It seems there has been a lot of death and destruction around the world lately, and while it is all sad, I guess it just hits you a little more when you have actually been to the place that has been affected. Six years ago in June of 2002 my husband and I went on a tour of China. Regardless of the government there, the people of China are good, hardworking people. They loved to see tourists, and I remember sitting in our tour bus stuck in traffic, and I waved to a man passing on his bike, and he waved back and gave me a huge smile. In the cities some would come up to you and want to take a picture with you, like they couldn't believe they spotted a fair skinned person, as if finding Bigfoot in the woods. It was flattering to say the least. No matter where we went across the country the people were so friendly to us. When we were sailing down the Yangtze River, it always just blew my mind to find out that these cities sitting along the river in the middle of no where had more people than the state I lived in! While in the Forbidden City in Beijing a man was selling hats for the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008! They had just been awarded the Olympics, and we had mentioned to him that our state had just hosted the Winter Olympics of '02! It was commonality we could share with someone else from clear around the world.
To hear of this major earthquake in Chongqing and the surrounding areas just saddens me. The China trip was such a great memory for us, and it's hard to see all the suffering of their people right now. China will always have a special place in our hearts.
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