Yu's footprint

There’re thousands of times I want to go away and leave this life behind. There’re thousands of times I want to start revival on a totally different road. There’re thousands of times I want to move from one place to another to abandon the hypocritical society...That is what Chris thought about. So did I.

Reality is just like a terrible huge rift. So many cuts and wounds are contained in it. One day you may realize all things you hold tightly in your fist are not real. When you wake up in the morning, you may suddenly have no idea what you really want and what you actually get. You may forget what’s the meaning of this life you’ve lived for so many years. So you chose to leave. A huge backpack but with few money, a strong heart but has a little hope, a lot of people met during the journey but always walking alone. That was the way of your life. You called yourself a Supertramp.

You tried to find the truth of life. Closed to the wild nature, kept a clear destination in your mind, bravely got away from every companion on your road, and at last hided yourself into a freezing space. Chris, have you found the answer?

“Happiness only real when shared.” This was what you wrote by the end of your life. Life itself is an endless mystery, the meaning of it is love and happiness. You used your brief life to understand that.

Travel or tramp is not a way to escape. Though there’re so many disappointment in the life, there’re also so many things to treasure. Like family, like neighbors around, like the love from God. Every time when I want to go somewhere alone to escape from the gloomy reality, I know I’ll remember Chris.

I cannot express how much this film means to me, I only know each time when Chris’s weak smile appeared by the end of the movie, I had a strong wish to cry. Some people don’t really understand why he chose such a lonely life in the wild, but I do. Actually I feel this movie is made for a solitary group of people in this world, I am also one of them.

You really need to watch it: Into The Wild.

Carrying only 100 yuan (equals with 10 euro) to travel to somewhere more than 200km away for two days? Sleep in wonderful small hotel, have three good meals a day and even be companied by your personal tour guide. Impossible!! But you know what is my favourite saying? IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING. So, with 100 yuan I took on the train to Heijing.
Good traveler dares to take a risk. Start your journey with few money is a huge venture, but don’t take what I said at face value. I’m not that brave. I got a wonderful partner to be my fellow traveler. Kaul, my classmate in high school, shared all the expenses I paid. In the end, 100 yuan provided me a rattling trip.
My suggestions for those people who are lack of money right now but still bullheaded to insist traveling (unfortunately just like me) are: 1. Find one or more buddies to go together which can make your expenses divide into many parts. 2. Go to Heijing.
Now if you still doubt what I said above, don’t bother to read the things below. But if my words are so compelling that you’ve counted your coins and decided to go to Heijing, I have the suggestion No.3 for you: buy the ticket of slowest train. It’s rather cheap, the views along the railway are amazing, and the most important is you needn’t to be hurry. Heijing is such a small ancient town, you’ll find you have nothing to do but stare blankly, walk on the narrow road and fall in your deep thought.
I’ll offer some pics of the scene outside of the train. I wish it would be a powerful persuasion to let you choose the slow train.





Despite the low commodity prices (a plate of specially made dry beef only costs 10 yuan), what’s the biggest virtues of Heijing? Beyond peradventure it’s the History. Heijing bagan to produce and process salt more than 2,000 years ago. It became an important town in Chinese salt history. As government is the monopolist of salt, tea, sugar in the ancient China, Heijing became a strong supporter of the income of Chinese royal government. It turned rich and more and more flourish. In Qing Dynasty, the salt production of Heijing occupied more than 60% of the whole country. Just imagine that golden time, everyone in the town enjoyed a luxurious life. Here are the pics of the richest family Wu’s huge house. Don’t be jealous.



You may insist that you live in Heijing, since natives needn’t buy the entrance ticket. Though you look like a traveler with a big packet, though you don’t look like Chinese at all, you can still insist. Long long ago, a man of Heijing eneded his study abroad and brought back a French wife. It was unusual in the small town, but insisting you are one of their grand grand grand grandchildren is just fine. I can even show your French style house to you now.

