Guilin

Rod's viewpoint:

You may have seen Chinese art with fanciful landscapes that are just punctuated with numerous jutting hills/peaks, totally covered in greenery, and lush meadows and streams in between. Well it turns out there is such a place.

Guilin has been the inspiration for Chinese landscape art for centuries. Everything is green. The soil is very fertile clay, and the farmland is very lush. Everywhere, it looks just like Peter Chan's garden in Portland --the raised bed Chinese style of gardening. And then these lush meadows are tucked in between towering Karst (limestone) formations, which are beautiful jagged rock covered in green trees. It is quite striking. If you are not familiar with Guilin, look it up. Here's a pointer to a few pictures: http://www.chinahighlights.com/photos/glalbum.htm.

We stayed in Yangshuo. Many people have repeated the old Chinese saying that supposedly every school kid knows: Guilin is the most beautiful place in China, and Yangshuo is the most beautiful in Guilin. As you might expect, Yangshuo is a tourist town. It has received Chinese vacationers forever, and in the past two decades has expanded to be a bit of a refuge for western travelers. There is even a street named "Western Street", and it has pizza, burritos, hamburgers, and Jimmy Buffet tunes. This is quite an anomaly here --we are in rural, southern China and there is very little Western influence. We stayed just off that street, in an area that is a mix of both Chinese and Western. It was more interesting.

Guilin and Yangshuo are places to go outside and see. The landscapes are incredible. With a moist and hot climate, and very fertile clay soil, you can imagine how lush it is. What a wonderful contrast to northern Thailand, which was quite dry.

We rented bikes and just headed out on a road. We were soon following the river on dirt paths which were not on the map. We went through several small villages, wandering through the Karst formations and lush farms. It is just breathtaking. It is also refreshing that while this area is populated, the farming methods are very sustainable. The plowing is done by water buffalo. The land is very carefully terraced to flood the rice field and protect the soil. The other crops are planted in raised beds, maybe 3-5 feet wide, with two or even three crops interspersed. All drainage is carefully controlled, so no soil is lost. It is quite impressive, and very productive. The vegetables are so lush!

Let me describe Karst formations. Visually, they look like huge pillars jutting out of the valley floor, several hundred feet into the air. They are taller than wide, and the sides are nearly vertical. Yet, the rock is fairly heavily cracked, and trees are growing on all of the sides and top. The peaks are a combination of craggy rock face and greenery. Geologically, they are also interesting. Remember that this area was once under the ocean, and has risen due to the northern movement of the tectonic plates that include Southeast Asia and India. This is the same force that formed the Himalayas. The Karst formations are limestone, meaning they are the old ocean floor deposits. Over the years they were broken and tilted, so that they are currently standing on end. In between, the rivers have flooded and filled in the lush valleys.

We came around one Karst peak into an isolated little meadow. Entering the other side was an old woman with a water buffalo and its calf. The calf was sighing/bellowing such cacophony! It echoed and filled the canyon, with sounds not unlike the music you might hear in Afghanistan.

Everywhere the children greet foreigners with a hearty "Hallo!" It is a bit of a game, with one kid saying "hallo" and then the others joining in after you return the greeting. For the youngest kids it seems like pure fun, although with the teenagers it also includes a bit of sarcasm in the greeting. On our bike ride, we joined up with one Chinese man for several hours, and he told us many stories. He was a bit secretive about himself, and didn't give his name or let us take his photograph, but we did learn that he was from Taiwan and was a writer/photographer trying to work in Guilin. The timing of meeting him was great, because we have just finished making all of our travel choices throughout China, and he was able to confirm the good choices and make additional suggestions.

We also met several middle school students eager to practice their English, which is now compulsory in middle school and high school (a total of six years of study) having replaced Russian some time ago. As with many parts of the world, traveling with only English is not so hard if you look for some school kids wanting to practice. They are looking for pen pals to write to. It might be fun to connect them with a school or group of kids in the states.

Fran's viewpoint:

Just to add some verbal images to Rod's story which may paint another picture of what life is like in rural China...

While bicycling down the highway we meet a farmer coming from the other direction. He is elderly and humbly dressed. He pulls a wheelbarrow cart: a wooden platform 4 ft wide by 5 ft long. It has slatted sides and large wooden wheels. The lower sides of the cart extend past the front and are the poles with which the cart is pulled. The cart is overflowing with colorful mustard which was harvested that day. He smiles and calls out "ni hao" (hello) as we pass.

This being an agricultural area, the people have created a very interesting transportation alternative. Imagine a tiller or riding lawnmower with a large pulley engine. It has handles for each hand and grips that operate brakes and power. Now attach a cab and truck bed to it and sometimes a canopy. You now have a vehicle that carries everything including farm produce, large rocks for construction, people home to their villages, and garbage collected in the early mornings.

Down a dirt road leading to a village, we see a long building with a tall smoldering smokestack. It is a kiln, the wood fire inside warming the air around us. To the side are long rows of bricks, drying in the sun. Brick making factories are a common sight as the buildings are all made of local brick.

Villages...the old brick almost crumbling into the same colored dirt...houses closely set together with narrow dirt pathways weaving between them...dirt floors so packed with footwear and water over the years that they resemble smooth concrete...tile roofs sagging under the weight of years...courtyards with chickens pecking for their meal...people sitting in dark doorways eating their meals and visiting...a community center (pole building with roof and no walls) with old people visiting and young people crowded around the pool table offering advice as the player takes his shot...electricity and satellite dishes bring the modern world into the village...one room stores with their display case of packaged snacks and daily necessities...cobbled streets wide enough for new Honda Accords to drive horn honking past the youths walking home in neatly pressed uniforms from school...women working barefoot in the fields, bending over to plant the starts of rice in the flooded plot...the people always ready with a warm smile and a hello (in English) for the foreigners.