In a previous post I wrote about hiking the Great Wall of China on the day before my 40th Birthday.  Here is a cute little story with cute little kids that has a cute little twist.

While I tour around, I always like to take pictures of the locals in their environment. I love taking pictures of kids.  As My friend Jeff and I were hiking up the Wall, we came by the two cutest kids you’ve ever seen.  They were sitting on this little rock just looking around.  They were dressed in their cute little outfits.  They looked like perfect little representations of the Western influence on Chinese cultures.  I wanted to take their picture. But I wanted to get their permission first.

So silently… I walk up to them. I give them a very friendly wave.  Saying nothing… the little girl could see that I could not speak her language.  So she took the lead and waved back.  I pointed to my camera… and then used my hands to pretend to take a picture.  I made my best head-nodding-friendly face. The little girl looked at her brother, they had this wordless conversation, as they thought about my question.  Then looking back at me, the little girl nodded her head.  I made a big sweeping smile gesture with my fingers along my face.  They gave me a big smile.  ”Neeeeee hao!!” I said to them (that means hello in Mandarin… my way to get them to say “cheeeese”.

I took this shot.

I smiled, bowed, and waved good-bye to them.  And as as I started to walk away, the little girl waved and exclaimed in a loud voice:  “We’re from Vancouver!”

Chinese Kids on the Wall

Maybe I should have started with hello?