My most surreal China moment

I’ve been told that it happens to many westerners, especially in the smaller Chinese cities that don’t get many tourists, But even the focus of my main story, kung fu student Demitri Daniels, says this has never happened to him to this extent before.  Before last week, that is.

As we were walking down the street in Dengfeng, a group of teenage and twentysomething girls waved wildly at us and motioned us into their place of business, a foot massage shop. (Now before I continue, I have to say that the place looked legit, and as far as I know we were not offered anything beyond a massage - in fact, I don’t think they even mentioned foot massages.) They just wanted to take pictures of me and Demitri because we were non-Asian.  Many, many pictures, with one girl or with a group of girls, usually with them holding up their hands in a “V for victory"-type pose that I’ve seen many other Chinese photo subjects do.  And as you can hear in the audio clip below, they were pretty happy to see us. 

I had my camera with me, but I was so overwhelmed I didn’t take any snapshots of my own, darn it.  I’m amazed that people can be so fascinated by people who don’t look or speak like them.

Audio of our chance encounter:
Click to experience this media file | Right-click to download