Guilin

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Went out to the airport to fly standby into the southwestern part of China. They began by asking for full fare - fair enough - but I asked for the discount price. They dropped the price by 40 percent, but this is China and you negotiate everything here, so I offered less than half. The stern woman behind the counter replied with a harsh No. I prodded gently a little, but she wouldn’t move, so I finally agreed to her price. She barked Passport! at me, then Luggage! One-word orders from a small-time tyrant in a company uniform. Maybe I should have adopted her style when she turned sharp and responded in kind. It may just have been a tactic on her part, one born from experience of dealing with foreigners not adept at negotiating. Offense as the best defense. However, I found out later that airfares are not negotiable and I suppose she thought I should have known this already. A bit of tolerance would have gone a long way.

An hour later I came to Guilin (pronounced Gwee-leen by some, Gway-leen by others). This turns out to be an interesting enough place, but I’m not making the most of it. Heat and humidity again, coupled with some normal enough rain and some real torrential downpours. Went for a meal of “Yangshuo-style” snails and the menu said “mild”. Ha ha ha. Don’t want to know what “spicy” means. Interestingly, some of the snails were, well, pregnant (if that’s what snails become when they’re fecundated) and they had a lot of slightly crunchy tiny snails inside of them. A bit odd if you think about it while chewing, so I tried not to. But I couldn’t help feeling that somehow my hunger and need for nourishment were responsible for these baby snails never even having had a chance in this world.

After lunch I sat at a sidewalk café to people-watch. Many Chinese women carry parasols. Umbrellas, actually, that serve a dual purpose. White skin is highly favoured in much of the Orient, a carry-over of the class prejudice against peasants who get suntanned working the fields. Stores even sell creams here to bleach the skin. You see many white-legged women in ultra-short shorts.

You also see Chinese girls walking arms linked or hand-in-hand, but not the boys or men, as you see in India, Turkey and other places in the East. I believe there’s greater male intimacy here than in the West and arms draped over shoulders is common enough. Chinese guys also roll their shirts up over their bellies when it gets really hot. Dunno…is it not masculine enough just to use a fan?

With meals the Chinese serve hot tea, or even just a glass of hot water, not cold drinks, in the belief that this is better for the body and for digestion. But they also believe that consuming powdered rhino horn will keep the old sentry standing at attention. Anyway, the hot liquid theory is likely tied somehow to the yin/yang philosophy as nutrition is basic to existence.

Visited Solitary Beauty Park one morning. Rebuilt Ming Dynasty building that had been burned down twice, open areas of grass, leafy trees and a single Karst upthrust 152m high with a very steep flight of stairs to the top. Great view of the city and surrounding peaks up there. But it was incredibly hot and humid. Sat at a table in the shade below Solitary Beauty Peak for a long hour, just resting.

There’s also a big night market here. Long double row of stands selling combs, t-shirts with Che Guevara’s face or something silly written on it (, bracelets, tea, “jade” buddhas, wooden flutes, caricatures and colourful kitsch. You find the Western version of this associated with any travelling circus. It was all new and the sort of thing you look at several days after you’ve brought it home and think Why in the hell did I buy that? Maybe it just looked good to you under the bright lights. At home it takes on its true appearance: cheap junk. I bought a bracelet of wooden beads. But it’s different.

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Photos

Solitary Beauty Park
Guilin itself wasn't particularly interesting, but this park was peaceful despite the heat.

Guilin panorama
The view of the other Karst peaks from the one in Solitary Beauty Park was amazing. But the day was hazy so the photo doesn't come out that well.