Harold's Blog

How Digital Nomads Choose Their Living Environment

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0800

For over a year, I have stayed in 8 cities across 7 countries during my travels, mostly in AirBnb homestays, and also in two co-living communities. I have some personal insights on long-term living environments suitable for remote work (over a month).

Gap Year Timeline

🌆In terms of city climate, Yunnan Dali, Thailand Chiang Mai, Malaysia Penang, and Indonesia Bali are highly recommended.

Chinese culture: Dali > Penang > Chiang Mai;
Number of digital nomad communities: Chiang Mai > Bali > Dali > Penang;
International atmosphere (density of European and American tourists): Bali > Chiang Mai > Penang > Dali;
Natural scenery: Bali (volcanoes, beaches, rice fields, fireflies) > Dali (Cangshan, Erhai, farmlands) > Penang (coastal, foothills) > Chiang Mai (mountains);
Interesting activities: Chiang Mai (nightclubs, markets, food, temples) > Dali (markets, community sharing) > Bali (yoga, gatherings) > Penang (night market stalls, shopping malls);
Cost of living: Dali < Chiang Mai < Bali < Penang;
Vegetarian friendliness: Penang has the least, while the other three cities have many options; Dali offers free vegetarian food, Chiang Mai has the most vegetarian choices, and Bali’s vegetarian food is more similar to Western styles.

Gap Year Expenses

🏠In choosing accommodation, I personally prefer living in co-living communities or apartments close to them. Because in a foreign land, a certain amount of social interaction gives a greater sense of belonging, avoids depression from being alone, and facilitates gathering and sharing more information and resources.

Specific to living conditions, the ideal hardware and software conditions are as follows. Hardware conditions for accommodation:

Independent or shared clean bathroom, with hot showers available morning and night. (Necessary condition)
Sufficient washing machines for multiple people to use without frequent queuing; wind and rain-proof drying conditions. Or outsourced laundry service, 10 yuan per time, returned washed and dried within 2 days. (Necessary condition)
Single rooms with a desk and chair. (Necessary condition)
Warm in winter and cool in summer. (Necessary; the climate in Chiang Mai, Penang, and Bali meets this; Dali has plenty of sunshine in winter, but you need thicker blankets, thin blankets + electric blankets are not enough)
Stable electricity and internet, without frequent power outages or network disconnections. (Necessary)

Dali NCC Community Rooftop

Software conditions for the community:

At least one sharing event per week, encouraging residents to initiate sharing, with a screen or projector.
Diverse community members: content creators (writers, bloggers), health coaches (fitness instructors, spiritual mentors, bio-nutritionists), internet professionals (engineers, designers, investors).
The community manager is present long-term, actively initiating and promoting community activities, encouraging other members to spontaneously initiate activities through co-living rules (residence requirements) or rewards (community creative works or tokens or points).
Weekly community-wide exchange activities, with each person speaking in turn but controlling the time, to reflect and review thoughts from the past week.

Dali NCC Community Weekly Inspiration Canteen

How to Import Your Apple Podcast Subscription List into Other Podcast Apps

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 10:53:54 +0700

Foreword: I am a podcast lover, also an indie hacker. I have used Apple Podcasts, Overcast and Pocket Casts, but never totally content with them. So instead, I developed my own Podcast Player called Podventure. (If you are a podcast lover like me, maybe you would also love it, why not give it a try?)

1 What is OPML Format

OPML files are a universal format for saving podcast subscription lists used by podcast apps. It’s a text file that can be opened with any text editor, containing a list of URLs for podcast data retrieval.

Podcast apps can read OPML files to import information about the podcasts you’re subscribed to (RSS addresses).

2 Export Your Apple Podcast Subscription List into Other Podcast Apps

Firstly, open the iCloud Link for shortcuts, add it to your Shortcuts, and run this shortcut to save the subscription list to a file:

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/44009520675540d7945263e088f6e915

(This shortcut link is created and maintained by Harold, and the latest version can be obtained from https://haroldgao.com/post/opml)

Then, choose your target podcast app and add the OPML file:

3 Import OPML into your Apple Podcast

Firstly, export an OPML file from your third-part Podcasts app like OverCast;

Secondly, share the file and click Copy to get the text content of it to your clipboard;

Thirdly, start the shortcut command, which will read your clipboard and add all the podcasts to your Apple Podcasts app:

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ebc8a7c9b31d4cada78b6600933e2e48

(This shortcut link is created and maintained by Harold, and the latest version can be obtained from https://haroldgao.com/post/opml)

P.S. OPML Format Specification

OPML files are a simple XML format used for list management, widely used for RSS feed subscriptions. It can be understood as a multi-branched tree, where each node is called an outline. Each node can either be the end of a branch or can split into other branches.

Because podcast lists only need to provide a list node, they usually have only one layer of outline (used by Overcast) or two layers (used by Pocket Podcast).

The single-layer structure used by Overcast looks like this:

1
2
3

<outline showOneData/>
<outline showTwoData/>
<outline showThreeData/>

Pocket Podcast’s two-layer structure, which includes a root node outline, looks like this:

<outline>
  <outline showOneData/>
  <outline showTwoData/>
  <outline showThreeData/>
</outline>

The data format for a podcast is an RSS file. The most basic outline node in a generic OPML file contains a text field for the podcast show name and an xmlUrl field for the RSS file download URL of the podcast show.

All data for a podcast are stored in the RSS file, which includes the podcast’s introduction, images, categories, etc., and an item list that stores the title of each episode, show notes, images, duration, audio file download URL, etc.

Generic podcast apps can subscribe to a podcast show list or display all information for a single podcast show by parsing these generic OPML or RSS files. Podventure is one such generic podcast app.

English Recommendation 2: Evening Mist Garden + View of Happiness

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:26:03 +0700

(This essay is translated from zh-CN)

Author’s note : On July 1, 2023, I started my first overseas trip from Hong Kong Airport. A very important goal during the trip was to understand English podcasts. Intensive listening to Chinese podcasts over the past few years has had a huge impact on me. I’m curious, what inspiration will the world of English podcasts bring me? I have switched most of my daily information input to English. This series serves as a monthly review of English input and recommends some of my favorite podcasts and texts from the previous month.

Here are my favorite podcasts and texts from November:

1. Podcast: Evening Mist Garden

Tan Twan Eng Special - The Garden of Evening Mists

In 2023, the 51-year-old Malaysian Chinese writer Tan Twan Eng won his third Commonwealth Booker Prize for his third novel. He worked as a lawyer for five years, fulfilling his parents’ expectations of him, and then quit his job to write full-time. At the age of 35, he published his first novel and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His parents were relieved.

This podcast from Malaysia interviews the author and talks about his second novel, “The Garden of Evening Mist”, which was adapted into a movie. This novel tells the story of how during World War II, the Japanese army established a concentration camp in the rainforest whose location was unknown in Malaysia. After World War II, the only survivor of the concentration camp, in order to fulfill her sister’s last wish—to build a Japanese-style garden, commissioned a design for the emperor. The Japanese gardener of the garden became his apprentice. It was a period of civil strife in Malaysia and the British had not yet ended their colonial rule. Forty years later, before the memory disappeared, the protagonist returned to the garden and began to recall the past stories.

The story is interspersed in four languages: English, Cantonese, Malay, and Japanese. The protagonist Yunlin is a Bay Area Chinese who cannot speak Chinese ( Strait Chinese refers to the former British Bay Area colony established in 1826-including Strait Chinese). (Melaka, Singapore, Nanyang Chinese), introduced the historical background and social life of Malaysia at that time through her perspective.

The English accent of the Malaysian and Singaporean podcasts is very standard, close to the British accent. Their chat content contains many fragments of Chinese lifestyle, so it sounds very friendly.

(Picture note: The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Tai Pudu Village, Sanjiao District, Penang was built in 1882. During the civil strife after the Japanese occupation, the British colonial government established fenced villages and restricted the contact between Chinese and Communist rebels. The villagers came and went, and the Church of the Sacred Heart of Christ was abandoned and destroyed in disrepair)

2. Text: Navarre’s View of Happiness

Happiness

The most important themes in life are health, wealth, and happiness. The last issue recommended Navarre’s view on wealth, and this issue recommends his view on happiness and wealth. This is a 40-minute podcast transcript. Here are some snippets:

Money cannot buy happiness, but money can buy freedom and time, which can support you to stay away from things that make you unhappy.
Health is the cornerstone of everything. A healthy person has a thousand wishes, but a sick person has only one wish.
Individuals seek truth, while collectives seek compromise. Often what society wants you to do is not the best choice for you personally.
Pursuing the truth can help you lead to happiness. I often think about whether the social consensus is right and whether it is suitable for individuals, such as “rich people are not happy” or “school is a place for education.” Guilt is society programming you so effectively that you censor yourself. (When I was in college, it took me a long time to overcome the psychological reflex of “feeling guilty if I don’t study.” Now I think about it, this is also an acquired social programming mode)
The pursuit of happiness means the pursuit of peace. The pursuit of peace requires getting rid of self-conflict, and self-improvement is a self-conflict in disguise. We even have to let go of the idea of self-improvement, and instead pursue our natural curiosity to see and understand the truth of the goal we want. After understanding, the result of self-improvement will appear naturally.

English Recommendation 1: Youth Pi + View of Wealth

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 08:26:03 +0700

(This essay is translated from zh-CN)

On July 1st this year, I started my first overseas trip from Hong Kong Airport. A very important goal during the trip was to understand English podcasts. Intensive listening to Chinese podcasts over the past few years has had a huge impact on me. I’m curious, what inspiration will the world of English podcasts bring me? I have switched most of my daily information input to English. This series serves as a monthly review of English input and recommends some of my favorite podcasts and texts from the previous month.

Here are my favorite podcasts and texts from October:

1. Podcast: Life of Pi

Before and After Pi: Yann Martel in conversation with Jerry Pinto

An anchor with a slight Indian accent conducted an interview with Yann Martel, the original author of “Life of Pi”. Yann’s English accent is very nice. This one-hour podcast explains almost all the details in the book. It is the most detailed explanation of the book among the related podcasts I have listened to so far. for example:

Pi drifted at sea for 227 days before finally landing. 227 is a prime number that can only be divided by 1 and itself, symbolizing the uniqueness of this story; 22 divided by 7 equals a decimal close to 3.14, which is also related to Pi.
A mysterious island composed of a carnivorous green plant ecosystem at night, and another drifting man Pi met while drifting. These incredible plots are arranged to bring readers out of the drama and realize the fantasy of this version, so that When the author slowly tells another more true but crueler version at the end, the reader can choose which version to accept.

Confronting Your Fears and Taking a Leap

Because this is the first article in the English recommendation series, I would like to share one more podcast that I listened to in September. The host of the Indie Hacker podcast interviewed Pieter Level, an independent developer of Nomad List. I was very inspired by Level’s action of releasing an independently developed product every month for 12 consecutive months. He also wrote an e-book for independent developers , which is very practical (read it more than twice, and many of the views can be compared with Paul Gram’s As a venture capitalist’s blog corroborates each other).

To create a good product, you don’t need to be a good designer or a good programmer; what you need is to use the way you are good at to solve real problems, continue to solve problems, continue to deliver new products, and let Paying users tell you which product is good.
Focus on solving real problems (preferably starting with your own problems), not cool technologies, not new programming languages, not new development frameworks, just use the tools you are most familiar with.
Find problems in your own life and turn them into seeds for your product. If I were to assign you any homework, it would be to list 3 problems in your life every day for a week and see which of these 21 problems can become your next product.

