“Kissing a stranger is like having an autumn leaf fall in your pocket,” writes Yang Ya-ching on her blog, according to Taiwan’s The Taipei Times. The 27-year-old Taiwanese woman should know: She’s set herself the goal of kissing 100 strangers while she studies music in Paris.
So far in two months (she started July 13) she’s notched up 54 smooches – plus nearly 2 million readers on her blog, where she posts photographic evidence of her kisses. (To go directly to the photo album, click here.)
“I came up with the idea three years ago,” she wrote on her blog. “Three of my four friends who were aware of the plan warned me that I might wind up getting slapped rather than kissed.”
Her first kiss: a workman outside the Musee D’Orsay.
Him: You want a kiss?!
Me: Yep, a kiss.
Him: Hmm, what type of kiss?
Me: Just a peck.
Him: Alright, I’ll do it.
Ya-Ching wrote on her blog: “I was a bit surprised by his response. I thought that Western people were very open. For a simple kiss, you’d think he’d say yes straight away. Thank god I didn’t ask him for a French kiss! He definitely wouldn’t have agreed to that.”
Among her victims/collaborators/suitors (one of whom – No. 48 – bit her lip): A factory worker, a model,a teacher, an Italian tourist and a soldier.
Her commenters seem equally divided between whether her project is romantic or repulsive. Ya-Ching, who plans to write a book about her experience, appears unfazed.
“Aren’t you afraid of catching a disease?” one asked.
“No,” she replied. “The more you’re afraid of, the less you accomplish.”
