"Can we take a selfie?"

We had all been warned that when we visited the more remote areas of China, that some people might ask to take pictures with us. I didn't really entertain this thought for long, and I think we'd all forgotten that it was a thing since Hong Kong was such an international city, and there were plenty of travelers from across the world. We certainly weren't a rarity!

Guilin, though, was almost entirely Chinese tourists. It really began when, on the roof of the Li River Cruise Ship, three old women grabbed Jenny as she came up the stairs and had her pose with them for multiple shots. A bit jarring for Jenny, but the ladies were very kind and absolutely thrilled that she was going to be a part of their vacation photos. They had asked first, and it wasn't like we weren't expecting it, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Though strange, none of us were offended, and we found it pretty funny.

It was only later in Yangshuo that we started to catch people taking photos of us when they thought we weren't looking. It was a trend that followed us through to Kunming and Dali and Shaxi and Lijiang. This phenomenon I found much more strange- I couldn't understand the appeal of a photo of me tying my shoelaces when we were standing in a AAAA Rated National Tourist Attraction- and it only increased in frequency. We also get a lot of couples with selfie sticks who will angle it like they're trying to take a photo of themselves, but then reach up and focus on us in the background. We've begun smiling skeptically and posing for them, our Chinese far too terrible to ask "Why?" and understand a response.

China is an extremely diverse country in the cultural sense, but racially, while it's common to see individuals from other Asian and Southeast Asian nations, in the areas where we are traveling we hardly see any other international travelers. For the locals, and for the tourists who come from other rural provinces, they generally haven't seen many people who aren't Chinese. It's a little bit easier to understand the "excitement" of seeing our group when you imagine that they haven't really had the opportunity or privelege to leave home. It's exactly the same in many majority-white places in America (yet another reason why we're so lucky to travel and have this experience).

It's also, I think, a human fascination with differences. We take photos of the Hani and Bai minority women in their traditional clothing because we've never seen anything like it. We find it interesting and unique! It's what tourism is about!

It isn't just about race either- last night, I was singled out by two separate groups from the five of us, by a teenage boy saying "tall girl!" and by a father who shoved his son into place next to me and had him stand on his tiptoes to show my height. For people who are traveling, we're just another new and different thing they've never seen.

Tonight, while eating dinner, our waitresses, the manager, and a male host all came and took selfies with us. While they giggled at our inability to say "you're welcome", we all took pictures of our food and chuckled at the Pepsi they were serving in wine glasses. It's a different practice, sure, but in the age of camera phones and sharing, the root idea of wanting "that interesting thing" to be a memory is not so different at all.

Having the greatest time!!!!!