My new friend

I was in Shanghai last week for a trade show, after which I decided I would take the high speed train back to Suzhou.  While waiting in the train station, a little boy kept alternately looking over my shoulder and staring at my face.  After smiling a few times and with his sister cajoling him, he started to open a conversation.  At first he asked things like "where are you from?" and "how old are you?".  By the time I had to leave, I had showed him pictures of the kids on the laptop and answered such interesting questions as "do you have a gun?".  Funny stuff.

He asked to take my picture with his sister's cell phone.  After looking at pictures of ReRiRo, he showed me the one she took of us.  Curious, I slide my finger across the phone and low and behold, there was a picture of him posing with his face next to mine while I obliviously read a book!  Anyway, below is his picture.

In the end the whole trip took over 2 1/2 hours (Shanghai metro to train station (wait for 1 hour), train to Suzhou (30 minutes), bus from train station to neighborhood (1 hour)).  Not really a time savings as the drive is about 1.5 hours, but I did save to company money by spending only 96 RMB (under $15) total!  Net, I probably saved the company about $20 in gas, tolls and driver overtime; but I had a memorable experience for sure!