Woman on Li River, China

Summer 2007, the year before the Bejing Olympics. Margaret and I, along with our friends Patty and Alex, took our first Viking River Cruise. Bejing, Shanghai, Xian, and the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtse River were the major attractions. We took an extension to Guilin and Hong Kong and, during a speedboat trip up the Li River, we stopped for what passed for lunch. We could hear the chicken in its death throes and, before too long, it appeared on our plates to share. We shared gingerly, trying to pick out the nasty bits, trying hard not to appear disappointed. Our river boat driver, who spoke not a word of English, was tucking into his own lunch with gusto at another table. At least the beer was frosty. On our way back to the boat, this woman was waiting patiently in hopes of selling us some of her vegetables. I pointed at my camera, then pointed at her with a smile. She nodded, struck a pose, and I got one shot off. I was using the Nikon D80 at the time. This picture made me forget the lunch.