A basket of strawberries

Last week Brandon and I were able to have a long needed getaway. We traveled via high speed train to a nearby town called Tongli. This ancient water town was on our bucket list of places to see due to it’s popularity and title of the “Venice of China”.

Since moving to China one of the things we have had to get used to is the amount of people who love to stare at us and even sneakily take our photos. I know some people would be really annoyed by this but for us we take it as a huge compliment. For some people we may be the first foreigners they have ever seen in person! We are these fantasy type beings that only exist in their TV and movie screens. So for us we are more than happy to smile and say hello to anyone willing to approach us.

On our first day in Tongli it was very obvious that we were the only foreigners in the town. We were so pleased to have people say hi and share warm smiles and hello's in english as we walked by. On our afternoon walk back to the hotel room we were asked by another tourist if we could take a photo and instead of them taking it of us we said let’s do a selfie! They were so grateful for our time that at the end of the photo taking they handed us a giant basket of strawberries they were snacking on as they walked around. We were shocked! We didn’t expect to receive a gift, but the genuine kindness we receive, from people we can’t even communicate with, never ceases to amaze us.

Another great thing about this trip was that it allowed Brandon and I to tackle the train system here in China. If we had the kids with us it would have been so much more stressful, but since we were able to navigate the lines and all the little steps without having to worry about the kids it was a huge step towards easier travel for us all. Because the amount of times we looked at each other and said, oops! was a little comical, we needed this dry run for us to get the kinks out.

PS… Trip.com is a life saver here in China for English speakers. I can’t recommend it enough if you plan to travel here at all.

Something I want to share with all of you is how grateful I am to my new subscribers on youtube and here on the newsletter. We hit 10K views on my last video and I am BEYOND excited and thankful. I can’t believe my dreams of growing a channel are happening… so thank you for being a part of it and supporting me along the way. Some of you (I’m looking at you Victoria) have been here since my Cohesive Home days and you know how travel and international living are such a joy for me to share. The fact that I’m getting to live this life and share it with others is beyond my wildest dreams.

I’m grateful you’re here and if I could I would give you each a basket of strawberries.

Till next week friends,

xoxo

Melissa