2. Text: Navarre’s view of wealth

Get wealthy without being lucky

This article is actually a transcript of the podcast. The podcast is 4 hours long and is suitable for extensive listening. The text version has subtitles to make it clearer and easier to read, making it easier to look up some new words. You can also click on the link to see more reference materials.

This blog post is based on a series of Naval’s tweets about wealth, explaining in detail the logic behind each of them. It is a key reference source for the wealth chapter of the book “Naval Book”.

There is a similar point of view in the sharing of Naval, Paul Gram, and Pieter Level, which can be summarized as what Ren told me in Dali three years ago, “Take what you like to the extreme, and opportunities will naturally appear.” Only by doing something you like can you put in a hundred times more energy without feeling like you are working, and you will stick to it for a long time.

I recently re-read the English version of “Siddhartha” and found that Siddhartha also said similar words when explaining to the famous courtesan Kamala why he could become rich so smoothly, explaining why a clear and firm goal Very important , (the following is a free translation):

“When you throw a pebble into the water, it will quickly fall to the bottom. When I have a goal and a determination, things will progress as smoothly as the pebble falling to the bottom. I don’t No matter what magic spell I use to practice, I do nothing. I just concentrate on letting the goal guide me forward. No other distracting thoughts can enter my mind. Ordinary people think that I use magic spells to make it so smooth. In fact, everyone Everyone can have such a ‘magic’, and everyone can achieve his goals, as long as he can think, wait, and fast.”

When explaining why “fasting” is important to the businessman Kamaswami, Siddhartha said, “If a person has no money to buy food, then the ability to fast (endure hunger) is important to him, because then he can I won’t succumb to hunger and make some wrong decisions.” Personally, I feel that this corresponds to wealth management, that is, being able to get used to a simple life with low consumption desire. People with real wealth freedom are not necessarily people with a lot of wealth, but people who have far more than they need. If the basic living standards you need are easily met, you can feel more comfortable doing the things you love without worrying about being able to meet your living expenses.

PS What are you passionate about?

Originally I was just sharing the content of the first two chapters. After writing it down, I found that the next question arose: For friends who don’t know what they like yet, how do they find what they like?

If you think you like to do something but haven’t done it yet, do it quickly. You can learn more by doing it yourself than by watching others do it. No matter how difficult it is, you can still find the first, second, and third steps that you can take now. Take three small steps first and feel whether you like it or not during the action. For example, on May Day in 2022, after I came back from a trip to Yangshuo , I wanted to learn guitar on a whim. I watched guitar self-study videos online for a while, and soon bought a folk guitar and started self-study. After three months, I felt that I couldn’t persist in self-study. I started taking lessons at a music store and took lessons for more than half a year until I started traveling. During this period, I was constantly feeling and questioning whether playing guitar was something I liked to do.
But many times, you have already done the things you like. What you need is to abandon distracting thoughts like Siddhartha and hear the signals the universe gives you. It is recommended that everyone record their thoughts. Writing can help you think better . Trust your intuition, trust your inner voice, and the universe will speak to you when you are on the right path.
The law of the universe is that you can achieve anything you want to do, but you cannot achieve everything you want to do. So you need to narrow the scope of what you want to do to a few specific things, and often remind yourself what you can do for these important things today.

In 28, my 4th month of traveling around the world

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:58:08 +0700

In mid-October 2023, the fourth month of his global travel, Harold spent his 28th birthday in Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand. This article serves as a midway review of the gap year, looking back on the experiences, gains, and confusions along the way.

1. Why set out

In January 2023, I was celebrating the Spring Festival at my aunt’s house at the foot of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. Watching a group of fluffy chicks trembling across the chicken coop and jumping down the steps under the warm winter sun, a strong impulse swept through my heart. Lai: I want to live the life of a digital nomad, and my annual theme in 2023 will be to explore the life of a digital nomad!

This seed was planted in 2020. That year I resigned from my first company after graduation and came to live in the ancient city of Dali for two months. I saw a brand new way of life and another aspect of life. One possibility is that that year I first met the group of digital nomads.

I don’t like the 9-to-5 busyness in the reinforced concrete city, the crowded but silent loneliness in the subway, and the depressing feeling in the office cubicle. When I came to Dali, I finally saw that outside the mainstream narrative, there was a group of people living a free, romantic and simple life. Simplicity is what suits me. I sat on a wooden bench with a bowl of Yirantang’s 5-yuan vegetarian buffet, watching the sunset put away its brilliance among the clouds on Cangshan Mountain. The peace in my heart at that moment was extremely precious. I also like to watch my senior brother reading a book while basking in the sun on the deck chair of the vegetarian restaurant. I also like to stand alone under the century-old cedar tree in front of Wuwei Temple and feel its quiet and solemn time-traveling. I prefer simple freedom to refined restraint.

At that time, I saw the possibility of another way of life, but how to reach this possibility, I didn’t know yet.

More than two years later, suddenly this seed broke through the ground, its voice clear and strong, and I had to do something.

During the Lantern Festival, I stayed at a temple in Shanwei, Guangdong for two nights. Before leaving on the last day, everyone sat in a circle and everyone told their own story. I saw the views of life held by people from different professions. trauma, confusion and hope; in February, I joined the “Digital Nomad” writing class of the Sandwich Writing Community, read Lin An’s “Only Working, Not Going to Work” and Tim Ferris’s “4 Hours of Work Week”, and wrote about my understanding of digital every day The thoughts of homeless people; in March, I signed up for the fourth character interview course by Yilan, the host of “Dali Haozai”, to learn more skills of deep connection with people, and completed my first character interview; in April, I read Fu The true Southeast Asian travel diary “The Boat of Disconnection” and the novel “Zebra” collect travel notes in Southeast Asia; in May, I sent a resignation email after May Day, and participated in the offline sharing of Lin An, the founder of the Free Living Room, in Shenzhen . I went to Guangzhou for a Philippine visa interview and participated in two offline activities of 706 Guangzhou. I received a small request to use code to process art project data .

When I shouted my desire clearly and strongly in my mind, all the relevant information came to me like the echo of the universe. All I needed was to grab them, act decisively, and explore how to achieve this possibility. .

I decided to quit my job and start a new adventure. Since there are few opportunities for remote work in China, let’s look abroad. Since you can’t always take action at home, put yourself in a foreign environment. So I decided to start an overseas gap year trip. For more than a year, I didn’t think about finding a job at all. I just focused on exploring the lifestyle of digital nomads and collecting relevant information while traveling abroad.

2. During the trip

In June, I resigned from my second company after graduation. In July, I arrived in Boracay Island, Philippines to learn English. In August, I walked in the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. In September, I tasted Fujian food at the night market in Penang, Malaysia, 10 I came to Thailand 🇹🇭 in Chiang Mai to experience the digital nomad atmosphere here. In November, I went to Bangkok to participate in a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat. Then I went to Laos 🇱🇦 Luang Prabang, and returned to China 🇨🇳 to apply for a US visa in mid-December.

That’s the plan for the first half of the interval. The cities chosen in the plan, except Boracay for learning English, are all selected from the Nomad List as the most popular (and inexpensive) cities for digital nomads in Southeast Asian countries.

I am not a person who particularly likes to travel. I am not very keen on historical sites and internet celebrity attractions. In comparison, I am more interested in people. That trip to Dali allowed me to experience another way of traveling. I loved the possibility of spending more than a week immersing myself in an unfamiliar environment and building deep connections with strangers. Everyone is like a book, I pass by them, read them, talk to them, we see each other.

So I will stay in each city for a month, hoping to establish deeper connections with local people.

Travel is not expensive. Many people have the impression that traveling is expensive because most of the time they travel during the holidays, when air tickets and hotel prices double. The holidays are short, so most of the money is spent on transportation and accommodation. Once the travel time is extended to more than a month, and you choose to stay in a homestay or youth hostel that is friendly to the people, and only have one long-distance transportation per month, then the monthly expenses will be the same as the monthly living expenses in Shenzhen (for these 4 months, my Expense accounting confirms this).

I will record every expense, such as buying long-term medical insurance from Alipay for 22.13 yuan per month, or buying a banana at 711 for 1 yuan, and choose how much food to eat every day according to the budget to prevent myself from relying solely on my feelings. Too much money was spent.

3. Harvest

The most obvious thing is that I have had the opportunity to fully practice English. By reading a lot of English novels, listening to English podcasts, and recognizing words in daily life scenes, the door to the English information world has opened to me. In order to buy commonly used toners in China, I went to the supermarket three times in Bali. The first time I bought the deodorant Deodorant (I almost put it on my face), the second time I bought the makeup remover Micellar Water, and the third time I bought the makeup remover Micellar Water. I bought Body Lotion, but it wasn’t until I went to a supermarket in Penang that I bought the toner I wanted, Water Lotion. (At this stage, we have also encountered new bottlenecks in English learning, which will be discussed in the next part)

On the way, I met people of different ages, different life stages, different majors, and different countries who were also on the journey. I believe meeting them will plant new seeds in my heart. What kind of fruits will they bear? Unknown.

I am getting closer to independent development. I learned the story of Nomad List developer Levels from listening to podcasts, and gained a very careful summary of independent development experience from his blog and podcast. In Chiang Mai, I reunited with Ren, a programmer I met in Dali, and Daniel, the co-founder of Dali Hub, who helped me embark on the path of independent development.

4. Confusion

How to communicate with parents

I told my parents about my intention to resign three months in advance. Because I know I can’t hide it. If they find out that I have resigned, they will be very panicked. I hope to tell them in advance so that they can slowly accept it.

When he heard for the first time that I was resigning again, my dad’s face changed instantly. He was silent for a while and couldn’t speak. When he spoke again, his voice was as tired as a patient who had not recovered from a serious illness. He didn’t say much. He hung up the phone after saying that. After hanging up the phone, I started crying.

My parents and I have very different ideas. I can only open the channel, slowly explain my thoughts to them, and listen to their advice and uneasiness. Keep the lines of communication open and allow time to soothe emotional excitement.

Bottlenecks in English Learning

Although I am now inputting English intensively with increasing intensity, the output is still very difficult. I cannot write an authentic English article fluently, and I often still get stuck when expressing myself in spoken English. Although I believe that a large amount of comprehensible input will eventually lead to incredible breakthroughs in output, I am not sure how long this will take.

The lack of fluency in English communication is also accompanied by the inability to integrate into Western activities. Of course, there are also cultural differences. I often can’t find anyone I can talk to at dinner parties with Westerners, so Chinese-speaking circles attract me more. But because I was speaking less Chinese and more English, I sometimes drifted outside the two circles. This not only reduced my exposure to the Chinese circle, but also made me unable to integrate into the English circle, which increased my sense of loneliness. In Chiang Mai, I live in the Chinese-speaking community 706 Chiang Mai , and I also go to participate in offline sharing in MuChiangMai, an international community with many Chinese people. This may be a good balance.

Exploring what I want to do

Six months before leaving my job, my daily tasks were to play guitar, learn Spanish, and write a 300-word daily journal every morning.

Playing guitar for half an hour after work allows me to switch from the world of work to the world of music. When I can keep up with the metronome to finish a piece of music, the music seems to guide my body to flow. Music is that mysterious spiritual world. The energy in the music, and I connected with this energy by playing the music.

