mardi 12 juin 2007

After 11 weeks spent thumbs up in the Chinese territory, I am now outside of the empire of the middle. I recently received several emails asking for more details about my hitchhiking experience in China. I will therefore try to explain how I have been around and the main difficulties I had to face during my 15.000 kilometers in the third largest country of the world.

Hitchhiking around China was actually easier than expected. I certainly had some difficulties to overcome, some moments less easy than others and a few hours of walking on the side of the Chinese roads but overall, I am very happy to see that my favorite activity worked very well with our Chinese friends. Below, you will find a summary of some difficulties I had to go through :

Difficulties related to culture :

The concept of hitchhiking as we know it in the West doesn’t really exist in China. Taking a stranger in your car or truck free of charge is an unknown concept for most of the Chinese population and I had to explain several times what hitchhiking was about. Gestures were equally interesting. Standing thumb up on the side of the road means that all is going well, this gesture was therefore not appropriate in this country. When I first arrived in China, I didn’t know what gesture to use, I therefore tried the thumb up ; the reactions of some locals who didn’t understand what I meant with this gesture were very funny.

Below, see a photo while trying to stop a car on the side of the road.

Difficulties related to language :

Since I cannot speak a word of Mandarin or Cantonese, verbal communication was often difficult (the vast majority of the Chinese population does not speak any language I know). However, as in other countries I recently crossed, it did not prevent me from pursuing my journey. As always, it was at the petrol stations where I could approach drivers and find cars or trucks that would take me from one station to another. In order to explain the objectives of my journey, I often used my "magical document", written in each Asian language. See the photo below.

This document explains : "Hello, my name is Ludovic. I am a 29 year-old Frenchman. Since January 1st 2003, I have been touring the world by hitchhiking. My challenge consists in completing the tour of the world using hitchhiking as only means of transportation (using no train, no plane, no taxi, nor bus). I would like to reach the city of ....... Are you going in that direction ? If yes, could you please drop me off a bit further in a petrol station ? Thank you very much. Sorry I do not speak Chinese. Have a nice day".

In order to read more details about the objectives of my journey, locals could read some articles published in Chinese newspapers. Very useful ! See photos of a few articles below.

If you wish you watch the TV report made by CCTV, the main Chinese TV channel, you can click on the following link : http://news.cctv.com/society/20070112/100443.shtml (Chinese language) or you can watch another one, in English, made in Shanghai : http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=BNu6ngZ8naQ

Below, photo taken in the Himalaya mountains, while explaining my journey to some truck drivers, using my "magical document".

I will not hide you however that there has been a fair amount of frustrating moments, especially when local people tried to give me explanations that I could not understand at all. When I let them know I did not understand, they insisted, repeating the same thing louder. Still not understanding a thing, they would then take a piece of paper and write a message in Chinese characters. Seeing I was completely lost, they would then make a sign meaning “Good luck to you in the future”...

Difficulties related to signs :

I do not speak and therefore cannot read anything in Chinese. On the East coast, signs are often written both in Chinese and in our alphabet. However, it is often not the case in the interior of the country. Several times, I have been confronted to signs like this one (written in Chinese and Tibetan) :

Choosing the right direction when you are by yourself can sometimes be a challenge...

Difficulties related to government policy :

Although I mentioned hitchhiking in China was easier than expected, my crossing of Tibet was one of the most difficult parts of my tour of the world by hitchhiking (boat hitchhiking excepted). Tibet is a very sensitive area and police checkpoints are all over the place. Hitchhiking is strictly forbidden, several roads are closed to foreigners and a permit is theoretically needed for anyone who is not a citizen of China. In order to go around those rules, I had to hide in the back of many vehicles and always avoid the police, who would have immediately expelled me of the country had they known about me. You will find the complete story of the crossing of Tibet in a separate article.

Except for Tibet, the police was in general a source of help more than a source of problems. Chinese policemen were really nice and helpful during my journey and I would like to thank them. Below, a few photos taken with some policemen and other officials holding my world map.

As I said, except for a few hurdles on the way (getting lost in small villages, being dropped off in inconvenient places, having a hard time being understood...), hitchhiking in China has been overall pretty good, especially thanks to the kindness of the local population. Thank you China and see you soon. Below, photos of some people who made my Chinese trip very pleasant.

I am in India today, a country where I will stay for several months. Then, I plan to cross the Middle East ( Pakistan , Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , Iran ...) and slowly get back to France . I expect to be in France on January 1st 2008, exactly 5 years after I left my home country, on January 1st 2003.

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