And my suggetion No.4 comes here: never think about evading the ticket. First, everyone in the small town knows each other. You? A complete stranger. Second, without ticket means you are unable to visit some places, and have no right to ask for a free tour guide. So, be a good guy and obey the law.
Heijing doesn’t fit for everybody. If you are good at spending your night in pubs or together with a lot of people, Heijing is a wrong place. All the stores close early. If you are lucky enough (that means you’re not the only tourist), you’ll have the chance to get to know every onther visitors. I bet you can meet them more than 10 times a day in the town. It’s such a small place!
Heijing only fits for those people who are eager to get away from the normal life. I mean, you have to abandon the computer, abandon your business, even abandon yourself here. Just walk on the lovely streets, or on the narrow roads lead to the mountain, or even just sit in your room and open the window towards the Longchuan River. The best way to travel in Heijing is ---- spend several days without doing anything. Just breathing, feeling and thinking.
At last, I’ll paste some photos of the aspects of Heijing’s peaceful life.
1.The roads in the town are cute and delicate. You will never find two streets that look alike.



2.Live in the yard of Wang’s clan is a wise choice. This is the Longchuan river outside my window.

3.The funny dinner table in a restaurant and an interesting decration on the wall of somwone’s house.


4.Mountain, mountain, mountain. Mountains are everywhere.

That small wooden house often comes into my mind. I can still feel the atmosphere of that snowy afternoon in February. The sweet smell of boiling coffee, the huge German dogs lying outside of the glass door, the smiling and friendly hostess, and the white snow on the mountain. I’ll always remember everything of that quiet afternoon, remember that paradise in my inner side.

It was the second day after we arrived at Lugu Lake. The weather suddenly turned extreme, then God even brought us snow. Nothing in the world could be worse than spending holiday with snow but without fire and enough clothes, especially near the lake. We all felt so cold, and had no idea how to spend the tedious time after lunch. The local people were warm hearted, they gave us so many advice about how to get rid of coldness, they even gave us thick gloves! But Kumu, a beautiful Lugu girl, suddenly shouted with euphoria, ”Go to Paradise! There’s a fireplace!” What!? Nothing is more beckoning!

Paradise is a wooden cafe locates on the foot of the mountain, right beside the lake. Kumu didn’t tell us anything more. But it needn’t hypes, a fireplace was enough to make us have strong inclination to be there at once.

Our target mingled with several houses and huts. Its outside structure was generic. I noticed the wooden plaque on the top of its door, written “Paradise” with red paint. The hostess was a young lady, expecting us with warm smile. “Pretty cold day, isn’t it? Welcome!”

I glanced at the room. It was not big, but everything was bright and elaborate. My attention was caught by the big fireplace, obviously the air inside was lit by the fire. We chose a table with green wax printing cloth near the window fallen to the ground. Sitting on the soft sofa, we felt slack and satisfied. We asked for hot milktea, which was recommended by the hostess in such a freezing weather. I stared at the room again carefully, tried ro find every amazing detail. The cuntains were beautifully matched with light yellow gauze., and the decoration in each corner had different styles. Three big dogs were wandering in the small back yard outside of the glass door. A carpenter was making a table near the fire, occasionally he talked with the hostess about size, and pattern.
“I prepare to put a low table neat the stairs, to put some flowers. Do you think it’s a wonderful idea?” When the drink was served (in a cute china pot), the hostess asked us.
“Absolutely. A nice decration.” I replied.
“He’s a good carpenter. A native person.We’ve known each other since I came here.”
“You are not a lacal citizen?” We got a little surprise. It was such a remote place. Though the scenery was perfet, the traffic was inconvenient. Seldom people would like to stay here for a long time.
“No, I’m from Dali. Well, would you like some nuts? They are free in such a cold day.”
She went to take the nuts. They were meticulously placed in several glass bottles arranged in a cabinet. We drank the tea. The tasty liquid heated up our bodies immediately. Half an hour later, the boys wanted to go back to the frozen world again. The hostess told us there was a binoculars on the top of the mountain, so they decided to go. I prefered to stay indoor. I was obsessed with the quite and pure air around me. It WAS a paradise.

