Surprisingly, Guilin has a pretty decent size Muslim community, large enough to warrant a mosque and several Muslim restaurants. We went to a restaurant near the mosque and managed to feed all six of us (family, guide Ms. Tan, and the driver) for a little over a dollar a person for soup, rice, chicken, and candied yams. We looked around the mosque where my father proceeded to amaze Ms. Tan by reading the Chinese script along the side (he was actually reading the Arabic and the Chinese script under it was just the phonetic version). Upon our return, my father and I decided to guide ourselves around the town. When we stopped to buy apples in the marketplace and tried to use what little Chinese we picked up during our visit, we managed to attract a decent-sized crowd. One fellow spoke some English and struggled very hard to explain that these apples were better than those. We made ourselves understood after a lengthy bout of hand gestures, finger counting, and repetition, and returned triumphantly with four apples. We were quite proud of ourselves.

When we arrived at the airport early in the morning to catch our flight back to Beijing, I made an interesting observation. Unlike American boarding procedures (“Now boarding rows 20 to 30 (pause) 10 to 20 (pause) etc."), the Chinese board like so: silence, general milling around, and then a booming voice “NOW BOARDING!" A melee ensues, elbows start flying, and people are crushed in the insane attempt to board all at once. Lucky for me, my bony elbows came in handy as I warded off my more fleshy co passengers. The scene was very similar to the unlicensed vendors making a mad dash for safety before the cops caught them. Three hours later, we were back in rainy, chilly Beijing.

The remainder of our stay in Beijing consisted mostly of shopping. We had perfected our bargaining skills, learned a few more words "Eh, pungyo" (Hey, friend!), and often found ourselves mesmerized by the military precision with which the traffic guards directed the whizzing cars, bicycles, and pedestrians on the street. We were lucky enough to catch an astonishing Chinese acrobatic show. One woman, with a Tibetan backdrop behind her, balanced glass-encased candles on both of her feet, both of her hands, and on a stick in her mouth. Several strong men climbed poles with lightening speeds using only their arms with their bodies parallel to, but away from, the poles. Some magic, some dragon dances, some clowning around. Then, one woman held five girls on her shoulders with a harness while the girls spun plates on sticks while she also spun plates on sticks. It was incredible. We had a great experience, wonderful memories, and so ended our fabulous trip to the Middle Kingdom.

All the text above is copyright 1998 Tasneem

   1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6