Learn Spanish in preparation for a trip to South America.

I started writing to join a community and meet new friends. Later I found that writing can help me think and summarize better. 4 months of continuous writing helped me put my annual wish of being a “digital nomad” from idea to action.

When I arrived in the Philippines with a ukulele, my daily routine couldn’t continue. The ukulele is not as fun as the guitar; daily recording in Chinese interferes with the formation of my English thinking. So I gave up on those two items and formed new ones: one was morning meditation and the other was to start reading English novels. I was still learning Spanish, but I stopped learning Spanish shortly after arriving in Bali.

When I was in transit at Manila Airport in the Philippines, I had some trouble understanding the English spoken by the staff at the baggage check-in desk and the airport announcement, which made me determined to improve my English listening skills. After arriving in Bali, I spent more time watching unsubtitled English-language TV series on Netflix and reading English-language YA novels. I have spent so much time learning English since I was a child, but I still cannot listen and speak fluently at my current level. So how long will it take me to learn Spanish to a level that I can communicate during travel? ? So I took a break from Spanish, and my English was enough for me to travel around the world.

During the month I was in Bali, I was still writing an English diary every day. I put it on the Internet and asked native English speakers to help me revise it. It took me a month to revise it. This process was not fun, so I stopped writing when I arrived in Penang.

After arriving in Penang, I started listening to a lot of English podcasts. When I left Penang, I was sitting at the airport. When I heard the airport announcement again, I found that I could understand most of it.

My daily routine at this stage is typing in English podcasts and novels, trying to develop independent projects, and meditating. These are things that, after a period of iteration, I found myself interested in doing over the long term. But these things have not yet formed a project that can be used as a career. I want a profitable and interesting project that allows me to continue my nomadic life for a long time. As it stands, if my independent development project can be profitable and cover my daily expenses, I will have achieved my goal.

Life of Pi

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 10:53:54 +0700

I had watched the film adapted by Taiwanese director Ang Lee. So when I found it on the shelf in the hotel at Penang, I chose it to be the next book to read.

The story is very interesting. And the book is dedicatedly divided into 3 parts.

The first part tells the background of the family. The father of Pi ran a zoo in India. Pi grew up in this zoo. This background information is lengthy but helpful for explaining the knowledge Pi has to deal with and tame a Bengal tiger.
The second part tells how the wreck happened to Pi and his amazing stories in the following 227 days on the sea.
The last part is short but astonishing because it provides another cruel version of the story from the records of the officers who are investigating the wreck.

[1] Yann Martel talked to BBC World Book Club in April 2014, BBC website link & Apple Podcasts link

[2] Ang Lee talked about the movie in Meet the Filmmaker in December 2012, Apple Podcasts link

[3] Ang Lee discussed his life and career in an HOB Directors Dialogue in 2012, Apple Podcasts link

Chinese podcast recommendations

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 08:51:51 +0700

Podcast is an audio program format similar to ancient radio stations. It costs less to produce than video content and more than text content. Listening to podcasts is much easier than reading text, and it is easier to gain more in-depth and detailed insights by listening to podcasts than watching videos.

For me, the most attractive thing about listening to podcasts is the companionship and nourishment. It’s like sitting among a group of people and listening to them chatting. You can feel everyone’s voice and smile through the sound, and feel the atmosphere of the conversation at that time. What’s more, The important thing is that you can discover a lot of interesting people and open up a lot of interesting worlds through a favorite podcast.

Starting from listening to Ms. F’s monthly updated radio program on NetEase Cloud Music in 2015, to listening to “Be Fortunate” on Himalaya, and then to listening to a lot of podcasts using the dedicated podcast application “Little Universe” in 2019, my history of listening to podcasts It’s been over 8 years. Podcasts have had a lot of influence on me. “Speaking of the Evening Breeze” prompted me to travel to Dali for 2 months after leaving my job in 2020. Digital nomad-related podcasts prompted me to quit my job and start taking a gap year in 2023.

Here I would like to share with you some podcast programs that I have heard very much, maybe you can also find your favorite program among them. (Unless otherwise specified, all podcasts can be listened to in the “Little Universe” APP.)

[TOC]

Miss F’s radio series

Miss F’s radio station belongs to the humanities and social sciences category. She majors in journalism and communication, and her mother is a professional radio host. Therefore, her podcast performs well in terms of soundtrack, sound quality, editing and pronunciation. It is recommended to listen to NetEase Cloud Music, because in addition to the programs exclusively broadcast by NetEase Cloud Music, you can also see the anchor’s messages and listener comments from many years ago. As Miss F said, “Use your own voice to interpret your own words.” Her podcast is written first and then interpreted, and each issue has a complete text version.

" Mortal Corner “: It has a history of eight years, from the early monthly update to the current annual update. Rich in emotion and full of ideal and romantic temperament, it often moves people to tears. " 001 A small room to hold all of myself “, the first episode of the podcast, the story starts here; " 016 Not just a love story " you can hear how a professional anchor uses multiple voices to interpret an interesting and touching scene Love story; " 029 Me as a Child and Me as I Grow Up " allows you to hear the voice of your inner child; " 100 Stories of Books and Fire " was released in Guangzhou at the end of 2022, although all we talked about were novels , but it is also a reflection on the social events we were experiencing at that time.
" Mortal Love “: Exclusively played by NetEase Cloud Music, each issue talks about different aspects of love from a movie. " Vol. 5 Humans Fall in Love with AI " is about the science fiction movie Hers, a love story between humans and artificial intelligence. When it comes to love, perhaps artificial intelligence can see more clearly.

“Evening Breeze Says” by Jade

The podcast that has had the most profound impact on me contains a large number of interviews with people who have lived in Dali, and historical records of the life journeys of many ordinary and interesting people. The podcast content has been deleted by the host from all platforms and cannot be listened to in Xiaouniverse.

" E104 Ba Ya Ya | Please enjoy your ice and snow alone .” Ba Yamo’s collection of poems is one of the few that I can read in its entirety. As the cover of her collection says, “People say that gentle people have wisdom. I don’t want wisdom, just gentleness.”
" E89 Huanzi | Before the advent of artificial wombs, equality between men and women was impossible. " This sensitive topic was discussed in more depth along with a news incident involving a certain female star at the time. Some topics are better avoided than faced.
" E70 Jade & Doudou (Fu Lu Shou) “. The opening song made me want to stop playing. From this podcast, I got to know a psychedelic band Fu Lu Shou that I really like and a sci-fi drama “Loop Story” that I really like. Later, I met a good friend in Dali who also liked this band.
" E50 Jade & Li Jianzhang “. Lao Li is a Dali pottery maker. This is the first time I have met such a sincere person. “Truth” always comes first among “truth, goodness and beauty”. “Truth” means being cold and not kidnapped by morality and filial piety.
Jade’s other great podcasts are guest appearances with other podcasts. For everyone’s convenience, they are placed in the chapters of “Getting carried away”, “Tavern”, and “God loves to play with money”.

Zhang Xiaoyu’s “getting carried away”

Zhang Xiaoyu is an investor with a background in finance. She can chat with the spiritual blogger Xue Ba Mao, have a drink with the math enthusiast Bro Feng, talk about psychology with the psychological counselor Jian Lili, and also chat with the psychological counselor Jian Lili. Jade, who has the same financial background, talked about Bitcoin and meditation together, and also created the first investment lesson of “knowing and doing” with entrepreneur Meng Yan. At the same time, he wants to create a decentralized education form to popularize basic logical knowledge to the public.

" 64: Remembering Darkseid “. Darkseid is the phonetic notation of Dark Side. In this issue, I talked with musician Chen Jingfei about her career change from finance to music, the dark side of women she felt growing up, and how to accept her own dark side. and used to create. A very spiritual episode with great music.
" There’s no one else on the 61 floor .” Talking with Meng Yan about playing tennis and investing philosophy, just as Buffett said, everyone must have their own internal scoreboard and their own evaluation criteria. Don’t worry about other people’s evaluations. Your opponent is yourself.
" 57 When you are ready, you are ready .” The second podcast with Jade, it was from this episode that I got to know “Evening Breeze”. How to let yourself go and find peace of mind. When I heard the ending song, I happened to be walking on the mountain. The green trees in the distance were layered in the mountain space, and white clouds were embedded in the deep blue sky. It was already evening, and Sakamoto Ryuichi’s music rose. , that moment was super wonderful. When you are ready, the universe will respond to you. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
“ 53 Fantasy Drifting in the Decentralized Era ”. First podcast with Jade. Talk about life difficulties, midlife crisis, and spiritual experiences.
" 10 What is happiness? “. Talk to Xuebamao about the three driving modes of life: desire-driven, fear-driven and creative-driven. I met a programmer named Ren in Dali in 2020. He said, “Take what you like to do to the extreme, and opportunities will naturally appear.” This sentence still inspires me deeply.
" 00 Preface: The Crisis of Liberalism .” The cool opening quote provides a lot of links to scientific information that is missing in daily life. I was attracted to this podcast by this episode. Maybe starting from this episode, you will also like Zhang Xiaoyu’s podcast and his desire to educate through education. The world created.

“Knowledge and Action Bistro”

A very important financial knowledge popularization podcast, produced by a financial management team with a good reputation. If you don’t know how to manage your savings and are confused about whether you should buy a house, stocks or funds, whether you should withdraw your provident fund in cash, or whether you should buy commercial medical insurance, you might as well come to a tavern and have a seat.

“ E76 I really wish! I knew these real estate common sense before buying a house .” Are your parents urging you to buy a house? Let them listen to this one.
“ E51 If you have a baby, your financial freedom will be gone? ”. Children are nicknamed “gold-eating beasts with four legs” by many people who want financial freedom, but is it really expensive to raise children? In this podcast, “Also Talking About Money” talks to financially free post-90s mothers to dispel many people’s misunderstandings about spending money to raise children.
“ E45 I really wish! I knew these financial management knowledge when I was studying .” A migrant worker who plans to become financially independent at the age of 30 “also talks about money”. He is a guest in a tavern and shares the experience he has learned from investment and financial management since college. Many people have problematic impressions of financial freedom. The public account " Money Talk " has changed a lot of my views on financial freedom. FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) may not be a path worth taking. The financial concepts of “Also Talking About Money” are not only very high-quality on the domestic Internet, but after I started listening to English podcasts, I found that his summary of investment books is even better than what the English author of the original book himself said in the podcast.
" E12 Meng Yan: Please board the big ship of China’s economy ｜ Wan Feng said on Taiwan .” Corresponding to the 100th issue of “Evening Breeze Talk”, Jade had a conversation with Meng Yan. From this podcast, I got to know Meng Yan, the founder of “Knowledge and Action”, and started my journey of fixed investment in funds.

“God loves to play with money” by Jess

In 2023, Jess reflected on the problems in the development of the mind-body and soul industry in the last issue of “God Loves Playing with Money” " 73 Krypton Money, Cults and Narcissism - The Toxicity Award of the Mind-Body and Soul Industry " and decided to quit the body-mind and soul circle, podcast Renamed “Shame Play”. Jess is a shameful, brave, rational and spiritual woman. She talked about many shameful and sensitive topics during her time on “Bitch FM”. “God Loves Playing with Money” is her sharing of meditation, spiritual experience, and trauma healing. A place for information about divinity, love, play, and money, each of which is an important part of life.

