Pointy Mountains

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Geo: 24.7709, 110.487

Two things about the Chinese we forgot to mention yesterday:
Handbags - when a couple get together the relationship is sealed when she lets him carry her handbag. At first we thought it was the odd one or two hen pecked men carrying the girlfriend or wife's bag but further research has shown it is a general custom. There is a lot of sense in this, the handbag probably contains the purse so possession of the handbag imposes some sort of control over spending. The men are not of course allowed to carry her mobile phone, this can only be removed with surgery and a great deal of counselling.

PA's - In both Beijing and Xian there were street musicians with amps, guitars and even drum kits performing to large groups of people. In Tongli there was a gay barman who was serenading his customers, and in every high street shops are making repetitive announcements on PA's about their special offers. In every case the PA is awful, much too loud and distorted. We have come to the conclusion that all Chinese are tone deaf.

We are now staying in a small village outside the town of Yangshuo having sailed down the river with thousands of other tourists along one of the must see sights of China, the Li River. Although I have changed he location on Travelpod it still calls the place Guilin but we are about 60 miles south of the city.

A short geology lesson: The spectacular and unusual Karst limestone pinnacles are formed because firstly there is hard, compact carbonate rock, second there was strong uplift caused when Asia collided with India and formed the Himalayas, third there is a monsoon climate where high volumes of moisture scour the rocks and finally there must not have been any glaciers. Result, lots of pointy mountains which look good in the photographs.

We are staying here three days, hopefully doing a bit of cycling around the rice and tea fields. We also hope to do a bit of rather unusual fishing so log in to Gill and John Go East for more unexciting news from China.

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Photos

In love
They must be engaged, he is allowed to carry the handbag.

Pointy Mountains
Why is the deck empty? Because the steward has announced that lunch is served and all the Chinese have rushed downstairs to eat despite the magnificent scenery and that all the dishes were washed in river water. We avoided lunch.

The view from our balcony
More pointy mountains