A horsewoman sings national anthem at the beginning of rodeo show in Fort Worth, Texas. [Photo By Hu Yongqi/China Daily]

There is another less well-known university in Boston, Northeastern, and a friend there strongly recommended the Ducktour, an amphibious vehicle that goes to major attractions in downtown Boston and along the Charles River. The red and pointed-dome houses under clear blue sky were particularly impressive.

Three days later we took a Greyhound bus to New York, and before long, from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, we were lapping up the superb sight of Manhattan by night.

Climbing to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building and seeing the Statue of Liberty and Metropolitan Museum of Art are the obvious must-do's in New York, but often it is the smaller, less obvious things you observe on a tourist trip that tell you about a country and its people. For me some of those things gave me an insight into how American children cultivate a sense of independence from their parents.

At airports in Chicago, Boston, New York and Dallas it struck me that many toddlers carried their own bags containing food and water, unaided by their parents. On Madison Avenue in New York a group of seven or eight children were bound with a ribbon by their teacher on the way home. They followed instructions and proceeded along in high spirits.

Even if I could not quite build up an appetite for local cuisine, we did try to indulge in the kind of food that the locals eat, but ultimately it was pickles we took from China that we enjoyed most on our journey. On our last day in New York, I found a Chinese restaurant next to our hotel. The food was so tasty after five days without Chinese fare, and for the four of us this taste of home was a delight.

More and more Chinese tourists in the US are freeing themselves from the dependency that public transport inflicts on them and opting to use rental cars to get around. Nevertheless, that can be a little daunting for someone who has not driven in the US before.