Kirsten and Lindsey do Beijing

When Lindsey and I were in Beijing this past week for the national holiday, we went to the Forbidden City, a 500 year old imperial palace that today is one of the top tourist attractions in China. While we explored the grounds and buildings that lay within these massive walls, something (who knows what) compelled us to take part in the tackiest, most ridiculous of tourist activities: for 100 yuan, which is the equivalent of about $16, we rented kimonos and shot a video of us flying in front of a green screen, which was then superimposed onto moving aerial shots of different scenes around Beijing. Best $16 I've ever spent. 

And now, folks, at the very low cost of Kirsten's dignity I present to you all: "Lindsey and Kirsten fly through Beijing" or alternatively titled "interracial lesbian tourism ad" 

After the video was made, we ventured out in our kimonos to take pictures in front of the palace, and let me tell you, this was not the best idea we've had in awhile. We were immediately swarmed by hordes of tourists wanting to take pictures of us and with us. The whole 'photos with random strangers' thing has taken some time to get used to, but we had experienced it everywhere we'd gone in China. Slap some kimonos on those laowais and that's a game changer if I've ever seen one. Two American girls wearing kimonos in the Forbidden City? Now that's just too good. These Chinese tourists, man.. they get aggressive. When we tried to walk away, some would grab our wrists or shoulders and "playfully" (but sometimes a little roughly) usher us back to take pictures with their other friends. We ended up standing there for at least ten minutes taking pictures rapid-fire with who knows how many tourists. When we were finally able to break away, we tore off those kimonos, handed them back to the lady at the booth with a sigh of relief, and booked it outta there.

this lady took about 8 photos of us with her kid on Lindsey's camera, and her finger was in every single one of them!