" 72 Dark Version of the Law of Attraction - Existence is Metamorphosis “. A very interesting perspective of God. Why does God let you suffer? Because everyone is the incarnation of God. The transcendent life of Nirvana is too boring. As God, you experience a dramatic life through greed, anger and ignorance. In this case, it is better to quit. Get off the surface of your pain and see that you are enjoying it on the inside.
" 70 Crying is healthier and raising children .” Jess became a mother, but was tortured by the baby and suffered from postpartum depression. After getting over the depression, she introduced an educational method that finally allowed her to find a peaceful coexistence with the baby: why babies need to cry, and what parents should do when babies cry What to do and how to keep your baby from disturbing your sleep and state of mind.
" 47Sex and spirituality are the same thing .” Chatting about sex with Jade from “Night Breeze Talk”.
" 09 Death is the ultimate party .” An eye-opening issue, a journey of spiritual experience achieved by psychotropic drugs.
" 02-2 Headless Meditation “. To introduce meditation from an atheist’s perspective, I recommend Sam Harris’ Waking Up APP. I have been using this APP for 3 months. I highly recommend its introductory meditation course, which will be introduced in the English podcast chapter. In July 2023, I met a German girl at a meditation center in Bali and found that she was also using this APP.
" 01 How many times have you shuffled the cards in your life? “. In the first episode, I talked with Steve, a psychological counselor, about why I started this podcast and how to survive the transformation period in life.

Meng Yan’s “No One Knows”

" E22 Duku Laoliu: Most people choose to become the majority .” If you find that there are structural flaws in what you are doing (even if you try very hard and do it very well, you still won’t achieve what you want), don’t do it. The same goes for work. Choice is more important than effort.
" E21 All gifts given by fate have already been marked with a secret price .” From Zweig’s The Beheaded Queen, to When Humanity’s Stars Shine, through the story of the first submarine cable laid from the United States to the United Kingdom, it talks about the price to pay for creating a good product.
" E18 What you are is what your investment is ." In a conversation with Dr. Chen Peng, who has been working in the financial industry for 25 years, a person’s personality traits can also be seen from his investment style.
" E15 Zhang Wuji’s Infinite Game “. Interpret Zhang Wuji in “The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer” from the perspective of finite games and infinite games. When is the time to retaliate? It is better to let go of hatred, let all things pass through you, and enjoy your own infinite game.

Other single-issue programs

Abnormal travel: " Ep.74 Thailand, Mexico, Canada… How can I live alone abroad? “, " Ep.70 Between travel and settlement, will the world wanderer’s return journey be sojourn? “, " Ep.78 Please be brave but don’t be reckless. Dangerous moments on the journey taught me this .” After graduating from college in 2016, Wanzi Lili started her first eight-month trip around the world with 20,000 yuan. In the following five years, she traveled to more than 30 countries on five continents. She is a very interesting digital nomad. I listened to a lot of her podcasts in preparation for my trip around the world.
Very touching: " EP3 Digital Nomad Interview - Wanzi Lili: Creation itself is my motivation .” I have listened to many interviews with Wanzi Lili, and this one is very good.
An onion: " Knowledge can be shared, but wisdom cannot .” Hesse’s book “Siddhartha” tells the story of Siddhartha, a young Brahmin nobleman who practiced Buddhism and became a Buddha. This issue’s interpretation of the book is very spiritual.
Air bed and breakfast: " EP3 Yangshuo not only has mountains and rivers and rice noodles, but also outdoor sports and good landlords .” Before traveling to Yangshuo , I listened to this podcast on Airbnb and found a good host.
Fanning the flames: " It is safest to give up a safe life ." This podcast episode by digital nomad Alison Wang has some inspiration for breaking the established life framework, and the top comments are also very interesting. Sometimes, it is better to change yourself than to change the environment. If you need to escape, you have to escape.

PS English Podcast

Listening to English podcasts is very effective in improving your English ability. One suggestion is to find a program that interests you the most. It is interesting enough that you can keep listening to it. As long as you keep listening, you will soon notice the effect. Another suggestion is to focus on understanding the entire context rather than listening to every sentence. You may only understand 30% of the content at first, but you can gradually improve to 80%. After listening to many daily English interviews, your reading speed of English books will naturally increase.

" Yeah, Why Not Podcast “: A podcast about the life of Chinese international students. The spoken English is very fluent and standard, and there are not too many new words. It is very suitable as an introduction to English podcasts.
“THD Chinese-American English Interview Show”: Three Chinese-Americans interview Chinese-Americans from all walks of life working in Shanghai. They have more new words, speak faster, and the topics are local and interesting. For example, " 120 Larry Wang: The Right Direction " talks about how to find career direction in confusion.
“Waking Up” APP : Sam Harris is a neuroscientist who studies meditation from an atheist perspective. Although Sam Harris also has a podcast, I recommend his meditation app more. The introductory meditation class in the APP is great and easy to stick to. It only takes 20 minutes a day, 10 minutes of meditation practice, and 10 minutes of theoretical knowledge behind meditation. The entire APP also has many podcast conversations and meditation courses between Sam and other scientists and practitioners, which are organized very clearly. The English of the introductory meditation course is not very difficult, but some interviews are very fast and contain many new words, but after extensive listening for a long time, you will naturally understand most of the meaning.
“Indie Hacker”: An interview show for independent developers, where you can hear the opinions of many famous developers. For example, " E04 Confronting Your Fears and Taking a Leap " by Pieter, the developer of Nomad List. (Can’t find it in Little Universe, you need to go to the official website to listen)
" The Fluent Show “: Regarding the experience and methods of foreign language learning, the British accent is very nice. (Can’t find it in Little Universe, you need to go to the official website to listen)
“Healthy Hacker”: A Ruby programmer’s personal podcast, which has been discontinued for 4 years. He switched careers to make music. A very interesting programmer shared how to quickly remember the names of strangers and how to share them at a developer conference. " 11 Growing as a programmer " tells the story of his career from working in the Apple Genius Bar to becoming a Github employee. (Can’t find it in Little Universe, you need to go to the official website to listen)

There are limited English podcasts on “Little Universe”, and the new version has removed the function of adding podcasts through RSS, and some podcasts cannot be added. So if you want to listen to more English podcasts, you can choose other apps, such as Overcast (recommended for iOS) and Pocket Casts (recommended for Android).

Get Things Done: My Take Away

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sat, 16 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Get Things Done is a self-help book written by David Allen, which introduces some basic methods to arrange your daily tasks so that you can live a productive and stressless life. Here are my takeaways.

The workflow of GTD consists of 5 steps (but remember, no need to finished all the steps at the same time):

Capture. Get all things out of your mind and write down them to your 📥Inbox at any time.
Clarify. Find a time to check items in your inbox. Is it actionable? If the stuff is just an idea that you might want to do but not now, you can leave it to a 🔮someday list. If it is a reference to materials helpful to your other goals, collect it to your 📚Reference system.
Organize. Does your actionable item need more than one step? If so convert it to a ⚙️Project and find the fist step to do it. If a action can be done within 2 minutes, just do it (without considering its priority). Does the step can be got about right now? If so put it into your ⚡️Next to-do list. Or else, arrange a future time to do it in your 📅Calendar or 🤝Delegate it to others.
Reflect. Review your Inbox, Delegate list, Next actions weekly and reorganize them if needed.
Engage. Pick one to-do from your Next to-do list and do it right now.

After your organization, the stuff can be divided into these places:

Project list: Desired results which require more than one action step. And you can organize your project support material by theme or topic inside the project.
Next Actions list: Actions needs to be done today or anytime.
Delegate list: Projects waiting for other people’s responses.
Calendar: 1. time-specific actions such as an appointment that are going to happen on a specific time; 2. day-specific actions such as to call someone on his/her birthday; 3. day-specific information, such as directions for appointments.
Someday list: Projects your don’t want to do recently, but you’d like to be reminded of them regularly on your weekly reviews.
Reference System: Reference to materials you may need.

To combine this method with Things 3 app:

And when you get up every morning, what you should do is to check your Today list and choose things needs to be done today.

Bali travel experience notes

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In August 2023, I stayed in Ubud, Bali for a month. Just like my stay in Dali, I didn’t check in many famous attractions. , more often than not just wandering around in the rice fields and among the houses. This article just summarizes some local life information to provide a reference for friends who are interested in traveling to Ubud.

It is also my first time to travel abroad, and I am traveling alone. As long as I prepare in advance and solve problems step by step, all problems can be easily solved.

1. Preparation for entry

Visa: [Official website for self-application for electronic visa on arrival EVOA] (http://xhslink.com/Sqp8iu “Official website for self-application for electronic visa on arrival EVOA”) is very convenient, and you can get the visa pdf file on the spot. Single entry is possible within 3 months, with a maximum stay of 30 days, and can be renewed locally for another month. I met a friend who brought the outbound ticket order when he entered the country and it was two months old. He just told the prosecutor when he entered the country that he would renew it. The first day is the day the plane lands. Please show up on the 30th day at the latest. If you leave the country on the 31st day, it is considered one day overdue and you will need to pay a fine.
Mobile phone card: Domestic mobile phone cards cannot use Google for international roaming. It is recommended to apply for a local mobile phone card. Local mobile phone card can be unlocked for a short period of three months when purchasing a mobile phone card in a business hall, but long-term use requires unlocking at imei customs.
Cash: Some stores accept credit cards such as Visa, and most stores require local currency. You can exchange Indonesian currency in advance at the Bank of China in China. After entering the country, you can also use your domestic UnionPay savings card to withdraw money at BCA’s ATM (I have tried several banks, but only BCA can withdraw cash with UnionPay card). The ATM will charge a small fee. There is a fixed amount fee, and your UnionPay debit card will also charge a proportional fee (5% for China Merchants Bank, 12 yuan + 1% for China Construction Bank). Please check with your debit card bank for specific charges. **When using Visa credit cards, please note that a currency conversion fee will be charged for full-currency and dual-currency (RMB and USD) Visa credit cards. **
Language: The prosecutor will ask you some simple questions in English when entering the country. There is an endless stream of Western tourists in Ubud, and most businesses and taxi drivers can speak English. If you are not fluent in English, you can still use simple gestures to communicate, and the merchant will use a calculator to tell you the price. The signs on the streets are mainly in Indonesian and may not necessarily be in English.
Time Difference: The time zone in Bali is the same as that in China, but Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is one hour behind.
Leaving the Airport: You can use Grab to take a taxi to your hotel at the airport. The airport is in Gianyar City, very close to Canggu and a bit far from Ubud. The price of taking a taxi to Ubud is 150 yuan. If you are not in a hurry, you can walk out of the airport. There is a luxury bus not far from the airport that goes to Ubud at a fixed time every day for only 75 yuan. Buy Kura Kura Bus tickets on Klook.

2. Local food, clothing, housing and transportation

There is a lot of Muslim culture in Jakarta, but Bali is mainly a Hindu culture. Most families will build temples in their homes, worship statues of gods, change sacrifices every day, burn incense and pray for blessings, and every household will place ribbons in front of the door every day. The offerings of millet rice and small flowers are very unique. You need to wear long pants when entering the temple. Please take off your shoes according to the instructions and enter barefoot.

clothing

The year-round temperature ranges from 20 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more comfortable than summer in southern cities in China. It is enough to bring a few sets of summer clothes and a set of long sleeves and long pants. You can bring your own from China, or you can buy slippers, towels, toiletries, mosquito repellent, and washing powder locally, because many B&Bs do not provide any toiletries, slippers, washing machines, and hairdryers. The local laundromat is very cheap, you can wash a large bag of clothes for 3 yuan.

