10th February, 2001.
Guilin Scenic Town. Grandmas Gossiping With Cigarettes And Matches To Hand. Men Fishing, Children Playing On Peaceful Island. Disco And Karaoke Heard From Hotel.
August 1987.
The Guilin town was very beautiful and peaceful. The town is still very charming, so the planners have made sure that evil spirits will not disturb the harmony! According to folklore, evil spirits can only travel in straight lines, so to prevent them venturing to areas where they would be most unwelcome, the bridges are built in a zigzag fashion. On this island was a small pagoda half hidden by willows but reflected in the water. Most of the island
 was edged by a low, open slabbed concrete wall, which was ideal for sitting and chatting to friends, and these two ladies had come well prepared for a good long chat, with newspapers to sit on, and handy cigarettes and matches, although we did not see them actually smoking. It was very peaceful on the island and certainly much cooler in the shade of the trees. Young children were walking with their mothers while older children played football, occasionally glancing at the strange foreign fellows passing by. In 1987, the number of foreign tourists visiting China, was far smaller than that of the present day, so the people were just as interested in seeing us, as we were in seeing them. The stall-holders and market traders would call out, "Hello!" "Hello!", to attract the attention of any tourist who was within earshot, hoping for a sale, then the bargaining would start!
On another part of the wall sat a group of fishermen,
 waiting patiently for a fish to take the bait at the end of their lines, and in the meantime there was the opportunity to talk with their friends. It was all very quiet and peaceful, but in the evening there would be disco and karaoke on the island, to be heard from the hotel.
After our dinner we walked from the hotel into the town along streets dimly lit by strings of low wattage bulbs, widely spaced and strung between the trees. Cyclists on the roads had no lights on their bicycles, and cars were driven with only sidelights showing, yet we saw no accidents. On the dimly lit roads, four-mule trains pulled carts heavily loaded with precast concrete panels. Coolies pulled handcarts loaded with long concrete beams; one coolie pulled while his mate pushed from behind. When we got to the first bridge, there were pavement stalls everywhere, some lit by a single light bulb, some with kerosene lamps. At one stall we bought candied lotus seeds to eat, our first purchase in Guilin.
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