Eric's Beijing Diary

This evening, I was taking a walk out in the country, when a young boy on a motorcycle stopped and motioned for me to get on the back of his bike. I asked him where he was going. He didn't seem to understand me, and motioned again for me to get on the back of his motorcycle. Well, I am not usually inclined to go riding off into the sunset on the back of a bike when I don't have any idea how far the guy is going to take me, and it is getting on toward evening, especially when I don't know where I am going. Story of my life, I guess. I got on the bike. The kid rode on for about a mile, then stopped where some other guys on motorcycles had gathered. I got off. The other guys took off, and I pondered my next move. As I scanned the horizon, I could see a tiny black speck in the distance, which I took to be a herder's tent, so I headed out across the grassland. When I finally got to the tent, an old lady was standing near it. I almost got killed by the family dog, because I didn't see it. She warned me just in time, and I jumped beyond the reach of the angry dog's chain. I really wanted to speak with this lady, but she obviously did not speak either English or Chinese. Fortunately, after I had been their a few minutes, a young boy rode up on a horse. He had obviously been to school, because he spoke Chinese, and was very friendly.

It was his presence, really, that allowed me to stay longer, because he was glad to see me, and very communicative. I tried a couple times to take pictures of the others, but they were very uncomfortable with that, so I taught the kid how to use my camera and let him play with it, hoping he would get some pictures I could not. It did not work very well, because he spent too much time taking pictures of me, but he did get a picture of his brother riding up on the family cow. The Tibetans are generally very shy, but shy is not the same as unfriendly. In fact, they are quite friendly. And the shyness applies mainly to those Tibetans who are still living a nomadic lifestyle.