Acquaintances on the GO!

Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. - Cesare Pavese

More than the material things I have owned, my ability to make small talk has paved the way for me to meet new people and enable to learn more from them. 

I made friends in the shortest of circumstances.

Acquaintances were created in the most oddest of places. 

As we jog-walked the climb down the Great Wall of China we met this couple whom, we never thought were a couple but just a couple of people who just can't get along. Throughout the walk they seemed to address each other in a manner whereby one would assume, one was not comfortable talking to the other. The lady was always grumbling about something, and the man was shooting pictures while the lady ranted. Soon because we weren't sure why these two were constantly bickering just blurted the question if they actually knew each other at all. Turns out they were a couple. And that was just the way they interacted.

Now Trish here, was a mother, an artiste and an avid traveler. Met her when I unintentionally disrupted her sleep as I was trying to get myself into bed in the dorm room. We were living in the same hostel and actually tackled the Great Wall together. She finished the task. We didn't. She is a painter by profession and takes keen interest in cultures and calligraphy. Compared to world heritage sites, tourist locations, she would attend gatherings, music events while she was in Beijing. Not sure if that is how she usually traveled. She was very informative and had lots to share about her hometown, a small town off Sydney. 

Remember the trip I took back in Feb 2011? Well that probably included my largest first time meeting with strangers. I was willing to travel slightly less than quarter way off the world to circumnavigate India with 17 others I have never met. No Facebook interactions. No emails. All I had were 17 imaginary faces and voila the next thing I knew I was spending 24 hours, for the next 15 days with these guys. The above is just half the gang.

On the first night of our hostel stay in Hangzhou, I learned pool from these sisters from Shanghai. They were spending their weekend there. The younger one of the sisters who was teaching me (and perhaps also shook her head every time I messed it up) couldn't speak a word of English. As much pool skills I "imbibed", it was definitely a great interaction. We even tried jamming on the available guitars with our existing skills, which were definitely better than pool!

The night after pool, further friendships were formed between this eloquent Chinese who had no trouble conveying herself in English, and she has never left China before. She went by the name Summer, and definitely one of the better English speakers I have come across in China. She even shared with us how she took efforts to master the language just so it would allow here to interact with non-Chinese speaking people. I was floored. That never crossed my mind, every time I try to master Chinese. Still trying to be precise. The dude is a Korean who was backpacking around China before he returns home to join the University. He was hilarious. But you gotta be there to get his jokes.

The last of the friendships that were formed while on the go, was just last week when I was stranded   at Hangzhou Airport. 100 over passengers who didn't know each other. All waiting for their flights and just getting ready to fall asleep became one stranded family who just can't wait to land in Singapore all within a span of 24 hours. We eventually started speaking to the one in the seat beside us. As we were told to leave the airbus, we made conversation to the one who was given a room beside us. And as time went, I knew 25% of the passengers on the aircraft. 

I have a tendency to talk to the passenger beside me. I tend to ask where they are from or heading to. One of the main reason why I hardly pay attention to the safety procedures and prevent the person beside me from learning how to save their lives in crisis. 

Anyways, before the flight took off, we had the shot taken to remind us how much the airline was a pain in the arse and the chances of us taking it again was slim if not non-existent. Bryant, the dude, was from Singapore, working in Hangzhou and Lisa, a German travelling around Asia. We have agreed to meet again in Singapore. See how that goes.On a side note: She had the most divine 120mm film camera that certainly got me thinking of getting my own one too!!!

Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get - Forest Gump 

Of course this does not end here. I have met more people then I have allowed myself to talk about here. I just haven't got pictures of these other people to share with you.  In each of these places, I definitely met a few others besides the ones mentioned, who had lots of stories and interesting tidbits to share, that which will be up once I am able to source out a few faces to go with it.