More Than You Can Shake a Stick At.

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It's hills, that I'm talking about, hundreds of them. They are the inspiration for much of the waterpaintings, one see's in Chinese art and think it's an over-exeggeration. Not only that, Guilin has caves, which when lighted with colored lights, looks like a wonderland. In my opinion it's one of the most natural beautiful places in the world.

Being close to the tropics, the atmosphere seems more relaxed than in the other parts of China. Walking around in the morning, I see many doing taichi, calisthenics and stretching along the waterfront. In a parklike setting, seen about 100 people ballroom dancing, at 8:00 in the morning, mind you. They were mostly middle-age, and dressed in office attire, so I assume they were getting their blood circulating before hitting the office.

The big tour of course is the Li River Tour, with lunch, and viewing of the multitudes of hills in various shapes and from various angles and settings. It was very enjoyable. The water seemed fairly clean. There didn't seem much settlements along the river, so I guess that keeps down the pollution. Hawaii beaches are mostly pristine, but our streams are badly polluted. Kids, along the Li River every 15 minutes or so, came running and swimming towards the boat, yelping like Indians, meaning they were asking for coins, to dive for. Many tourists obliged. Coin diving boys were also common in the harbor in Hawaii during the 40's and 50's, when ships docked, from pictures I've seen.

According to the guide, many of the inhabitants in the Area are of the Zhuang Minority race and a common facial feature are broaden jowls. She was a Zhuang, but looked Chinese, and the driver also, except his jowls were quite prominent.

Wandering the town at night, I noticed several restraunts with cages and a black wild animal almost between a dog and a fox. They looked quite playful and tame. A restraunteur came up to me and said something in Chinese which I couldn't understand, but her pointing at the cage didn't leave me any doubt of what she wanted. Later, when the SARS epidemic came in the news, I sort of realized they may have been Civet Cats.

They were also night tours of comorant (bird) fishing, which I just had as soon passed on. Also a tour to a medical clinic where they were selling tonics and other Chinese medicine. One doctor was supposedly a Qigong practictioner. He placed his hand on my forehead to demonstrate Qi force, and sure enough, it seemed my brain had a shortcircuit. It was not unpleasant but definetely real and wild, and made me a believer in the power of Qi (Chi, Ki).

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Photos

Guess Name of Hill at Right.
I'm sorry, but I forgot the name given it. It's probably not what you think it is, though.

Four Types of Writings.
Mongolian, Tibetan, Chinese and Manchu, but not necessary in that order. Lama Temple, Beijing.