Further life and times of *liltayinchina*

In defense of my trip planning skills, I'd like to reply to a few of Mike's "bad planning" points:

- No one should leave China without experiencing the horrors of the "special" massage. That is to say, now he's got a great story to tell AND he managed to come away from the experience as unscathed as can be expected...I, on the other hand, am scarred for life.

- It is ALWAYS better to be over-prepared than under. Someone who brought emergency rope to China should know this. In retrospect, it was a little odd to bring sixty nutrition bars on a hike where every two hours, one comes in contact with a small child or old man selling snacks and water. AND, I was able to charge my computer at the GH where we stayed the night in the gorge, and therefore was also able to upload all of our photos from our cameras. Yes, I brought a laptop into Tiger Leaping Gorge. No comments, please.

- In my mind, when you stop cycling after 20 miles or so and take a minibus back into town to avoid a downpour and the permanent dislocation of your rearend, you are not a whimp, you are intelligent and want to continue to think of the experience as having been a positive one. Besides, we stopped in a small town where a market was just closing down and asked about the boat and were told that it existed, but I believe Mike was the one who didn't trust the locals... 

Alright, enough of that. This trip has been great...especially now that my wireless has decided to start working...I'm uploading some pictures as I write this. In fact, it's been raining since yesterday morning and the sun just burst forth from the clouds so all is well in Dali.

Yesterday might have been the pinnacle of the trip for me. We went cormorant fishing and it was HILARIOUS! More details to follow, as the story deserves a proper description, but let's just say that I can die happy now, thanks to yesterday's adventure. I've faithfully kept notes on the trip thus far and could spend a week documenting it. It's been the kind of trip where each day just flowed from the day before; the kind where too much planning would have wrecked the energy and novelty of each event. And besides, the best stories come from the plans that were ill-conceived, so I've given Mike a little fodder for some "fond" memories!