So far we've been in China for a little over three weeks and have travelled to seven different cities in four quite different regions with different ethnic groups and dialects. Each has been unique in terms of food, culture, costumes, as well as levels of pollution, cleanliness, and comfort.

But one thing has been pretty consistent – besides the pollution . For the most part, we're travelling off the beaten path, so we're staying in Chinese-style hotels with Chinese tourists and eating Chinese food in Chinese restaurants with Chinese people.

Almost always we are the only Westerners in town. We've seen only a handful of non-Chinese tourists and these have been mainly Swedes.

I am constantly struck by how homogeneous Chinese society is, especially compared to multi-cultural Toronto. Even Xiaoyu has said that he would have difficulty distinguishing one ethnic group from another – all Hans look alike. But seriously, everyone here has straight black hair, unlike my curly brown and Carol's blond hair, they're darker than we are, and relatively shorter.

So in most towns, we stand out like sore "white" thumbs.

This has resulted in a lot of stares, a lot of giggles, some friendly exchanges, and occasionally some pretty odd behaviour. We're actually providing a lot of entertainment for the locals.

Older Chinese are especially struck by our odd appearance and stare and scowl, but people of all ages stare quite openly and for a long time – often to the point of bumping into things. They don't break a smile until we say "Ni hao" (hello) and then we get a big grin.

Usually it's the kids who attempt to say "hello" and want to engage in a limited but friendly conversation that usually goes like this: Hello . How are you? My name is ... This is the standard English they learn by rote in school. We usually reply with "Ni hao" and then try to get them to speak a bit of English. This is when the giggles start.

Often the children are encouraged by their parents to approach us because most of the kids are taking English as early as Grade 3 and they want their kids to practice. When we reply in English, everyone laughs and the parents beam with pride if their child says anything in return.

This happens most often outside a school when the kids are leaving for the day. Usually they are accompanied by a grandparent because both parents work here. This is a very endearing sight as elder men and women walk holding hands with their young charges, sometimes with a young baby in a papoose on their back.

The oddest exchange we had was outside a middle school where children in their early teens were getting out . One girl about 13 quickly looked up from friends, appeared quite startled by us, and then loudly announced in English, "You're white!"

Another odd experience was in a store in Guiyang where we were attempting to buy some almonds for a bus trip. We stopped to ask a clerk where they were and referred to our dictionary after practising how to say almonds in Chinese. As soon as we did this, a crowd formed around us waiting to hear what we would say.

For a change, we were actually understood and the clerk lead us away to the almonds followed by the giggling onlookers.

In a small Tibetan town on the border with Tibet, we attended a performance of folk dance and song. Again we we're the only Westerners in a room full of over 100 Chinese tourists. We learned how to make greetings in Tibetan and because we stood out the mike was shoved into my face where I attempted to repeat some strange phrase. This resulted in two things. First there were howls of laughter from everyone and second it marked me for more attention.

A few men from the audience were dragged from the crowd to perform a Tibetan dance. When the last victim was to be chosen the crowd yelled for, what I'm sure was, the "white guy".

I resisted as long as I could, but the crowd would not let me off the hook . This was fine until I was told that the punishment for not doing each dance move properly was to down three shots of that dreaded white liquor "Bai jiu".

Luckily, I performed the moves with the Tibetan scarves well because the hostess who made people drink seemed to get stuck on the number one even after the third shot had been consumed. Unluckily the whole dance was captured on film, so I can't deny that I was there.

But the most fun for us is when we're walking down a street lined with small open air shops where the owners are making everything from noodles to bicycle parts, aluminum window frames to roasted chestnuts. The whole family gets involved and work is done right there on the shop floor for all to see. Often the children are doing their school work amidst the debris.

They'll stare at us and when we say "Ni hao" they seem to melt and welcome us into their shop to see what they're doing. They're not trying to sell us the small cooking stove that they're making, they're just being friendly.

And this has been another constant during our travels here. Invariably people have been very friendly. They don't understand us and we don't have a clue what they're saying most of the time, but "Hello" seems to be universal. We're communicating on a different level and enjoying it.

I guess that's one of the reasons we're travelling.