Ok well today we went to the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We really didnt know what to expect as this 2 day trek was supposed to be the most physical of the whole tour.

Bus ride took a few hours and when we arrived it was raining so the crappy 80p raincoats came out. we all looked ridiculous as we had the huge raincoats covering our back packs too. Looked like extreme hunchbacks. Not a good look!!

On route i got an umbrella as the raincoat was not doing the job properly.

It started off with light rain... kinda flat so even though we were feeling the burn about 10mins in it wasnt to bad. We had these chinese dudes with donkeys following us up hoping we would give up and pay for them to take us up. No way!! how those donkeys made it up the tiny windy paths was insane!! Tiny little dirt paths up a bloody mountain.

Stopped for lunch at a guesthouse and the rain started to get heavier.
We had the 28 bends to conquer after lunch.

Oh my God!!!!!! Literally climbing up a frigging mountain while trying to battle with the muddy river of water trying to make you slide down. It was so extreme!! We recorded vidoes which we will have to show you wen we get back as you will not believe it otherwise. Il admit i cried in the Gorge. Then we had hysterical laughter. It was either laugh or cry.

We got some wooden sticks to help us with the sliding. Our sticks became our best friends. 4 hours later we finally made it to the guest house on the side of the mountain. we were the last ones there. Some of the others were there an hour before us. It was really basic but we had huge throws on the beds as it was freezing.

Laura was not in the best of moods to be fair. She was cold, soaking wet and really unhappy :(. We were both coated in mud and our trainers no longer looked like trainers. big brown messes really! We sat by the fire trying to dry all of our stuff.

We ordered so much food for dinner it was insane. We shared with dom and ordered lloads of garlic bread, pizza and curry. it was insane but really cheered us up thank goodness.

Nicole x x

I agree with nicole, the first day sucked. We were told by a local that it hadnt rained in half a year..and today it began. Typical!!!! Whilst walking up, the floor was just sludge.. grey silvery sludge and water running down over the rocks that we were trying to climb up. It was insane..soo dangerous. At one point i just was in hysterics. i couldnt stop laughing because it was just so horrible and so hard that i new it was laugh or cry. unfortunaly it was cry for nicole. but that just made me laugh more- and the got her in giggles to. Abi and nicole just kept shouting at the men with donkeys. who were laughing at us by the way! i think this gave us a boost- like 'we can do this!"

i couldnt have done it without 30seconds to mars on my mp3 player. the music kept me going. it was so steep and the we were walking through cloud! clouds was beneath us.. it was spooky.

The guest house was basic as basic can be. the millipeeds in the bathroom freaked me out. but we all huddled around this tiny little fire to dry our clothes which perked us up abit. bonding over wet shoes. nicole burned two fingers on the fire - blistered up good. I burned a hole in my hoody trying to dry it. fabulous

Laura xxx