Daily Log - Day 4 (Black Dragon Paw Park)

Day two of TrekChina saw the group trekking through the beautiful Black Dragon Paw Park, a very different environment from our previous day's trekking but equally fascintaing. We were promised a lng gentle flat to warm up on by our tour leader Nick however by stop no 1 his name had been changed to some in the group to "liar"!!

But as Claire G put it, "The only way is up" so onwards we trekked through what seemed to be the Chinese outback, undergrowth, boulders and almost vertical climbs testing our lungs until our next rest stop. At this point Christine T summed up the 'glowing' state of the group when commenting "My sweat is so salty it's stinging my eyes". Despite this Christine and Pare could not be tempted to go skinny dipping in the moountain pools!!

As we walked on through the rugged, mountainous and truly stunning landscape the views (as the photos show) became even more breathtaking with views of almost the entire valley. A few days or was it hours...anyway a long walk later we came to a part of the river where Chinese locals offered rides on large rubber rings. Several
of the group unable to resist jumped in and paddled off along the river, Ken spinning himself round and round shouted to karen that she would have to put the shutter speed on slow to catch him or the photo would just be a blur!!

When we could tear ourselves away we continued on our path, this time back down through the valley which was greatly appreciated by all. We came across several groups of locals playing cards in what seemed very obscure locations and they all smiled and returned the nicety when we practised our 'Nihao' (hello). The homeward-bound path also took us down and through a steep enclosed cave (which made many of us want to sing the indiana jones theme tune) and past a beautiful waterfall. By the time we finished for the day there were big smiles all round and not just because of the spicy noodles and soup that greeted us. Overall the day was challenging, different and very beautiful. Looking forward to tomorrow already : )

Steph

PS
1.)We're uploading photos in about an hours time
2.) Flake - have to say that Raj is doing brilliantly well and keeping up with all the front-runners of the group. I think you should reward him for all your stick with some extra sponsorship. Thanks ever so; )