Hi, this is Mix, say hello from the Panda city Chengdu, a gateway to roof of the world "Tibet".
I didn't understand backpacking until I met a Canadian lady Vicki in an English Chat Room on Paltalk - an application very few Chinese people used back then. She said that she was going to Songpan, and I said we can meet in Chengdu. I used my Chinglish to make an appointment with her, but her arrival was delayed. That was the year of september 11.
I met her in a 2-star Chinese hotel, frankly speaking I didn't understand why a foreigner would stay there. It was a "shitting" one in terms of the standard of facility compared to the starred hotel but later I realized that It was a very popular backpacker's base in Chengdu back then and also the only 2-star hotel in Chengdu that was officially allowed to acommodate foreigners. It was totally not the impression of the foreigners from "Hollywood Movies" and my mind was changed.
I invited her to take part in my mom's birthday, then she went traveling around Sichuan for quite a while and brought back lots of beautiful pictures. There was one that I still remember now is a picture with the action movie filming equipments and a thatched cottage set up in one of the lakes in Jiuzhaigou National Park, couple of years later I saw the exact scene in a movie called "Hero", directed by the super famous Chinese director "Zhang Yi Mou" who in 2008 directed the opening ceremony of "Beijing Olympic".
What amazed me the most actually was not those great shots, I was fascinated by the interesting stories happened on the road that she told me as well as how she figured out everything in traveling as a westerner who speaks no Chinese at all. I was utterly inspired, I started dreaming to have an adventurous trip like her.
My dream came true when Vicki's friend Mel, a Canadian Juwish guy arrived in Chengdu, first time long journey with him, a backpack and without guide brought me wonderful experience. He took me to stay in those cheap guesthouses, ate street food, visited quite a few places off the beaten, I never felt such free, I can slowly "chew" the natural or historical beauties and have it nicely digested, also after having the enjoyable night chitchat in remote villages on highland of southwest China, I looked at the "galaxy like" clear sky and started to think about my life, my future and many more....We met many interesting people on the road too. Time just went too fast, Mel finished his China trip and we had to say goodbye, he flew to Thailand afterwards and left me a Lonely Planet "Southwest China" as a little gift. Almost 20 days trip changed my life.
Then I wanted to travel further. From west Himalayan highland to the middle China's cradle of civillization, from gorgeous Karst peaks kingdom to vast gobi desert and fertile steppe of Mongolian plateau, from former colonial harbour city to marvelous construction project on earth the greatwall, I had read my country never been so from thousands of miles distance with little budget thanks to the backpacker guesthouses and hostels, they are cheap but the great resource of information and the home away from home. Since I started my 18 hours bumpy bus journey from Lhasa to Nepal, I have left my footprints by far in 19 countries across Asia and Europe.
From travels, I gained a lot of experience not only about how to travel, but also learnt a lot about how different country's people manage their guesthouse and hostel, what kind of service should be provided to travelers. I put it all into Mix Hostel later.
In the end of 2004, after couple of years life struggling in Shenzhen, and the haze of SARS epidemic completely gone, and a whole year on-bike-scan over the Chengdu city, I located a property. That was a rarely sunny day in Chengdu, I was sitting with my Korean friend "Huang" at the riverband opposite to this property.
"What about Mix&Backpacker's Guesthouse? It hints this place is run for backpackers and travelers" I asked Huang.
"Hm...I think it's good!" Huang said.
"Alright! Let's call it 'Mix&Backpacker's Guesthouse'".
1 Year later, we changed the name to "Mix Hostel" as it's easier to be remembered, and hostel had become one of the most popular backpacker's places in Chengdu.
I invited her to take part in my mom's birthday, then she went traveling around Sichuan for quite a while and brought back lots of beautiful pictures. There was one that I still remember now is a picture with the action movie filming equipments and a thatched cottage set up in one of the lakes in Jiuzhaigou National Park, couple of years later I saw the exact scene in a movie called "Hero", directed by the super famous Chinese director "Zhang Yi Mou" who in 2008 directed the opening ceremony of "Beijing Olympic".
My dream came true when Vicki's friend Mel, a Canadian Juwish guy arrived in Chengdu, first time long journey with him, a backpack and without guide brought me wonderful experience. He took me to stay in those cheap guesthouses, ate street food, visited quite a few places off the beaten, I never felt such free, I can slowly "chew" the natural or historical beauties and have it nicely digested, also after having the enjoyable night chitchat in remote villages on highland of southwest China, I looked at the "galaxy like" clear sky and started to think about my life, my future and many more....We met many interesting people on the road too. Time just went too fast, Mel finished his China trip and we had to say goodbye, he flew to Thailand afterwards and left me a Lonely Planet "Southwest China" as a little gift. Almost 20 days trip changed my life.