Locals usually take off their shoes indoors (this is the case in most countries in Southeast Asia), so it is necessary to have a pair of sandals.

Diet

The local restaurant is called Warung, and the Indonesian equivalents of the commonly eaten fried rice and fried noodles are Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng. Restaurants for tourists provide English menus, while local eateries only have Indonesian menus, but you can order with gestures. Restaurants owned by foreigners usually charge additional service fees and taxes, while local restaurants only charge the cost of the food and usually do not require tipping.

Here are some great restaurants I recommend:

Rona Warung, next to the rice fields, the scenery is good, the fried rice and desserts are delicious, and the meal is about 25 yuan. It is highly recommended to go hiking here. This is the most extensive scenery of rice fields near the center of Ubud, and it is very quiet.
Warung Garasi and Guest House, closed on Sundays, is very popular with tourists at other times. It mainly provides local food and drinks, very authentic and delicious local fried rice and fried noodles, and a meal costs about 25 yuan.
Warung Pondok Madu, grilled pork chop with fried rice and local beer is perfect. Many Chinese eat here, and a meal costs about 35 to 60 yuan.
Siboghana Waroeng, highly recommended. It is in the courtyard of a local family. It has a good environment and a meal costs about 25 yuan.
Mie Kuy Ubud, the taste is average, but the price is cheap, a meal is 5 to 20 yuan.
La Portal to Shamballah is a vegetarian Western restaurant. The male owner is Egyptian and the female owner is Russian. If you go here often, you can meet many friends and have many social activities. A meal costs about 20 yuan.
Mama’s Warung has a good reputation, but I have never eaten there.
Bintang Supermarket Ubud, this is a large local supermarket, as big as Wal-Mart. There is a vegetarian buffet next to the door for 30 yuan.
Prima Warung Pure Vegetarian, a vegetarian restaurant with a good reputation, a meal is 20 yuan.

Accommodation

We recommend Airbnb to find a homestay where you can experience homestays in many local people’s homes. You can also use Booking to book hotels and hostels. I recommend a youth hostel with a good reputation, Sila Urip Guest House. You can visit their temple and participate in making local food.

You need to pay attention to the facilities description of the B&B. Many B&Bs do not provide any toiletries, slippers, washing machines, and hair dryers. Some only have electric fans and no air conditioning.

If you want to live for a long time, you can first make a short-term reservation to experience it, and then find a B&B owner to get a very favorable monthly rent.

Travel

There are no buses in Ubud. Just use Grab to take a motorcycle or car in Ubud, which is cheaper than in China.

There is a local motorcycle rental service, and the price is also cheap, about 30 yuan a day. You must wear a helmet, drive on the left in the local area, and there are many motorcycles on the road very fast, so you need to pay attention to safety.

3. Other recommendations

Location recommendation

Eiger Shop, an outdoor goods store. It was hard to find this store. It has hiking shoes and other equipment. There is no Decathlon or Uniqlo in Ubud, but there is a Miniso on the main street.
Sacred Ubud Spa, a massage shop next to the rice fields, is highly recommended. It would be a shame not to experience Balinese Massage once in Bali. It only costs 60 yuan for an hour of essential oil massage, which is great.
Green Billage Bali, you can visit a large bamboo structure building and learn about environmental organizations.
Batur Volcano: I personally do not recommend the popular activity of climbing a volcano to watch the sunrise. We set off to climb the mountain at 2 am. It is cold and dark, which makes the climb more difficult. If you cannot see the mountain road, you must pay for a local guide. It is cloudy. You may not be able to see the sunrise and miss the scenery going up the mountain. The last section of the trail is somewhat difficult, with steep slopes and slippery slopes. Experienced mountaineers should also note that this is a trail formed by volcanic ash, but the scenery is very good during the day. Local people nearby will advise you to pay for a guide. There is no explicit requirement to find a guide. Climbing the volcano during the day is easy to find. It is recommended that novice friends find a guide. For experienced mountain climbers, here is a [route to climb the mountain without a guide] (https://www.alltrails.com/trail/indonesia/bali--3/gunung-batur-rute-selatan?sh=2zhpaj “There is no guide to climb the mountain on your own”).
Sacred Monkey Forest: Very close to the main street, don’t miss it. It is a tree-lined forest park with tall tropical trees and many monkeys.
Ceding Rice Rerrace Hiking: The scenery is very good, and the houses in the nearby villages are also very quiet. In the evening, I unexpectedly heard musical instruments playing in the temple.

Software recommendation

Google Map, not only has maps, but also reviews of various stores, a must-have overseas. But please note that international roaming with domestic mobile phone cards cannot be used with Google!
MAPS.ME, a very useful navigation software. It has many trails that are not on Google Map. It can be navigated offline. It is a must-have for outdoor use!
Grab is a must-have taxi app in Bali. Motorcycles are more convenient and cheaper.
Airbnb, usually cheaper than hotels, you can stay in local people’s homes, which is a great experience.
Booking, booking hotels and youth hostels overseas, similar to Ctrip.
Klook, you can find the bus from the airport to Ubud. The comfortable car costs 75 yuan, which is cheaper than taking a taxi which costs 150 yuan.
Tripadvisor is a bit like Dianping. You can find accommodation and restaurants with good reputations.
WhatsAPP, a chat software used by locals and foreign tourists, similar to WeChat.
Little Red Book provides very useful Bali travel information. If you have any questions, go to Xiaohongshu to search.

Activity information platform

Activity information organized by Bali Digital Nomads: nomeo, this is a website developed by digital nomads in Bali. The author of the website lives in Canggu. There is a wealth of information on Bali activities on the website, and you can also filter to specific cities.
Activity information organized by Couchsurfing: couch surfing, a one-time payment website, itself is to provide travel accommodation, but there are many Interesting local activities, such as City Walk, volcano climbing, and dinner parties.

Meditation and Yoga

Yoga Barn is probably the most well-known yoga studio in Bali. It provides 200 hours of yoga teacher training. Yoga enthusiasts from all over the world come here to train intensively for one month to get their own training certificates. There are many yoga studios in Bali, and many yoga courses do not require registration. Usually a class does not exceed 75 yuan, and the price of long-term courses can be much lower. You can find many yoga studio reviews and course URLs on Google Map. Here are a few recommendations that I have experienced. You can use their names to find the address on Google Map:

Ubud Yoga House: Not far from Ubud Palace, it is located in a rice field. It is quiet in the bustle. The environment is great. You can see fireflies when doing yoga in the evening, but there are also more mosquitoes.
Radiantly Alive: It is very close to the center of Ubud and the environment is very good. There are delicious medium-priced vegetarian dishes on the first floor. There are some free trial courses that can be seen on the information board on the first floor.
Anand Ashram Ubud: Meditation Center, book accommodation online for at least three consecutive days, you can experience Sanskrit mantra chanting, Fire purification rituals, yoga, meditation and other activities are great to experience. 250 yuan per day, including accommodation, three vegetarian meals and all activities. If you stay in the hotel, you need to abide by their customs. If you don’t want to stay, you can just attend the events, but each event requires a separate donation.

My English Learning Story

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Part 1

I am 27 years old now. My first English course started when I was at the age of 10. At that time English was not a course being taught at elementary school, and it usually was taught starting in middle school. But my mother found a teacher to teach me simple English words on Saturdays. I mainly learned basic vocabulary, such as numbers, months and letters.

From grade 7, school began to give English classes to students. English is an important course because it takes up 120 scores of the 750 sum scores. And this score will decide which high school you can go to. The higher your score, the better the school, and the greater opportunity for you to be admitted to a top university.

The first big change happened in grade 8. Our English teacher spent several weeks teaching us the English phonetics systematically. I learned well about the phonetics, and as a result I could pronounce an English word by reading the phonetic marks, while most Chinese students were using Chinese pinyin to help them understand the pronunciation of English.

Gradually, I found I had an interest in reading English short stories in textbooks or test papers. They provide funny stories and sometimes some good tips about life, which was different from the serious articles in my Chinese textbooks. The English examination was easy for me, and I even enjoyed reading the articles included on the test. I also worked hard to memorize lots of vocabulary, and that helped my reading a lot.

The second big change happened at my university. I decided to improve my pronunciation at that time. I found some good tutorials on the internet and bought a textbook teaching American English pronunciation. The writer of the book is Taiwanese and he sounds like an American native. I spent one month following the audio and repeating his pronunciation to correct my accent. After repeatedly practicing, my tongue got used to some difficult pronunciations and I felt my accent improved a lot.

At the same time, I use some ESL (English as a Second Language) audio material to do shadowing practice. Three months passed, and I learned a lot.

Having a lot of spare time at university, I also tried to read English novels. I finished the first 4 books of Harry Potter. I was confident in my level of English, but I didn’t have an opportunity to talk with native English speakers. There were no foreigners at my university, and my English teacher was also Chinese.

Part 2

At the end of my university, I planned to go to a graduate school to learn software programming. I needed to pass the graduate entrance examination. One of the four examinations was an English level test. I was confident in my English, so I had only prepared vocabulary. I spent 3 months memorizing 1500 GRE vocabulary using spaced repetition. At that time, I didn’t know about flashcards. I used a software based on a famous retention curve to remind me to review certain pages of my vocabulary book. At last, I got a high English test score without any preparation for grammar.

At the age of 24, I got my master’s degree in Engineering and entered a big Chinese International company. Some of our colleagues were foreigners so we would text message in English. But I still struggled to read long English articles, and lacked confidence in speaking. But I didn’t spend time on learning English any more, busy working as a software engineer.

My second employer was a South Eastern company. Our product managers mainly worked in the Singapore office but they could speak fluent Chinese with me. All of our company documents in the workspace were in English. Some of my Chinese colleagues would use Google translate to turn them into Chinese. But the translated result was not satisfying, so I preferred to read the original English and look up unfamiliar words.

After COVID, travel abroad recovered. I felt kind of tired of the closed media environment and strong government supervision in China. I want to know what foreigners’ lives look like. And I also want to practice my English to achieve fluency and find a remote job for foreign companies in the future. Having been stuck in office and with facial masks for 2 years, I want to walk outside and be open to the world.

So I quit my job this June. I spent one month taking English language classes in Philippines and then traveled to Bali, Indonesia. Next, I will spend one month in Penang, Malaysia, two months in Chiang Mai and Bangkok, Thailand and 2 weeks in Laos. Then I will go back to China to attend the visa interview at the US consulate in China, for my following trip to Latin America.

Part 3

I studied English at Boracay, Philippines for 4 weeks, in an international English school opened by a Canadian 20 years ago. It’s my first time to go abroad. English immersion is challenging but helpful for me.

From talking a lot with my English teachers and classmates, I had learned that even though I didn’t know some advanced words, I could use simple words to convey similar meanings. That’s called meaning-focused activity.

I had four classes every day: one reading class, one grammar class, and two one-on-one speaking classes. My favorite was the reading class taught by a male teacher from London. He was around 60 years old, and he would play guitar in a restaurant in the evening. He was enthusiastic about teaching and encouraging to students. He would ask us interesting questions, such as what we thought our talent was. I replied that I didn’t know if I had any talent. He told me that everyone was talented in something and I would find it.

In the grammar class, I learned the noun clauses and the passive voice. Students were required to make lots of sentences using the grammar knowledge being taught in class. Memorizing a lot of grammar structures was boring, but it was interesting to hear sentences from people from different countries.

