Where in the world am I today?: Beijing, China
Being back in China again is a hoot! Actually being just anywhere in the world is a hoot if you take/make/create the time to look around and see/enjoy a bit of the place you’re visiting. I was talking to my neighbour who works in marketing a while back about how he often travels across the country or around the world only to go to business meetings in the conference room of the hotel that he’s staying at but never actually gets to see much of these great cities he’s visiting. That conference room could be any conference room in any hotel in any city around the world…
I think part of why I like what I do so much is that it has given me chances to travel to some pretty amazing places and experience some pretty amazing things apart from the actual performances. I don’t think I take advantage of this as much as I might… My friend Jon Hicks came out to Vancouver last year to perform at the PNE as part of the Street Stars Program and very deliberately extended his stay in Vancouver for a week beyond when the job had ended so that he and his wife could spend a week wandering around and exploring some of what Vancouver had to offer.
Jon bought a bicycle and borrowed one from us for his wife and they made a point of getting out and seeing something different every day and getting to know the city a bit. Wonderful! And if you’re given the opportunity to visit a new place, why not give yourself a bit of extra time if you can to see more than just the conference room of a hotel room or the venue where you happen to be performing.
I’ve been lucky over the years to have adventures present themselves to me on a number of occasions too. For what ever reason I’ll do a show and then someone will come up to me and offer to tour me around their town or I’ll run into a fellow performer at an event and they’ll suggest that, if work schedules permit it, we play hooky from the event we’re at and go exploring.
As we were arriving in Guangzhou a few days ago it was suggested that I spend some time wandering around the streets in the vicinity of the Hotel because of the number of interesting historic buildings, so I got up one morning and went for a bit of an explore. Sure I saw lots of cool buildings, but I also ran across this cool Ying/Yang symbol that was made from different colored stones that had been pressed into the concrete in a mosaic-like design. Very cool. It was also great to talk to a couple of people who wanted the opportunity to practice their English on me.
It wasn’t necessarily the most exotic little wander around the neighbourhood, but it got me a bit more connected with the place I happen to be and with the people who call this home and I can state with great confidence that it left more of an impression on my than the conference room of the hotel did.
