The Road Has A New Face

One thing that's really struck me lately is how many Chinese tourists there are now. I first started noticing them a few years ago, and can't recall seeing any before that. I did meet a Chinese Christian pilgrim in Jerusalem in 1990, but he was a different story. It's the peak of the tourist season here in Oxford, and there are Chinese tourist groups everywhere, taking photos with expensive-looking digital cameras (mine's made there too!), trying fish and chips, and blocking the sidewalks as they gape at the beautiful architecture. In other words, they're just like tourists from everywhere else. The new money in China seems to be getting spent on the same kind of vacations as elsewhere.

And then there are all those Russian millionaires at the Sotheby's auctions in London. I didn't used to see them ten years ago either.