From one-on-one speaking class, I learnt the politics, the educational system and social issues about Philippines. The two teachers were Filipinos. One of them liked reading English novels, and was writing his own novel which he wanted to publish one day. The other one liked listening to his favorite F-POP singer, and spent a lot of time browsing TikTok at night. Both of them were worried about the current state of Filipino government. They thought corruption was still a big problem in Philippines and that the situation was getting worse.

Besides regular classes, school also held lots of other fun activities, such as a quiz on Tuesday nights. Participation cost 50 pesos per person. They were divided into 2, 3 or even 4 groups. Each group would work together to answer a series of questions. The group that got the highest score would win all the pesos.

Part 4

At the end of July, I graduated from the language school with happy memories on the crystal blue beach and the friendly local people. I still stayed in touch with one of my teachers on Instagram, and we exchanged opinions on English literature. Then I took a flight to Bali, Indonesia. I lived in Ubud, a beautiful village surrounded by terraced rice fields. There were lots of travelers from all over the world. It was a good opportunity to practice speaking English.

In the first week, I hung out with a friend from Romania 🇷🇴 using CouchSurfing. We walked along the rice fields at dusk, visited the Bamboo Village, and took yoga classes together. We trekked Mountain Batur on Saturday. We started our trekking at 10am to avoid the crowded tourists who went for the sunrise. After the trek, we ate lunch at a local restaurant. I liked Balinese local restaurant, which was called warung in Indonesian, because it was cheap (3 dollars for fried rice with vegetables and a sunny-side up egg, and 0.80 dollar for one scoop of ice cream) and provided a good surrounding scenery. After lunch, we spent an hour playing in hot spring pools.

In the second week, I slept in a 6-dorm room in a hostel. Thus I met tourists from India, Australia, France, Turkey, US, Netherlands, etc. But gradually I got tired of meeting new people and having small talk.

In the third week, I traveled to a countryside villa. It was quiet and near to rice fields. I spent the whole day in my room learning English and had a walk along the expansive rice fields at dusk. I read English novels on my phone and watched television shows without subtitles on Netflix. I joined a language learning subreddit and learned more theories on learning.

Now I am practicing the language learning theories I have learned. I want to get my English from B2 to C1. I want to use English freely like a native speaker so that I can learn more about our world.

– The End –

Philippine Study Diary (Part 2)

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Just before 6:30 on Sunday morning, I woke up from bed, picked up the phone on the table, checked today’s to-do list, and waited for the 6:30 alarm clock to ring.

Before 7:30, I was already sitting on a bench in the dining room, carrying a schoolbag. In it were a Snickers bar for breakfast, half a bottle of hot water, and a Chinese novel lent to me by a Taiwanese classmate. Finally, Teacher Zelle walked in and said, “Wait a minute, I’ll have a cup of coffee.” As she said this, she tore open the bag of coffee powder and bent down in front of the water dispenser to get the boiling water to make coffee.

The rain was pattering heavily outside. It seems that a typhoon has passed by recently, and the rain has been intermittent this week. Sometimes it pours down and wets the slippers under the eaves, and sometimes the sun is shining in the sky and dries the ground.

Zelle and I walked out of the yard and stopped the car on the road at the door. “The wind and waves have been very strong these days, and the tourist terminal on this road has suspended operations, so it is difficult to wait for a passenger tricycle. We can only take a motorcycle.” Passenger tricycles usually cost 3 yuan per person, and one for motorcycles The car costs 13 yuan.

Zelle spoke a few words in dialect to the motorcyclist and we got on. I was sandwiched in the middle, Zelle sat behind me, and I held an umbrella, barely covering our hair and upper bodies from getting wet.

After riding for 5 or 6 minutes, the rain became heavier and heavier, so we stopped on the side of the road to take shelter. By this time we had reached a lively part of the island. We paid half of the motorcycle price and took a tricycle with a carriage. The tricycle drove for another 7 or 8 minutes and passed the central area. After a short distance, Zelle asked the driver to stop.

We arrived at our destination just after 8 o’clock. Teacher Zelle took me to a Christian church to worship. Last night at the restaurant Zelle, teacher said she would go to church tomorrow. I happened to pass a church by the beach in the evening, so I asked her if it was that church. She explained to me that it was an Adventist church, not a Christian church. Church (Christian), invite me to come with you tomorrow.

When we walked into the church, a middle-aged man in white clothes was chanting on the small lectern to the right of the podium. “Does he speak English?” I asked Zelle after listening for a while. “No, he spoke Filipino mixed with English.”

We sat on the middle row of benches directly opposite the podium. A small platform stretched out behind each row of benches, where you could put your arms down. People behind you could hold on to the small platform of the seat in front of you when kneeling. There is a leather kneeling mat of the same length on the ground in front of the bench, with mottled cracks on it.

At some point during the ceremony, a group of young men in white came through the church door. “They are Altar Boys, who will assist the priest in completing the ritual.” Zelle leaned into my ear and said.

A pastor in green robes walked onto the podium from nowhere and sat on a high-backed chair in the middle. An Altar Boy adjusted the position of an electric fan to face him. Another young man in white clothes walked to the desk on the left side of the podium, opened the Bible, and selected passages to share with everyone. The two monitors on the wall lit up at the same time, prompting English prayers, and everyone chanted along.

When it was time to distribute Holy Communion, several men in white came over with plates. The Christians in the crowd lined up in several lines to receive a small piece of bread and eat it. The communion plates were finally returned to the green priest’s table. The priest poured the crumbs from each plate into a copper cup, mixed it with water and drank it. The men in white took away the plates.

A woman wearing white clothes and holding a long pole came in twice, with a white cloth bag tied at the top of the pole. When they passed a row of benches, they straightened the long pole and brought the cloth bag to us. “This is for collecting donations, you can do whatever you want.” I followed Zelle and put the change in my wallet. When the women brought the cloth bags to us for the second time, I was a little puzzled. Zelle told me, “The first time was a donation to help the poor and do good deeds. The second time was a donation to the church itself.”

The prayer is over. The pastor in green walked down from the podium, and a group of people gathered around him. He shook a bottle in his hand and threw out water drops. “This is sprinkling holy water, and you can get blessings.” So we also stepped forward to receive the blessing of the holy water.

Zelle pointed to the second floor. The music in the church was not the music played, but the choir on the second floor singing in real time. It dawned on me that when I stood up in the middle to pray, I turned around and looked up, and sure enough I saw 4 or 5 young people on the second floor, and there was another person in front of them who seemed to be directing the rhythm.

The rain had stopped when we walked out of the church, and the morning air was cool and refreshing. Zelle took a tricycle back to school, and I went hiking to explore the unexplored areas to the north.

Philippine Study Diary - Part 1

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On June 30, 2023, Shenzhen, China, on a Friday afternoon, I looked back at this small 10-square-meter room that I had lived in for 4 years. The room had been emptied, leaving only the bed, wardrobe, desk and chair, and the walls. There are still movie posters bought on Taobao hanging on it, and the tabletop has been cleaned up. Seeing that it was empty again, I felt a little panicked. This small room that I had lived in for 4 years no longer belonged to me. I was about to start a period of no fixed abode in this city, this country, and even this planet. journey.

That pot of pothos was bought in the summer of 2020. That was when I first left my job. I picked it at the night market, and it has lived with me for almost three years since then. When I pulled it out of the pot, it brought the entire pot of soil out with it. It dug around in the cramped little flowerpot, coiled around the outside of the soil several times, and a few thin roots came out from the bottom of the pot. Drill the seepage hole and search for soil.

I pulled it out of the flowerpot, took the soil in the pot, and threw it to a high place, where it fell into the grass on the slope. You are free too, I said to it.

24 hours later, the plane arrived in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. I was waiting at the terminal for the next plane to Caticlan. I will report to a language school tomorrow to start a four-week English study tour.

After experiencing a series of means of transportation - taxi, speedboat from Shenzhen to Hong Kong Airport, airport transfer rail transit, medium-sized passenger plane from Hong Kong to Manila, airport transfer bus, small plane from Manila to Caticlan, small plane to the pier Tricycle, ferry to Boracay Island, big tricycle, finally arrived at a youth hostel on Boracay Island in the Philippines at around 9pm on July 1st.

The next morning, I first went to the business office in the center of the island to apply for a Philippine mobile phone card, and then used the offline map to navigate to the language school report. A staff member heard the doorbell, told me there was no one at school on Sunday, and took me to the dormitory area across the street.

There is a tree with red flowers in front of the dormitory. When you open the white iron door, it looks like a garden inside, with many mango trees and other green plants. Two ladies and two children greeted me warmly through the open living room. They were Taiwanese families who had come to school a week in advance.

The language school currently has two types of courses. One is a summer camp for children (unique to summer vacation), which includes language learning and outdoor activities throughout the day, including three meals and accommodation; the other is English training for adults. Choose different class hours according to your learning goals, and freely match accommodation and meal reservations according to your needs.

My course is the second type, five days a week, 4 classes a day, each class is 50 minutes, one grammar group class, one reading group class, and two one-to-one specialized oral communication classes. There are 3 classes in the morning, after school lunch, and 1 class in the afternoon. When the class ends at 2 pm, you can make your own arrangements.

All the people attending the summer camp are Taiwanese families, and the students participating in the adult courses come from different countries and regions, such as Japan, Switzerland, Spain, and Russia. Like me, there is only one girl from Zhejiang who came with her father from mainland China. She takes 3 lessons and goes to golf training every day after lunch. Her skin is a very sunny tan.

Boracay is a famous tourist attraction in the Philippines. The long and narrow island running from north to south allows you to see the unobstructed sunset on the sea on the soft blue beach on the west coast. This is also one of the safest and most expensive places in the Philippines. A bowl of tonkotsu ramen costs 45 yuan in a Japanese restaurant on the beach where you can see the sunset. But if you avoid the beach, you are willing to eat at a local restaurant on the street. , you can have a sumptuous dinner of one meat, one vegetarian and two bowls of rice for 21 yuan.

The beautiful seascape and friendly islanders attract many foreign tourists. The principal of my language school is a Canadian who was attracted here. He founded the language school in 2005 and has lived here for 15 years. When I asked Londoner Steve, my reading teacher, why he chose to stay in Boracay rather than other countries in Southeast Asia, he said it was because of the friendly people.

English is the second official language of the Philippines, children start learning English in the last semester of first grade in primary school, and most courses in higher education are taught entirely in English. According to the impression of Filipino teachers, the language familiarity of most people from high to low is local dialect, English, and finally Filipino. Most Filipino adults can communicate in simple English. The Philippines has the highest English penetration rate among Asian countries, and its English accent is also the closest to standard pronunciation.

My two one-to-one teachers are both Filipinos. One of them is an English teacher in a public elementary school. He comes here part-time to teach English during the summer. Usually he will prepare a short article for me to read aloud, and then he will He asked me about the topic of an article, such as “What kind of lifestyle should I pursue?” and “Whether I eat breakfast?”; another teacher was about the same age as me and would talk to me about daily life in the Philippines, such as the school education system, the Philippines Legal policy on divorce and abortion.

The teacher in the grammar class is teaching noun clauses to the five of us students. We need to take turns completing sentence-making exercises in class. These learning contents are actually included in the English courses for mainland high school students, so it is more like a review for me. and applications.

