I was able to sleep in a little because the four of us had planned to take the bamboo raft at 10 am and then do the hike back.  This day was one of my favorite days of the trip!  Before we were able to board the ship (the raft) we had to walk a bit to the other side of the river.  Tada! We found the spot that is depicted on the back of the 20元 bill. 🙂 (although, on the money, there is much more water in the river.)

If the sky wasn't so hazy you would be able to see the skyline perfectly. 🙂

It was other-worldly. The temperature wasn't so cold and the sky got better as the day went on but it still felt like I was on another planet.

Tom is taking the photo. I'm peeking around in the back!

This man carries his cormorants with him. These birds are pretty special. They can dive underwater and stay there for a while fishing. The "fisherman" ties a string around their necks so the birds cannot swallow the fish. I like how he smiled for my photo! 🙂

The raft part of the trip was beautiful and peaceful.  There were many, many people on the river that day.  Most people were going downriver. We were heading upriver.  When we finally reached our drop off point we got off the boat and began our hike.  I was not a difficult hike. (not like the gorge)  It was relatively flat and the paths were mostly easy to find. 

We had a few minor obstacles:  water buffalo blocking the trail, many stray dogs, hundreds of people saying “hello, bamboo?” (okay, maybe only 15-20 but it felt like hundreds), and a chinese only menu at one of the villages. (I actually had to have the man read the menu to us so we could figure out what some of the food was.)  It was fun to converse with the locals without feeling like an idiot.  Tom, Radek, and Aga don’t speak Chinese so no one knew if my sentence structure was correct and the Chinese people didn’t care. 🙂

Here's what part of the trail looked like. Most of my journey was spent out of the cities. It was awesome!

It took us about four hours (including our lunch) to make it back to the hostel.  When we got back, I told the other three that I wanted to climb the peak for the sunset because this was my last night there.  They all had done it already but I successfully convinced them to join me.  🙂  This is what we saw:

Most of you have seen this picture because I sent it in an email. I still love it! It was an incredible view from the top of the peak. The hike up to the top was brutal and scary. I'm glad I did it though. My only wish was that the river had more water. This was definitely the dry season.

I want to go back! Who wants to come with me? 🙂

After coming back down from the mountains with our “torches” (this is what flashlight translates to…hehehe…), we spent some time in the hostel grilling some more ‘nian gao’ and enjoying each other’s company.  A great day in and around Xingping!