Being A Celebrity

If you've every wanted to see what it's like to be famous and hounded by the paparazzi, just come to Hong Kong. I'm trying to be sensitive to cultural differences, but I find this really weird. Whenever I go out to a tourist-y place, especially if I'm with the kids, all of the tourists from India or other parts of China ask to take pictures with me/us. I guess they really just aren't used to seeing people as pale as we are, and they are super excited at having the opportunity. It's a little uncomfortable to be asked to pose with random strangers, not to mention being unsure where the pictures are going to end up. The tourists seem very nice, and basically harmless, but they are very insistent.

Yesterday, Victoria and I got a little annoyed with it all. We took the boys to the beach for the afternoon, and we happened to go to the beach that all of the tour buses stop by. Loads of Chinese tourists got off a bus, and as usual they began taking pictures of the kids from afar, sort of pretending to be taking pictures of the scenery. They slowly get bolder (this happens every time the boys are at the beach), and eventually they come over to take close-up pictures. This doesn't seem to bother Victoria really, since she knows they just think the boys are adorable; the idea bothers me a little bit. Then, a couple of women came over and without a moments thought started picking Alessio up to pose with him. Henry was freaked out, so he was sitting between Victoria and I, but Alessio is more laid back so he seemed okay. This really bothered me--you just don't go touching someone else's kids; it's not okay. Alessio was fine for a bit, but then he became annoyed or scared and started crying, which the women seemed to ignore while striking their poses. I jumped up to take him from them and set him next to Victoria. Next thing, the woman grabs my arm and forcibly pulls me next to her to take a picture. I get that we don't have a common language, so she doesn't have a way to ask politely, but I don't understand how anyone thinks it's okay to yank on a stranger's arm and hold tight to take pictures. I was standing there in my bathing suit, surrounded by a half dozen people taking pictures of me and taking turns posing with me. They started doing the same to Victoria and the kids--crouching next to her while Henry cowered and Alessio cried, even trying to take Alessio from Victoria's arms for a better picture. Really, we just wanted a relaxing afternoon at the beach--yesterday was particularly bad, but something along these lines happens most of the time when we take the boys to the beach. Again, I understand cultural differences and am willing to make allowances for it, but I just don't get how anyone thinks it's okay to go grabbing at someone else's children. The picture-taking is bad enough, but I draw the line at them manhandling the kids. Am I being too sensitive? I don't want to be rude to these people, because really they seem harmless, but it's frustrating and uncomfortable. I have a newfound sympathy for celebrities--though at least the paparazzi generally keeps a small buffer.

On an entirely different note, here are some recent pictures from around HK. I'll have better ones soon--my camera has broken, so I've been taking pictures with my phone, but I have to buy the proper cord for importing those pics onto my computer.