My favorite reading class was the articles Steve picked were interesting, such as “Paradise Lost” discussing the impact of tourism on local people, and “Conspiracy on the death of the Princess Diana” about the various rumors surrounding Princess Diana’s death. There happened to be 5 students in the class from 5 different countries and regions, so you could hear stories from everyone’s own country. Steve is also a teacher who is very good at physical performance (he is also a guitarist), and he can vividly perform various emotions, such as how to pretend to have a stomachache to escape from a rambling conversation.

What I find particularly interesting about small class group classes is that unlike in large classes, usually only individual students have the opportunity to speak. Here, every student takes turns speaking, and there is a feeling that every individual is respected. And everyone must also learn to listen to others.

If there is a word I don’t understand, I will point it out right away. For example, for the word “travel bug”, I couldn’t understand its meaning in class. The teacher would ask other students to help explain it and give examples, and then let five of us students answer, do you think you “have traveled”? bug", why?

Of course, this way of learning is not as efficient as answering questions and memorizing words, but I like it very much. I think it will make you enjoy communicating in English more, and in the process you will unknowingly learn to learn English words by using other understandable alternative explanations instead of looking them up in a dictionary. Now I prefer to use ChatGPT to look up words instead of Eurolu Dictionary, because ChatGPT is like a classmate who can communicate with me in the course. It will explain and give examples in English.

And coming to an island where almost everyone speaks English to learn English is like entering an all-round English corner. Whether you are participating in an encyclopedia knowledge quiz with teachers at a bar, watching the sunset on a cruise ship, eating barbecue at a Korean restaurant, or just walking home together after dinner, you can have an English exchange anytime and anywhere.

Digital Nomads in “All Work, No Work”

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“ Why don’t today’s young people want to go to work ?” In February 2018, after watching an episode of “Round Table Party” titled “How to break up if you don’t want to go to work”, Lin An, an office worker who works in digital media marketing, wrote this text on Douban.

She continued her off-duty interviews with several friends who were not working, and began the interview project “100 People Not Working.” Through the popularity of this topic, Lin An received many invitations from media and magazines, as well as opportunities for business cooperation, which gave her the confidence to support herself through writing. At the same time, in order to prevent the instability of her early income from writing work, she tried to turn her photography hobby into a means of making a living by paying for photo shoots. Finally, in the summer of 2018, she resigned. In the second month after her resignation, her monthly income exceeded her working salary for the first time.

In a blink of an eye, Lin An has entered her 6th year of freelancing. Through exploration, transformation, and light entrepreneurship, she is now working full-time as a freelance community “Freedom Living Room” and has her own entrepreneurial team.

The book “Only Working, Not Going to Work” was published in September 2019. It contains the stories of 20 people who don’t work in “100 People Who Don’t Work”, and of course Lin An’s own story. In this article, I will share the stories of several of my fellow digital nomads.

1 Li Shengbo

Original occupation : Worked for two years, business manager of an entertainment marketing company

Exploration : I took a year off from my junior year and traveled around China by car. I published a documentary and a book based on the material on the road.

Progress in the book : I was attracted by “Little Forest” and traveled to Tsuwano, Japan, and started a distance tour in the Japanese countryside; founder of a certain distance travel cultural brand

Latest news : The brand’s public account has continued to organize short-term in-depth tour activities recently.

2 meatballs

Original occupation : Interned in a UI design studio, never worked in class

Explore : My father lost all my money for studying abroad in the 2016 stock market crash, so I took my 20,000 yuan savings from school and started traveling abroad.

Progress in the book : 1.0 Overseas purchasing agent, working in exchange for accommodation; 2.0 Ukulele teacher, Chiang Mai ukulele study tour group; 3.0 South America, working as an art buyer, writing business copy, and doing travel self-media; 4.0 Crowdfunding Filming the documentary “Sleeping from Turkey to Morocco” with the theme of couchsurfing

Latest news : Partner of a certain ukulele brand; produced the first music album in Dali, and is co-creating music with local musicians overseas

3 hi hi

Original occupation : More than ten years in the media industry, from print media to website editor

Explore : After resigning, I traveled to Jordan and Australia for 3 months. I submitted my travel stories to various magazines. After encountering an income crisis, I temporarily used my house in Beijing as a B&B.

Progress in the book : Freelance travel writer, interviews on social topics

Latest news : Update on my working life series in Melbourne , working as a chef in Melbourne

4 Shengwei

Original occupation: Interned as a data engineer, working experience is unknown

Explore : When interning at an American e-commerce company, apply for a remote job and travel in the United States while working remotely

Progress in the book : Starting a freelancing platform in 2017 and creating an office space in Thailand

Latest news : The official Weibo account of the project stopped updating in 2020; in 2020, he served as the chief operating officer of a real estate platform in Cambodia

5 Alison

Original occupation : New Oriental English teacher, freelancing for two and a half years

Explore : Move to Germany with my German husband and teach English online

Progress in the book : Self-created brands sell yoga mats, sports bras and other yoga peripherals online. Online output of content on self-improvement, English learning, yoga meditation, and minimalism.

Latest news : Weibo continues to update yoga-related videos; creates a podcast to “ fan the flames ”; brings her husband along as a digital nomad and now lives in Spain

6 Lin An himself

Original occupation : Digital media marketing, worked for 3 years

Explore : " Why don’t today’s young people want to go to work? " appeared on the homepage of Douban, interviewing people who don’t work.

Progress in the book : 1.0 self-media advertising, business writing, portrait photography

Latest news : 2.0 Published the book “Only Work, Not Working”, added the new podcast " Freedom in the Hall “; 3.0 Personal entrepreneurship, free living room platform, freelance personal IP incubation camp; 4.0 Team entrepreneurship, a companion growth community for freelancers

Of course, there is no lack of anxiety in the life of a digital nomad. Lin An said, “When you become a freelancer, anxiety becomes your good friend. The best way to relieve anxiety is to do things. You must not get depressed when you are anxious.” Xixi is an easy person. Anxious digital nomad: “When the editor doesn’t contact me for a while, I start to panic and wonder if I have been left out.” I am afraid that the editor will forget about her or be replaced by another author. But she has a way out. She owns a house in Beijing. If she can’t continue her freelance career, she can still collect rent to live on. At the end of Xixi’s story, Lin An reminds those who want to stop working that fate has set a limit for us and we must respect reality.

Lin An is worried that young people only see the bright side of freelancing and resign without any preparation, leaving themselves in a bad situation. When she resigned in 2018, she prepared enough savings to enable her to live in Shanghai for two years without any income without starving to death. She also set a goal of achieving balance in the first three months and achieving the income level at work in the next three months. .

But maybe, when you still have no direction in your heart, taking 20,000 yuan and bravely exploring yourself and the world like Wanzi Lili is also an option. As Alison said, “No matter where you are at the end of the road, you will never starve to death. There is always a way.” The external environment will subtly affect a person’s status and goals. When Alison, who is not anxious, returns home and spends time with her friends, When we were together, not only did she find that her rich friend was also very anxious, but she also spent more time worrying about the future. “But when I left that environment and was with digital nomads, the confidence and encouragement this group of people gave each other made me feel that what I was doing could be recognized, and I became more confident and calm.”

Should we make sufficient preparations before taking action, or should we take action first and constantly adjust our goals during the action? This is not a question of who is right or wrong, nor is it a black and white choice, but the degree of personality tendency. The fourth dimension in the MBTI personality test is to distinguish your working style. Are you Judging or Perception? People with Judging tendency pay attention to the accuracy of decision-making and evaluation, prefer to use logic and evidence to support, and are willing to fill their travel schedule before traveling; People with awareness tendency P value flexibility and adaptability, seek more new ideas and real experiences, and are willing to explore a new travel destination with the unknown.

In this journey of life, there are no standard answers. As Wan Zili mentioned, “Life is not a track, but a wilderness.” May you have fun in your own wilderness, live your life to the fullest, and live up to your expectations.

Although riding in the car has become a daily routine when I grow up, I still miss that movable window. I want to install a movable window in my future home. Outside the window, there are grasslands, forests, deserts, and wilderness. , rather than orbit.

——Wanzi Lili’s " Fragments of Thoughts in the Memo "

Why did I sell my virtual reality glasses

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

At more than 2 am (Beijing time) on June 6, 2023, at the Apple Developer Conference, after the introduction of the new features of iOS, iPados, and MacOS in one hour, the lens turned to a dark lecture hall, a silver -haired Apple company chief of Apple Company Executive Cook, with his slightly old voice, said, “There is another product, we have prepared for it for many years.” The big screen is dark, and the bright arc outlines a outline of a ski mirror. This is Apple’s first virtual reality glasses, Apple Vision Pro.

I have bought Facebook’s virtual reality head wearing glasses Oculus Quest2 (Facebook is renamed Meta Quest2). It was the most cost -effective integrated virtual reality glasses at that time. You can experience the 2K physical display screen brought by more than 2,000 yuan. Virtual reality effect. A few months later, I sold it on the idle fish. This short essay is to review Apple’s virtual reality glasses from the place where I am dissatisfied with QUEST2.

The direct reason for me to give up is to be unfriendly to the people of the glasses. I have 400 degrees myopia. Although QUEST 2 supports magnetic myopia lenses, I also spend more than 100 yuan from Taobao to customize the lens, but the actual effect of the lens is not good. Just like our ordinary myopia lenses, the curvature perspective in front of us is very good, but if you look at the viewing angle of the side of the lens obliquely, you will easily see the blurredness caused by the unevenness of the curvature. VR glasses fix the perspective of the glasses, and the space on the side will have this unnatural vagueness. Of course, this can be alleviated. One is customized lenses (rising costs), and the other is wearing contact lenses. Compared with the high price of Apple VR glasses (more than 20,000 yuan before tax), the cost of these two measures is relatively relative It’s not high.
Loneliness. Wearing Quest 2 glasses is like being immersed in a world that others can’t see. It will have a feeling of isolation in the world, and when you wear VR glasses, it is usually in a safe and unmanned place. For example, on the chair and living room sofa in the bedroom, this feeling of isolation from the world has been increased. Apple develops some social functions based on the iOS ecosystem, and you can look forward to the social application of VR eyes; on the other hand, he is curious if anyone will bring glasses to appear in daily scenes. Even if the eyesight effect can allow you and the people around you Eye communication, but because some of your attention is in another online world, it will definitely affect the feeling of external people when communicating with you, just like communicating with people wearing Bluetooth headsets often feel that he can’t hear you speak. Essence
Cumbersome and top. Quest 2 integrates the battery in the head display, which makes it even more bulky to wear on the head. Apple’s head is connected to a battery with a charging cable. You can use the battery in your pocket to reduce the weight of the head.
Sullen. Just like a mobile phone, the VR screen is used for a long time, and the eye part is closed because it is closed, so it is easy to cover the eye area. Watching the video of the Apple conference, there is a row of heat dissolutions in front of the head, and it is also equipped with the M2 chip optimized by Apple’s home heat. According to my MacBook Pro experience, the chip’s cooling ability will be much better than Quest2, but considering the screen resolution of screen resolution From 2K to 4K, the heat dissipation effect still needs to see the actual situation.
Low playability and not rich in applications. Quest2 VR game is to play with the body, it is quite hard; watching the movie is good, but there are problems mentioned earlier and hot; when browsing the web, although it was a very good 720P naked eye resolution (2K physical screen) at that time (2K physical screen) The effect is still average, and the large -screen webpage based on Android is inconvenient to use two handles. Apple has launched a new operating system for virtual reality glasses. In the future, there will be a richer software ecosystem that optimizes it, so you don’t need to worry about it. Baseball; you can use your two -handed finger to use the virtual keyboard across the air. The effect of daily office can also look forward to it (just, it is a bit doubtful, can it really be realized).

