You notice them pointing their smartphone your way > you smile for the camera (and give the two-finger victory sign if you’re feeling particularly Chinese) > they see they’ve got a great picture and their faces light up > they then realise this means you know they were sneakily trying to take a picture of you and look sheepish.Today was the worst day so far for photos (or best day, if it’s your thing, I guess). I’m kinda getting used to it. It started as soon as we arrived on the tourist-laden bridge on our mountain bikes – I smiled, but he didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed, just took the picture. But he then held a hand up in thanks and walked off.
Off into the beautiful karst landscape:
… along the (surprise, surprise) highly engineered roads:
A group of students kept slowing down and overtaking us. Eventually we worked out they were trying to take our picture. Rudy decided it was because of my stunning beauty (he might be Belgian, but he does a very good line in sarcasm) and took to riding in front of me, holding up his hand, palm forward, shouting “no photos, no photos” to the bemused Chinese cyclists coming the other way. And acting as policeman to move on the traffic when they slowed down to take photos of me out of their windows.
Very few people here speak English, and most who do speak very little. Even after you’ve made it clear you’ve no idea what they’re saying, they continue to try to have a conversation with you in Chinese. So we’ve started reciprocating – babbling along in English assuming that they know what we’re talking about. It leads to rather amusing “conversations”, like the one with the woman selling flowery, head garlands:
Rudy, totally straight-faced, explained to her that he wouldn’t need to buy one “because I’ve got quite a few at home already.” If and when they finally work out we don’t speak Chinese, they often then hold out their palm and use the other index finger to draw Chinese symbols on it. No, we can’t read Chinese either! But they’re all really good-natured and we always end with a smile:)
Tourist vandalism is (hopefully “was”) clearly a problem here with signs all over the place asking people to not pick the flowers, trample on the beds, etc. Pretty sure they’re not aimed at the western tourists – and I remembered my guide at the Grand Palace in Bangkok (the one who’d learnt his English from Harry Potter) getting quite upset when he explained that the Chinese tourists always wanted to touch things, which was damaging the structures.
Only saw one other mountain bike (ridden by a westerner), but some interesting cycle variations:
And river transport:
Market stalls all selling exactly the same thing:
And nutter drivers. Bus drivers are the worst with buses overtaking overtaking cars. As Mum would say: “It’s all going to end in tears.”
But it’s good to be out in the countryside again:
Here’s wishing you and yours a very happy new year 🙂