Enshi Grand Canyon

Just returned from a trip to Hubei province that was organized by the school for students in my level of Chinese. This post will only be about the first day, during which we hiked a series of mountains in an area known as the "Enshi Grand Canyon." Enshi is a region in Hubei province heavily populated by people of the Tujia ethnic minority (土家族). To get to the "Grand Canyon," we took a bus up extremely windy mountain roads, which resulted in motion-sickness for many students. For reasons unknown, our bus driver felt it necessary to drive a break-neck speeds up the rather narrow and unsafe mountain roads. Anyhow, we hiked for a total of about 4 hours, and by the end were completely exhausted. It felt similar to climbing the Great Wall -- up and down and up and down. The scenery was incredible, as can be seen in the photos. Although it was an overcast day, my nose got sunburnt -- one of the many joys of having pale skin. At the end of the hike we descended down staircases for about 40 minutes, which took a large tole on our knees and calf muscles. As a result, everyone was limping and wobbling for the next 48 hours or so. 

Photos (in no particular order):

First one was taken at the end of the hike while descending. Second one is a view of the mountains we climbed. Third one was taken before we started hiking. It is of my class. Fourth photo is of the walkway on the side of the mountain that we walked along. Fifth is me at some point on the mountain. All were taken with my new camera, Milton!