4 weeks - Day 28

More stairs.
After spending most of the day reading books we've swapped at various hostels, and eating lunch by the Li river, watching the Chinese swim in the dirty water, and enjoying the sunshine, we headed for Seven Star park. Missing everything that was marked on the tourist map we were given, we ended up climbing up two impressing hills (this is where the stairs enter the story).

On the first hill, called Monkey Mountain by us, we were surrounded by monkeys. Would it not have been for the mosquitos having a feast on us, we could probably had stared at the monkeys for hours on end. Watching them playfully fight and jump from tree to tree, often falling down and hitting the ground, felt like they had put on a private show just for us. But when trying to get down from the hill, the oh-so-cute monkeys where not-so-cute anymore. Suddenly the monkeys where absolutly everywhere, blocking every path, and getting rather aggressive if we tried to pass. With the 'Monkeys, Dangerous' sign at the entrance of the park in fresh memory, we avoided them as best we could, and finally made it down.

On the next hill we had an absolutly amazing view of Guilin, and we sat up there watching the sun go down behind the beautiful hills, and the city come to life, with neon lights starting to blink everywhere. (We don't find this very tasteful, but we seem to be the only ones in this country, since blinking neon lights are... well, everywhere).
This turned out to be one of our less smart moves, since they had no lights in the park, which meant we had to make it down he hill (and the very slippery stairs, if I might add. But I didn't fall. Cough. That often. Coughcough.) and through the park in the dark. Luckily Ruut had her flashlight with her, so we made it. And we got to see a whole lot of bats on our way out, which was cool. Except that I mean a whole LOT of bats.

...

At the moment Sophia is finnishing her blogpost, and Ruut is taking a shower. I'm sitting in the common area of the hostel, impressed by the French girl sitting in the sofa, our new roomie, who seems to be learning Chinese quite fast. Outside, by the river, they're having karaoke night. As every night.
Although we've already been in this country for several weeks, the language is still total gibberish, and everything I learn I forget as fast. Chinese sounds a bit like Swedish (the kind of Swedish they speak in Sweden) and a lot like the 'ching chong' language you used to speak when mimicing Chinese as a kid.

Oh, and today we've been traveling for four weeks exactly.
I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. We've seen so much and been so many places, it feels incredible it's only been four weeks. But on the other hand... we've done so little and been so few places, has it already been four weeks??
//H