I was in 桂林 (guilin) once, it was in March 2006. I had to go there because somebody had shown me a river landscape on the back of a 20RMB note.

There was a small island in the middle of the 漓 (li) river. I was going to walk south along the river for a couple of days, but I suddenly felt that I had to visit the island first:

There was only one house there and the owner had just come home in a fishing boat.

“You live in the middle of the river,” I pointed out to him, “does the water never rise and threaten your house?”

“Oh yes, it does rise every once in a while,” he said slowly and pointed to a line on the wall, “the river can get this high!”

He had to raise his hand way above his head to touch the line left by the water. The flood must have been terrible.

“But what do you do then?” I wanted to know, “what do you do when there is a flood?”

He smiled, took his arm down and shrugged. Then he told me the secret: “We move.”

“To the city?”

“To the second floor.”

Soundtrack: 2 Live Crew – “Shake A Lil’ Somethin’”