our 2-hour decent. I was excited thinking the descent would be much easier and then I would be done!

Waterfall in the middle of the "path"

Wrong. At one point I said, "I'm not going to lie I am terrified." Henry's response, "yeah going down is the most dangerous part, be careful." Oh great. That helps. Needless to say the 2 hours felt like forever and my blisters that formed from yesterday were killing me. Despite the gorgeous views I was ready to be at the bottom.

Made it to the bottom!

Finally! We got to Tina's Guest House where we purchased our return tickets to Lijiang. The owner told us since we had time we should make the trek down to see where the tiger jumped from the rock. There's an old myth that a tiger jumped across the gorge from this rock because he was running from Indians.

I got halfway down to the bottom of the gorge and ended up turning around. I could see the water and I could see the rock. My knee was killing me and my legs were trembling. I'm not usually afraid of heights but this really got to me. A steep decent, no stairs, no thank you. Henry and Lucas were out of sight so I told two Asian guys in Chinese to let the American boy know I went back up.

When I got back to Tina's I ordered an apple pie and read Life of Pi while I waited for the boys to get back. I felt like a mom waiting in a ski lodge for her children to come back for lunch and of course worried sick that they make it back in one piece.

I should have been more than worried. When Henry and Lucas returned they told me they climbed up a 100ft ladder to get back to the top. Henry said he was pretty nervous half way down and figured I had gone back up. Not because I'm a wimp but because it was at the very end of the hike and I was done.

The boys ordered lunch and I had some of their food. They wondered why I didn't order anything until I fessed up and told them I ordered an apple pie.

The bus ride back to Lijiang was just as bumpy as the way there. When we arrived we said bye to Lucas who was headed to Dali and we returned to Mama Naxi's.

Tonight we got two dinners. We tried hot pot at this one restaurant. It wasn't normal hot pot, it was chicken hot pot. I was so excited for some boiled chicken until the hot pot arrived. It was like they skinned a chicken, cut it up and tossed it in the hot pot. Feet, skin, and everything else.

After we ate what we could we went to a different restaurant and that was great. We got dumplings, peanuts and beers. The atmosphere was great and yet seemed to have a lot of good dishes so we decided we would go back again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is our 2nd and last down day of the trip. Which means we get to sleep in and explore Lijiang! So excited.