My Lijiang friend

Unfortunately, Kami spent a lot of our time in Lijiang cooped up in the hotel room with the flu.  This left me on my own to explore the city, which those of you who know me well realize is not too great of a tragedy.  Armed with a camera and/or a book, I’m quite skilled at entertaining myself.  One afternoon I stopped in a little cafe simply because this was the view:

Little did I know, I would also make a friend.  Most Chinese kids are shy and timid about approaching foreigners, but at a prime location in a tourist town, my guess is this little girl is quite accustomed to foreign faces.

As soon as she realized I spoke a bit of Chinese, she pulled a chair right up and settled in for a conversation.  Luckily, my Chinese is probably about at the level of a two or three year old, so we were able to communicate fairly well. 

We talked about our ages, what I had ordered, about the flower stem she was playing with, about the clothes she was wearing, about the message I was sending on my cell phone to check in on my sick friend.

All the while I snapped photos of her, which she was quite thrilled to look at.  We chatted on and off as I sipped my strawberry milkshake.

After a bit she grew tired of my language capabilities and went off in search of a new diversion.  I, however, was thrilled to find a companion (and willing photo subject) for a bit.