Touring China

We traveled to China for a two week tour  which was absolutely amazing and more rushed than we would have liked,  It was rushed because it is a big country with so much to see.

We found the people lovely.  They wanted to meet us and as you might expect were very polite and helpful.  In a little local market near our hotel I was trying to buy lactose free milk.  The language barrier was too much for all of us so one of the sales folk pulled out their google translate with a smile and found me what I was looking for.  She was super sweet, so proud of herself and very happy to have helped.

Another evening as we walked a short distance from our hotel to see a bit of the town, we came across a large group dancing in the street to music played on an oversized speaker.  We stood to the side for a few minutes delighted to have come across such a fun local event.  Then several of the dancers came over to us and invited us to join them.  They taught us their dance, which we did our best to bumble through.  As the music stopped there were smiles, nods and handshakes of appreciation from all sides. What a privilege and delight it was. Again they were very sweet and welcoming.

After dinner with a family in Beijing 20 of us wandered across the narrow street to a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop.  The darling shop owners didn't know what to make of the wild crowd descending on them but despite their shock they were very kind and as helpful as they could be.  After buying some local fruit and sweeties we wandered with our guide down a narrow street following the sound of music.

As we neared the music we discovered a group of musicians playing in a small local square with residence lining all sides of the square.  Mothers had their children strapped to their backs or dancing near by. Older folks sat on benches gently nodding to the music's beat. It was a peaceful subdued scene despite the upbeat music.  Our crowd was not so subdued and were definitely in party mode.

One of the musicians offered a few of us small rattles and bean shakers and invited us to join them.  What a blast.  I could be mistaken but I think once we joined the musicians the mood of the whole park got lighter and brighter.  I believe we did a little dancing as we rattled our shakers as well.

After passing my shaker to another of our group, I walked to the side to stand near a mum and baby who were standing slightly apart from others.  We exchanged smiles and the Mum asked it I would like to hold her darling little girl. We stood there together smiling and swaying to the music with me happily cooing to this precious little bundle.  What a magic moment it was and what an honour to be invited to hold a child.

Discovering China's history was eye opening.  They were creating iron in the 14th century BC long before any other country had attempted it.  Their production of silk products is legendary.

As lovely as the people are the officials were not so much.  We were seriously  warned not to say anything controversial about China so we didn't.  Still just the sight of us seemed to put the army chaps on edge.  Sad. 

Yet I choose to hold the sweet memories - of a man saying his son was studying english could he take a photo with me.  Of course he could and could I also take a photo of the two of us?  We exchanged photos, smiles and a cuddle with the little boy. Not much better than that.  And maybe just maybe somewhere down the road that adorable little boy might remember the nice foreign lady to whom he gave a cuddle and think strangers aren's so bad after all.