Give us a tune.

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China may be getting wealthier but not everybody is benefitting as you will discover if you stay in Yangshuo. Although the town is prosperous this is not necessarily so for the surrounding areas, which has many poor farmers. As a consequence you will be constantly approached by people trying to sell you something or just begging.

The sellers are all trying to sell the same things i.e. postcards, memory cards, wooden toys, flowers, or fake watches. They will produce the first item, you will say no. They then produce the second item. You say no. They produce the thirs item and so on. Five minutes someone else will appear and the routine will start all over again.

The beggers will stand beside you, touch your arm etc and in many cases demand money off you. A lot are yound children or old people.

Some people get annoyed but I have no idea of the background or hardship these people face so I just said no or gave a few bob. However, one night we were in a resteauant and a man appraoched with musical pipes and asked if we wanted a tune played. At this stage I was so conditioned I said no instinictively. However, I saw him sit down further away in the restaurant and play some tunes anyway. He was very good. People seemed to ignore him and he finally got up and was making his way out of the restaurant. I felt sorry for him as he had played so well I popped down and gave him the equivelant of a doller. Of course he then insisted on coming up to play for us.

He told us he would play a tune about two butterflies meeting and falling in love. I have to tell you it was fantastic. The start of the tune sounded like "The Lark Ascending" and you could actually visualise the butterflies. The tune must have lasted for 10 minutes and required 2 changes of pipes. So if you are ever in Yangshuo and want to spend a doller you know what my recommedation is.

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