Hours before leaving for Nanjing I visited the Summer Palace with Sarah and Clarissa. The previous time i went there was in 2001 with the family. Experiences will always differ. 2001: It was raining, there was a romantic tingle in the air. Some reason I remember I was in love with the imperial summer retreat. Oh adolescence.
This time we forked over 60 RMB (no student discount either) and paraded into he crowds.THis time the weather was wonderful. The route we took brought us right in front of Kunming Lake, which stretched beyond my eyes could fathom. Breathtaking, right uni the paparazzi attacked Sarah and Clarissa. They prepared with big framed sunglasses and dodged their advances. Somehow I acted like their bodyguard or agent if they were celebrities. In front of the Fragrant Incense temple a guy asked his tour guide to approach us and ask to take a photo. I guess the site of foreigners is sensational. Before even finishing her sentence the answer was "不要” or 'no.' (For some reason tourists approach me rather than Sarah or Clarissa to seek photo taking privileges. Hence the agent labeled on the metaphorical chest) Seeing the first attempt failed, the Chinese man, sporting a black and orange striped track suit tried again. This time with direct dialogue.
"我可以吗” (Can I?) he asked. The answer once again is 'no'.
He then actually got the nerve to ask, “哪可以偷拍吗” （Can I secretly ake one? aka Can I be a peeping Tom?") This guy actually has balls. I was offended by his statement and amused that he failed to understand how pererted that was. W/out hesitation I responded,
"well if youre going to do that, I'm gonna smash your camera on ground." “要是你拍的话， 我砸你的照相机。”
He retreated in shock. Yeah you better run.
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