The hostess transported two piles of books from upstairs to my place. She decided to let me, the only visitor, spend whole day at her place with her. I even accidently found my favourite writer—Anne’s book! Gorgeous!

My hostess was busy all the time. Sweeping the floor, talking with the carpenter, feeding her dogs, and smiling to me. I suddenly realized there was nobody else working in this cafe. No waiter, no waitress. She ran this place just by herself? This idea was unbelievable, so I asked her.
“My husband is with me. Now he goes to buy flowerpots 200 km away. We need to raise more plants in the room.” She answered peacefully and full of happiness. “We’ve been here for five years. Yes, it’s a remote place. But I fell in love with the lake and the mountains at once. I couldn’t find a reason to leave here. The business sometimes is depressed. You see, there’re even no tourists in winter. This morning, there were only four Koreans came, but they just asked the way and left soon. And now, only you and I.” She smiled in a humorous way.
I didn’t ask her now that the business was bad, why they still stayed here. I thought I’ve understood the reason. I had a strong impulse to tell her I also wanted to live a life just like her. At an obscure place far away from the city, running a small hostel or cafe, with my man. But I didn’t let myself say it out.

The guys came back two hours later. They talked about the snow on the mountain, the things they saw from the binoculous, and the interesting natives. The hostess seemed so glad to know they had a good time. A craft came towards our direction with some tourists from Sichuan. They waved to us outside of the window, and we waved back. Everyone was friendly, like in the paradise.

We left before the sky turned dark. The hostess sent us to the door. When we walked on the narrow path along the lake, I had a strange feeling that I was just from another world. A world full of warmth, full of peace, full of happiness, and full of love.

I often think about Paradise, and hope to go back again. It’s a paradise hidden in a secret place, a paradise hidden in everyone’s heart.

It’s a bad title. If I were you, I won’t like it. It makes me think about a long boring list of goods and things. As an unprofessional traveler just like me, you can find a lot of unimportant things in my bag. You’ll find a heavy Bible; I believe I may need it when something happens. For example when I fail to find my way, God will be easier to recognize that I’m His people and send me an angel. You can also find a pile of modern world’s productions ---- my DV’s charger, my cellophane’s charger, my MP3’s charger... I hate long black wires, but I have to play a role in this hi-tech tragedy ---- they are always lying in my bag in a mess and reaaaaally make me crazy. This is not the worst. Finally you will find a group of heavyset guys. I also don’t understand why I have to carry so many books. Most of time I only holding them in my hands, admiring their colorful covers, spelling the writers’ names, and then putting them back into my bag. I’m always not in mood to read them, but I still keep carrying them! It’s just like a woman always goes out with a boring guy because she believes she should dating. Sounds ridiculous! When I put down a book on my table of the train to Luoping last month, it cought my neighboring passenger’s attention. It was a book about the history of love and sex in Europe. The reason I carried it with me was that I felt if a book described how the people flirted 300 years ago in a historical way, it must be an interesting travel companion. A young couple who were sitting right next to me stared the book cautiously and kept silent during the whole journey. They must thought one who study this on the train should be some kinds of freak, and they felt the topic of my book had some kinds of relationship with them and this made them worried. But actually I even didn’t touch the book for one second.

There are thousands of times I wanted to carry some more useless things on my way. For example, instrument.

Since the day I decided not to be a violinist, I felt I killed a way to survive by my own hands. I felt I was a murderer. I murdered the chance or excuse to play violin when I didn’t want to do my homework, I murdered a good job I could choose in the future, and the most important, I murdered my longtime hobby. My feeling about this didn’t stop until a guy in my school quit class and went away with his guitar. From that moment, going away with my violin slided into my mind. I dreamed to go to an unfamiliar place and played music there. I wasn’t sure if I had courage to stand in the middle of a square and played violin, but I admired those artists who did that. Always confident, always free, always share their music with others. I had so many ideas, like play a same song in different places and make a record of that, or just travel from one place to another with my violin, add music to my journey.

But up to now, during all my travels, among all my packages, there’s no space for a violin.

