We’re in Guilin for the moment, headed to Yangshou tomorrow to do some volunteer work with rural kids and cruise the Li River. Just a few hours ago Tom was reading The China Star, an English language newspaper that the Sheraton slipped under our door. On page 5 under the story “Experts refute new bird flue strain claim” he found an unusual headline: “Huggers end up in police custody.” You might remember that on our one day in Korea, Dax and McKane accommodated a young man advertising “Free Hugs” on a poster he carried through the famous Insadong. This guy was apparently part of an international free hugs movement which was spawned on September 22 when someone from Sydney posted a video of himself doing the same on YouTube. When Chinese youth in Shanghai and Nanjing tried to replicate the campaign three days ago, they were arrested. Bummer. Different country.
The story led us to check out YouTube, and lo and behold, we found that our Korean hugmeister had posted a video of his own….and we’re in it! Check it out.
See, it pays to be loving. As one of the Chinese huggers asked, “Why can’t we melt the coldness in people’s hearts with our hugs?”
Technorati Tags: China, Family travel, Korea, Insadong, Free hugs, Round the world, Round-the-world, RTW, Voluntourism
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
As I write, Aislinn is again asking me to see Dax, McKane, Kieran and Asher. We’ve watched the video five times now and she can’t get enough of you! We’re glad you are having such a wonderful time in China and were able to get some fresh air and comfortable beds for a few days.
We love and miss you!
Mindy and Aislinn
hi~! im so glad to you remember me!!
me? huggingman in this video!!^^
i do this campaign till now~
im so happy because you see my video and your
comment
you are my first hug,my first smile
(even you are not korean!!)
i wanna connection with your family and make
friend ship
if you check this comment, please send mail to
me!
well, always happy and happy!!^^
p.s ^^
asher you scaredy cat….You should have hugged the nice man
Dude, Andrus, you’re so crazy! School has been really intense- but I’ve been setting the curve in two of my classes for this semester, so all of the hardwork is paying off, I guess. I hope you guys are having fun! I definately still want a T-Shirt…
No way! That rocks!!! So good to see you mobile and happy.
p.s. I love that the “huggingman” wrote you a message to “make friendship”! How cool. Again, what this trip is all about…
My student teacher says, “that’s great stuff! It’s good that the hugs are free!”
(He added that he probably couldn’t hug someone on the street with a sign.)
I love seeing your smiling faces and the warmth between you guys and the huggingman. His response is one of my favorite things so far. I hope you can “make friendship”.
This really is what your trip is about. It’s great that you’re seeing so much of the world, but meeting good folks from so many cultures is priceless.
Love you and miss you– Lorelie
Tom, Anne et al… I just wanted to say I’ve been trying to read your blog every week to keep up with the fun you all have been having. I was very excited to see the video and passed it on to other Earthlinkers for their viewers pleasure.
For us Oldies in Southern Indiana, your travels sound both fantastic and overwhelming. TV and radio both say to AVOID the dogs in China…Rabies is very common and deadly over there, in case no one is telling you this.
Sure do love all your great travel updates.
so fun to see you laughing and smiling. i think i may put a sign up above my cube that hugs are free at the office and see what it does to improve the working environment
Love you and miss you. I’ll have to show Jade and Ivy the video tonight. Jade will be so excited. Ivy will flap her arms and shake her head while she giggles.
I loved this. It was actually posted on a Koren adoption forum I belong to! I showed it my older child explaining to him this was the country he was born in.