No....I'm not going to leave...you can't make me!!!

I am so missing the food that we had at the guesthouse.......the 2nd bought yummy pancakes (Naxi style of course), hot soup and some more of my favourite flat pancake bread (so light and fluffy and with this yummy bean/tofu chili spread) it was a taste sensation!

It was so sunny (but still freezing) so we were off to Tiger Leaping Gorge! This was the main sight that I wanted to see and originally I wanted to walk it however we didn't have enough time, so it was a 2 hour car ride to the sight.

I was so excited to go venturing and walking to get to the sight, to feel like a real person doing a normal walk through the bush/forest. Man was I bitterly disappointed (poor David can attest to that) when I found a thick, wide, paved unnatural path all around the cliff face to the sight....it even had tunnels.......never in NZ!!!!!! So annoying...there went my adventurous spirit! You really don't know how spoilt you are growing up in natural NZ until you see how everyone else does it!

We arrived at Tiger Leaping Gorge and it all melted away......it was so nice. The story about Tiger Leaping Gorge is that there is a massive rock in the middle of the gorge, with raging waters surrounding it, and legend says that a tiger being chased jumped from one side of the Gorge to the other, using the rock in between! Hence the name....I must say that would be a huge jump! We had some fun posing for pictures, enjoying the sight of lovely uninterrupted views, fresh air and clear water!

I will definitely try to be back to walk it - as long as the paths are NOT paved! Haha!

We arrived back late afternoon and was greeted with another array of local dishes including my fav of thinly sliced potatoes and egg and tomatoes! The father of the manager bought out a massive jar filled with discoloured water like substance with a whole lots of plums in it - local home made plum wine! It looked hideous but tasted along the lines of Port...and was it ever strong...my lord! I loved it!

The 3rd was our last day and I was not looking forward to it. However we ventured back to Lijiang old town and after talking to numerous tourists who all thought that Lijiang was 'so touristy' I was thankful that we had stayed where we did....not touristy at all!

We went in search of spiralina, a local specialty, some 'wish catchers' as David calls them and some other wee souvenirs including a dictionary of the Dongpu script....what the Naxi speak, only made up of pictures and that is what they read off, write and speak! Amazing! I am getting my MYP Art students to do some work with it next term. After a very hard Chinese massage it was off to the airport to have our 3 flights to make it home!

I WILL NOT LEAVE!!!! Oh man....back to the smog filled cities, undrinkable and murky water and rude Chinese people! Yay...Wuxi!