As I walked down the streets of Shanghai with my family this week a hand came out of no where to pet my sons hair. This oddity has become a nearly daily occurrence here this week.

All week we’ve noticed that locals are staring. It’s not often they see a man with a 50 inch chest and a boy with sun bleached shimmering blonde hair walking down the street so I guess we are oddities here.

I’ve joked with my boy that he’s like a monkey with a red butt. How often do you see one of them walking down the street? He’s joked that I’m like a gorilla. How often do you see one of those in public? To make things even stranger, how often do you see a pair of them walking down the street? But still, the gorilla hasn’t gotten most of the stares — the monkey has.

I’d like to say it’s fathers superior genes that give him his natural good looks. His short cropped blonde hair is complemented by his steel blue eyes. He looks a lot like I did when I was his age but unlike me, his eyes have remained blue and his hair is still blonde in the summer.

Yesterday, at the Forbidden City in Beijing, a group of giggling girls, all about my sons age, asked if they could take a picture with him. He decided to accomodate them. They took turns — all 5 of them posing with my grinning boy. Damn, I thought, he’s only 11 and he’s already got them lining up. I’ll have to keep a close eye on this kid otherwise I’ll be a grandpa before I’m ready.

Clearly he’s the center of attention. He brings smiles to peoples faces and the women, apparently of all ages, are gushing over him.

But the random hair petting isn’t exactly his forte’. It’s almost as if people consider his hair to be public property which will give him a good sense for what some women go through in America when some people feel that patting a pregnant womans stomach is somehow their right.

I may also be different here, but this is a case where I don’t mind that no one wants to pet a gorilla.