Encounters in China

One of the good things I enjoy in traveling is meeting new people along the way. May they be local residents or fellow travelers on the road, these persons I encounter in my journeys make my travels more colorful and memorable.

I recently had a nine-day tour of China, from Shanghai to Xian to Beijing and back to Shanghai. Being in China, where majority of the population could not easily converse in English, we felt the need for a guide in certain legs of our trips.

True, tour guides are there to provide you with information about the place you are visiting, but they, too, are stories in themselves. I think we got more out of Sarah, our guide in Xian. Or, she also got out more from us, being more than a group paying her company to take around her place. In the same way we learn from her, she also learned a lot from us. We have actually built a relationship with each other. In one day that we spent together, we have become friends.

Sarah did not only give us a run down of basic fact of Xi’an or the terracotta warriors. We met Mr. Wang, the farmer who first discovered the Terracotta Warriors. I wanted to highlight him in this article but I haven’t even gotten close to him as they allowed only those who purchase his book to have a photo with him.

In the end, Sarah’s jolly disposition won and in the entire trip, she was the most adorable local I’ve encountered. She went out of her way to steer us to safer places and make our trip more convenient. She cracked jokes with us, shared a little about her background and her life, as well as her aspirations.

She plans to get married next year and spend her honeymoon in Paris. We invited her to visit the Philippines and we’ll host her. She was surprised by our hospitality but that’s the nature of our being Filipinos.

Whenever she talked about a tourist landmark, we’d ask her questions or share additional information. Then, we’d share a punch line or two and she’d tell us, “You’re funny!”

On the last few hours after our tour was done, she even joined us for afternoon snacks while waiting for our train to Beijing. During that lull period, she taught us a few Chinese phrases and gave us some tips on how we would survive the remaining days of our journey in her country.

I might say that it was almost similar with Tony, our guide in Beijing, though not quite as carefree as Sarah. Yes, he also shared about his life but he must have done it because we were inquisitive, given our Filipino nature of being warm and hospitable, even in a foreign land. Still, it was different with Sarah who shared laughs with us and considered our every need.

For this trip, I also found a new travel buddy in Kelly, a friend of a friend who joined us in our Shanghai leg. We were especially grateful for Judd, a family friend of one of our companions, who hosted us and took us around while in Shanghai, as he has already spent three years in this city.

There were other people I’ve met along this journey. I’ve met some English students from St. John Plessington Catholic College at the Great Wall. I’ve chatted with other foreign tourists shopping or just taking photos. In fact, I’ve bumped into a number of Spanish tourists who I congratulated for their recent FIFA World Cup win.

At the last leg of our trip, when we took an overnight train from Beijing to Shanghai, I got to know Maya from Poland, along with her friend Anna. She was in China to study the language and as her one-year scholarship was done, she was enjoying the remaining month visiting various Chinese places.

Sarah, Tony, Maja, and others I’ve encountered in Chinese soil, have definitely made my trip extra special. It’s fun to look back and review photos not just of the cityscape or historic landmarks but also of people who give me another reason to hit the road.

This article is a part of the Lonely Planet blogsherpa blog carnival #6 on Travel Encounters hosted by Camden Luxford of The Brink of Something Else. The carnival will be up by the end of the week. Visit this site for more articles belonging to this carnival.