As M mentioned earlier this week, I returned to Japan and made the mistake of washing my toothbrush with water before I brushed. In short, one of my colleagues commented a few days later that I looked good having returned from holiday with some color and even lost weight. I suppose you do have to take the good with the bad?

Fortunately I have recovered and can now share with you the adventure of simply stepping out the door with M in Shanghai.

Regardless of where we go M gets quite a bit of attention in Asia, especially China. Westerners are rare in some parts, females even rarer, and women with blonde hair and blue eyes…well I decided to take a picture to capture this phenomenon.

China is famous for these moments as the people rarely hesitate to make eye contact and in some cases even strike up a conversation regardless of whether they speak english or not. This is a stark contrast to Japan where M has caught many “glare bears” during our time, but without fail they immediately take great shame in being caught and shift focus to their shoes.

Keep in mind we were simply minding our own business sitting in a park just a few short blocks from the Bund when this crew rolled. Initially they accosted another foreign gentleman who wandered in the park for some quick pics, but after tiring of him one of the girls finally worked up the courage to get a picture with my rare gem of a wife.

In the process they nearly trampled a bunch of kids on rollerblades, but ultimately everyone got what they came for and within minutes the group giggled off heading towards the Bund having met My Favorite Martian.