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.

What stayed with me wasn’t just the food—it was the reminder that some of the most meaningful experiences come from engaging without overthinking. Travel works that way. Photography works that way. Life works that way. You don’t always need to know every detail in advance. Sometimes you need to recognise what’s in front of you and be willing to step into it.

Exploring together, trying something simple but unfamiliar, trusting experience over explanation—that’s where growth happens. It’s easy to stay within the comfortable edges of what you already know. But curiosity, when acted on, has a way of widening your view of the world.

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.