Saying Yes in Beijing A Lesson in Curiosity Travel and Life

My wife and I spent the day wandering Beijing without much of a plan, letting the city pull us along rather than trying to make sense of it all at once. Somewhere along the way, we stopped at a tiny food stall—barely wide enough for two people to stand in front of it. There was no menu we could read, but we knew exactly what she sold: Peking duck. Nothing else.

The duck was chopped quickly, dropped into a clear plastic bag, and handed over. We kept walking, sharing it as we went, moving through streets that felt unfamiliar but alive, letting the city unfold around us.

Small encounters like this are part of what I remember most clearly from a trip. My China photographs follow that same interest in places as I find them.

What stayed with me wasn’t just the food. It was how little planning the moment needed. Travel and photography both reward a willingness to notice what is in front of you. Sometimes that means stopping for a photograph. Sometimes it means sharing duck from a plastic bag as you walk.

Exploring together and trying something unfamiliar made the day memorable. I bring that curiosity to my street photography too: the small things happening around us often tell me more than the landmark I came to see.

That afternoon in Beijing was a small moment, but it carried a larger lesson: exploration isn’t about chasing novelty. It’s about staying open. And the more open you are—to food, to places, to ideas—the more fully you experience what’s already there, a mindset I return to often in my Road Trip Travel Quotes.

Beijing definitely rewarded curiosity, but it also reminded me that even curiosity has limits—especially after wandering into a market selling bugs meant to be eaten, which I wrote about in Market With Bugs to Eat in China. I was adventurous right up until the chewing part.