Traveling the World

Malaysian sunset

You’re en route from the center of a beautiful modern city to the outskirts almost 150km outside of town. You’ve spent the entire day running around trying to experience as much as you can, because tomorrow you’ll be on a plane to Australia. As the sun descends in the sky and is replaced by its sister Moon, you feel strangely happy being in this foreign land. You can’t remember the last time you enjoyed the heat coming off the surface of the sun and gently baking your skin at a nice temperature of 88F, just enough to make you a light brown but not enough to bake you all the way. It’s a great introduction to the following month you’ve been waiting to happen for almost a year.

The bus gently rolls along the highway as you pass suburban homes that remind you of your own home so far away. You long to return to the arms of your family and friends, but know it’s just a distant dream. You realize this is the best you have and enjoy it all you can before you return to the monotony of the daily grind. It is with this enjoyment of travel that keeps you going, and with it your eyes close to the gentle hum of the wheels along the road.

Brick Houses

Lovers Playground

To leave this area, we had to go back up the same way we came from, through the caves, the rice paddies, and through the village. We eventually landed up at the lunch table! The food we were served is pictured above, and they kept it coming. I felt bad about how much food the Chinese tourists were eating, so I didn’t eat as much as I could because I know they rely on this food for many things. As I sat there and ate their amazing food, the pouring rain was a symbolic reminder to me of their long-standing plight. I think the food tasted so good to me because it symbolized their love and hard work, as the food they grow is their main source of income.

Stage

We left after being there for most of the day, and it was a touching experience that opened my eyes to a new and different reality that exists within China. Talking with the locals gives you such a dismal view of minority life in China, quite different from the other minorities I’ve met here. The trip to this Miao village was awesome and completely worth the time and money. To participate in this amazing experience, call +8615874386223 or 0743-3225512, or check out their website at http://www.fhjlb.com

I’m a firm believer in this community, which in March of 2009 reached 1 million members. When I lived in America, I never had a chance to host people, as who the hell wants to travel to Gainesville! After moving to China, however, I’ve had many requests from strangers to stay with me. My first experience was meeting a Chinese girl who was traveling through Wuhan to return to her parents home for the holiday. She had already arranged a hostel nearby, but still messaged me with the intent to meet up. We spent a few hours talking in my apartment along with another of her friends, and they both seemed quite genuine and interesting.

My second experience with Couchsurfing was back in March, when I was messaged by two German guys, one who lives in Xi’an to the west of Wuhan, and the other was his friend traveling from Germany with him. They stayed with me for 4 days and slept on my couch, as the website suggests. Just because it’s called couchsurfing, however, doesn’t mean people are confined to sleeping on the couch. Some people are well off enough that they have spare beds for their guests. Other have no beds, and people must sleep on the floor or in a sleeping bag.

I think the idea of the community isn’t centered around sleeping; it’s centered around the idea of new experiences and sharing yourself with strangers, and it goes both ways. The host doesn’t know who the guest will be other than the information on their profile. The stranger also doesn’t know anything about the host. So when you finally meet, you can share your cultures with each other. I am glad to have hosted Germans, Irish, and Chinese people. As an American, these are people I rarely come into contact with when I live back home, so spending time with them when we’re away from our own cultures to begin with, makes for a much more special experience, and one that lets me learn more about the world.

In July, a filmmaker from Boulder, Colorado plans to spend a week with me. He is coming here to film one of the longest and best total eclipses, and apparently Wuhan is close to where you can see it the best. I am excited by the prospect of sharing in the experience of a total eclipse, as life in China can be quite boring sometimes, and something like this in the middle of summer will be quite enjoyable. So you see, Couchsurfing is more than just having someone stay with you. It’s about the experiences they can give you, and what you can give them in addition to a free place to stay.

I dare you to shed your fear of strangers that all of our societies has burdened us with, and sign up for Couchsurfing today. Make friends from around the world, and maybe even give them a home for a few days. It really makes us feel good when we’re traveling and a stranger opens their home to us. I look forward to my first experience being the guest and not the host.