I still remember the journey from Hong Kong to Macao many years ago. Since Macao came back to China in 1999, it became a popular place that gathered thousands of tourists and gamblers from all over the world. We were on a small ship at that moment, my mother, my grandma and I. It was a windy morning. With the curiosity to a former colony, with the ambition to be a millionaire in casino, a load of people crowded on the deck, nobody preferred to be the last one to find the “ new continent ”. I cared about nothing. I just hold up the railing and felt sick. The sea was quite unstable, which gave me a strong feeling that I was sitting in a roller coaster. I threw up again and again, and that was only what I could remember. I didn't know how we got to the harbor, how we passed the customhouse. That was an exhausted memory of my childhood.

It was a way of journey. Tourists cannot always be very comfortable. Travelers are not that kind of person who are lying in the first-class carriage, drinking brandy and making their journey like staying at home. This is not the way I want.

I traveled to Lugu Lake in this February. The whole journey proved a theory: only took a risk can you approach the beauty.

It was an incredible way. Not only the unrivalled scenery around the whole journey ---- fabulous Jinsha River, elaborate terrace, primitive villages ---- made it unbelievable, but also the all dangers we met made this journey unforgettable.

When we passed a stoney road near the Jinsha River, my imagination was still floating above the perfect panorama right before my eyes, suddenly the bus driver shouted: “ Take care of the dropping stones! ” I realized there was a big slope full of stones stood by the road, outside of my window. The bus stopped, the driver calmly asked all passengers sitting on the right side of the bus paid attention to the dropping stones. “ You’d better move away from the window. ” We carefully passed the slope, as slowly as we could. I gazed at the stones deadly, thought if there was a boulder dropping on my window, I had no way to escape. Hallelujah we made it! The driver was a good guy. He didn’t tell us there was a bus being destroyed recently by the slope until we passed it. He also didn’t tell us it was only the beginning.

After spending nearly 40 minutes in a garage (one of our tires refused to work any more and ended its life), more than an hour in a Sichuan restaurant, we started a brand new way. Our bus carried us, and played as a climber towards the mountainous area. The bus zigzagged on the zigzag roads, this made me feel sleepy. I was quite familiar with the mountainous terrain of Yunnan, nothing made me worried, so I decided to close my eyes. Two women from Taiwan on the same bus screamed all the way, they might believe it was a fatal journey. Their extreme fear led the bus driver pressed the throttle with all his strength, he hoped to use this way to prove it was just a piece of cake. I fell asleep with confidence. When I felt the bus nearly walked haltingly, I opened my eyes. Was it a dream? I almost couldn’t see anything outside of the window. We were surrounded by the deep fog! Everyone on the bus fell into a terrible still, including the women from Taiwan. We fumbled the road with the driver, like Madam Curie fumbled her way in chemistry. My gosh! If I died here, I even didn’t know where it was!

Finally, with triumphal smile, our captain broke through the fog. Oh captain, my captain! But obviously, this was not the worst thing. On the contrary, far more than the worst.

As the elevation was higher, the weather was worse. In the end, it even began to snow. Some natives on the bus cried happily: it was the first snow in the year. Usually it was considered to be a symbol of good harvest. But I couldn’t be happy. The road was covered with ice, and what made things worse was that, we were moving down from slopes! At the top of a steepest slope, our captain could not bear our shouting any longer, he stopped the bus, and shouted back: “ You, all of you, get off, walk ahead and wait there! ” We dared not to disobey, and soon I treaded on the soft snow. Nice feeling! When I nearly forgot the danger we faced just now, something came into my vision ---- a rushing bus! Our captain crazily steered his ship passing by his distrustful crew with mocking smile. Wow!

When we arrived at Lugu Lake, everything was in the dark. It was not a nightmare, it was the most exciting dream I’ve ever had. We took 8 hours on the way. Eight hours to cross 300km!

When I sat in a pub near the lake in that deep night, I felt really happy. What a risk I took! And what amazing scenery right before my eyes! I still alive, what a euphoria and sensation in my heart!

way to Lugu Lake