«
»

I(H)C33 – Perseverance

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’”

Print This Post
«
»

9 Responses to “I(H)C33 – Perseverance”

  1. 1
    Reni Says:
    February 9th, 2010 at 5:27 am

    My Chinese email friend always finds the same astonishing solutions

  2. 2
    ZMH Says:
    February 12th, 2010 at 10:46 am

    Guilin…A place that I was told more than 1 millions times during the whole progress i grow up and unfortunately till up now that’s a place still to be visited.

    I believe I’m not only one here, actually there’s a song called “我想去桂林” describes my situation perfectly. lol.

    And btw today’s the chinese new year’s eve. so 春节快乐！虎年吉祥！

    and oh, keep the good stuff coming. it’s nice to read em.

  3. 3
    lars Says:
    February 13th, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    Hello Chris,

    Thanks for putting these amazing archives of your China experience out here for us. I have finally made it through every page/day of your diary, and feel delighted. Another guy you have given something.

    I come to the conclusion that the longest way has not ended for you yet, it has merely changed its face and circumstances. Who knows when/where our ways begin and end? Anyways, these are just my thoughts. All the best for your further journey/s. And 春节快乐, too!

  4. 4
    Steven Says:
    February 14th, 2010 at 10:01 pm

    虎年快乐!

  5. 5
    Cristiane Says:
    February 27th, 2010 at 3:19 am

    Parabéns pela garra e determinação. Lindas imagens e excelentes historias de vida….

  6. 6
    leah Says:
    March 1st, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    That’s awesome – very poignant. great photos

  7. 7
    Clint Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 4:31 am

    Great post. It illustrates the things people out there in the real world go through, far away from the comfort of western societies.

    It reminds me of the time when I was in Iquitos, in the Amazon. For 6 months of the year, a large village just outside Iquitos gets flooded. They’ve had to tie large tree logs onto the base of their house so it can float in the wet season. It drowns their local school, any community area, and plunges them into filth and disease, but they cope as its a part of life for them, and they don’t whinge about it either.

    Cheers,
    Clint

    http://www.wheresclint.com

  8. 8
    feng Says:
    March 8th, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    Just finished reading all postings in your archive, great journey searching for something more important in life…. Most people just settle down with college and job etc. without going to that extreme. Well, you might want to read this book and check out their journey. I do not know if they have found what they were searching. You can ask them by yourself. They are still alive, living in Bay area :) Actually one of them can speak Chinese as well as you do if not better.

    http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/BTTStexts/newsfromtruecultivators.pdf

  9. 9
    feng Says:
    March 9th, 2010 at 8:42 am

    Hi Chris,

    also check out this video (if it is too slow, just let it finish downloading and then hit replay):

    http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDM5ODkyMDQ=.html

    see how long his “red line” is :) BTW, He crossed hymalaya in Jan.

    I also read that he walked from 黄山 (Mountain Huang) to 南京 (Nan Jing) in just one day :)

Leave a Reply

 




all content ©2008 Christoph Rehage