All in all, Quest2 allowed me to experience the immersion effect of virtual reality. It was amazing for the first time, but it really couldn’t compare with the world that I saw. It was easy to attract me to play at the same time. Eating gray and taking off the glasses, the world in front of me suddenly returned from 720P to the retina, which is easier and colorful, and it cannot replace the happiness of linking with people.

Due to the good impression of Apple’s product interaction experience, I look forward to the ultimate effect of Apple VR glasses, and I am also curious about through Apple’s help. Virtual reality glasses will eventually make humans link and communicate with each other more conveniently. People are more isolated and self -centered? let us wait and see.

Vivi: After working for three years, I went to Carnegie Mellon University to restart my life

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Editor’s note : Vivi is my classmate in the character interview class. I was immediately attracted to her when I saw her self-introduction, and then learned more about her story through Xiaohongshu. Finally, at 11 a.m. Beijing time and 8 p.m. San Francisco time, halfway around the world, we started this online interview.

2023 is Vivi’s fourth year working in the United States. She is now working as a product designer at Microsoft. Her CloudAI team is integrating Microsoft’s new generation artificial intelligence product Copilot into the cloud service platform Azure project. An era of universal AI has arrived.

Six years ago in 2017, Trump became the 45th President of the United States, Chinese Go player Ke Jie lost miserably against artificial intelligence AlphaGo, and shared bicycles became popular across the country.

At that time, she was a product manager for a domestic e-commerce platform. One night in the summer, she was walking home after working overtime until very late. She made up her mind to quit her job after working for three years. She left the company two weeks later. After more than half a year of preparing for the exam, she got a graduate offer from Carnegie Mellon University majoring in human-computer interaction. After graduating with a master’s degree, she came to work in Silicon Valley. Now she writes on Xiaohongshu as “Vivi Learning” “Sister” account name to share her own records of self-exploration.

During the three years of working in China, Vivi was also trapped by the wolf culture of the Internet. Overtime, internal friction and even workplace harassment caused her to become almost depressed. Until one day, she asked herself, “If I work hard enough and are lucky enough on this road, can I be what I want to be? Can I live the life I want?” She heard the answer in her heart.

“I originally wanted to study and prepare while working at the same time. I didn’t want to take a gap year. I was worried that I wasted this year. What would I do? Others are making progress and getting promoted, but I didn’t make any more money this year. But later on, because of the great pressure from work and study, I couldn’t do anything well even if I wanted to do it. When I was walking home from the company in the middle of the night, I suddenly thought that I should let it go. Since I had decided to leave, Just resign now. My savings are enough for me to use this year.

“I originally thought of resigning in January of the following year, because there was a stock that could not be cashed out until then. I thought for a moment, is this stock more important, or is my future more important? I think my future is more important. , I must go abroad, I must go to this graduate school, then I don’t want this stock. After you give up on something, you will become accustomed to giving up. “

I have the desire to create

Vivi studied as an undergraduate at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, and changed her major from “Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language” to “Spanish”. After graduation, she did not choose a job related to her major. Instead, she went to the Internet industry, which was just emerging at the time, and started from scratch. Management Trainee.

“I have a desire to create. Most of the time when I learn a language, I still interpret other people’s words. At that time, I felt that there was not much room for creativity. It was just a skill. I also wanted to understand some things other than language. Go Management trainees in this company can rotate through different positions. I wanted to understand what various industries are like, so I chose that job.

“The positions I was rotated through included advertising and marketing, product manager, purchasing and sales, and I even went to the warehouse to do some logistics. During the rotation, I basically went through the entire e-commerce process.

“The job rotation lasted for more than half a year, and I was finally assigned as a product manager until I left the company. When I was working as a product manager, I found that I didn’t really like communication and coordination work, but I found that I really enjoyed drawing flow charts, When doing wireframes. I liked doing my own work rather than updating project information for different people, so I later switched to UX (user experience design).”

I want to work abroad

After resigning, Vivi spent more than half a year preparing to apply for a school in the United States majoring in human-computer interaction. Her Xiaohongshu shared her school application process:

July to August: Take the GRE and learn about HCI (Human Computer Interaction) application information
September to October: Take TOEFL and start making a portfolio
November: Complete two major projects in the portfolio
December: Write essays and complete the last two small projects in the portfolio
January: Submit application

“I have always had the desire to study abroad. After working, I saved some money and finally had a financial foundation. Another reason is that after working in China for 3 years, I was tired of my first job. At that time, I thought, oh, I definitely don’t want to stay here anymore, I definitely don’t want to live this kind of life anymore, it’s a bit like running away. I don’t want to work in China (at the current pace) for the time being, so I chose to go abroad.

“The work rhythm (in the United States) is basically very stable now, from 9 to 5, and even Friday is a no meeting day. No meetings will be arranged. You can do some of your own things. You may only work for half a day, so it is equivalent to 4 days of work. I took 3 days off and felt much more relaxed.

“After the epidemic, working hours are relatively free. As long as you can complete your work and attend online meetings on time, no one cares what time you get off work or what time you go to work. I work from home now. Although the company also has offices, and the workstations are not fixed, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to, and you can be wherever you want most of the time.

“I was very uncomfortable with remote work in the first half year. The first point was the problem of living space. At that time, I shared a house with others. Each person had a room. The bedroom and office were in the same room. I woke up in this room every day and slept in it. Staying in this room for a long time will affect your mood. The second point is that I started working remotely not long after I got my first job in the United States. I didn’t have many friends here at the time, and I didn’t know anyone. In fact, the fastest way to get to know each other was when I first started working. The only way to meet new people is in the office. Without this way, I find myself feeling lonely, and I end up alone at home every day.

“After adapting for a long time, I slowly found a more free way. Now I am used to chatting with others online, and then meeting people offline is a way to get to know people. Another decision is to make the space where I live a little larger. , now my bedroom and office are separated, and I bought some expensive equipment, such as a desk and an office chair. After you make it comfortable, the efficiency of working at home will indeed improve.

“The online office software I use is Microsoft’s Teams work group. Maybe because of my current job type, the work pace is not very fast. There is no urgent deadline saying that you must put this online by what time. There is no anxiety in this regard. So if others don’t reply to me in time, I think, then I just wait two days. After work, I close Teams so no one can find me. Even if they send me messages at night, I won’t reply. relation.”

Studying in the United States is too hard

The School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University is the dream school of many people. What did Vivi gain from her one year of graduate school here compared to her undergraduate studies in China?

“I don’t even think that it was called learning before. My understanding of learning and the way of learning have been subverted. Of course, this may also be the reason why I switched from liberal arts to an interdisciplinary subject.

“Studying in the United States was so hard. I basically didn’t sleep for five hours a day in the first half of the year. I had constant homework and classes, and there was always something to finish. But I enjoyed it a lot. You can really feel it. I have made great progress every day, and I am creating new things every day. It is actually very exciting to study with such cutting-edge professors.

“Studying in China may be difficult, but the learning process is boring. Although I am still interested in language and literature, the teaching method does not make you enjoy it very much. The hardship of studying in the United States is purely physical. It’s hard work, but my heart is not tired. It’s physically hard because the progress of the course is a bit too fast, and I don’t have a very good foundation. I feel like my God, I’m so tired every day, but in fact I feel satisfied every day, and I make progress every day. quick.

“The teacher in class will never systematically tell you how to learn first, then how to learn, and then you can apply it. He just tells you directly that you have to create something yourself, and then how to learn it. Learn by yourself. The teacher will teach you cutting-edge science and technology and academic stuff to broaden your horizons. He may not teach you anything very practical. As for how to learn practical skills, you have to find them yourself. .

“The hardest thing to master is actually the way of thinking and concepts. You need to do some projects in school and get guidance from teachers, and then you can slowly internalize it and make it your own.

“There is a concept called project based learning, project-based learning. For example, I learned some design thinking methodologies at that time, and the homework the teacher left for you in class was that you have to apply this methodology to make a product. You have to first Write an outline about what product you want to design, what problems it will solve for users, and how to apply the theory you just learned. The teacher will help you read the outline and give you some suggestions. In the end, you will find that everyone applies They have the same theory, but everyone does something different.

“This process will exercise your innovation ability. If you encounter problems during the process, ask your classmates or the teacher. The teacher may have some resources that he can recommend to you, but he will not teach you step by step. I had never learned to write code before. There was a course that asked you to write a web page, but writing a web page was not the point. The point was that you had to apply a teaching theory to this web page. In order to do this assignment, I had to both I used this theory to design this webpage and then developed it. The process was very tiring, but I still felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing it.”

I can’t accept working in Mexico for a long time

Mexico is a favorite place for many South American backpackers. It is always ranked in the top ten on the Nomad List. The Pixar animated film “Coco” made the Day of the Dead well known. Vivi studied Spanish as an undergraduate, spent a year as an exchange student in Mexico, and traveled back to Mexico for a month the year before last. What is her impression of Mexico?

“I have lived in Mexico for a year and I feel that this place is only suitable for me to travel or experience briefly. If I am asked to work in this place for a long time in the future, I may not be able to accept it. This is also a career change when looking for a job. Another reason.

“After staying in Mexico for half a year, I sometimes feel disconnected from the world. I feel that I will become ‘stupid’ if I stay for a long time - my sensitivity to things and my enterprising spirit will weaken. In addition, I have to do things there. The efficiency is very low. You will find that we Chinese are too efficient. In Mexico, when you deal with many places, they are not punctual and the efficiency is very low. After a long time, because you are surrounded by such an environment, you yourself Being punctual will turn you into an alien, and you will be inefficient in everything you do.

“When I came across the Day of the Dead, I thought it was very interesting. There were colorful things everywhere. For the first time, I discovered that some people celebrate Qingming Festival like this. There are some people in the world who view death this way. They don’t treat death as such. Seen as a very heavy thing, death can also be very joyful. This is quite interesting about the Latin people, they are very optimistic. At that time, we studied a book called “Loneliness” by the Mexican writer Paz who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. “The Labyrinth”, the book mainly talks about the national character of the Latin American people and why their past history has caused their current national character. When I saw this book, I thought it was very interesting. It is something you see in your life. You can all relate it to what you learned, and the process is quite interesting.

“When I was on university exchange, traveling in South America was a bit like clocking in. I was worried that I would miss something and what to do if I couldn’t find it next time. I wanted to do the most in a limited time. I didn’t sleep in order to rush, so I took the night bus. Now. I actually pay more attention to my current feelings. Because you find that in those places you go to, if you go to one more project or one less project, you will actually forget it in the end. The current feeling is very happy, not tired, I think this Points are more important.

“In the past, I mainly played with my classmates and met new friends, but they were all the same as me. We were all exchange students. This time, my friend brought some colleagues over, some of whom were in Mexico. Those who work in engineering and business are different from the feeling I had when I was in school and met people who were the same as me. Meeting new people and chatting with them while traveling is something I care more about now. of.”

I want to study anthropology in Europe in the future.

“I still prefer change, even transformation. I like to re-understand a field every few years and treat myself as a product and keep iterating. In terms of ideal life, I want to always create new things.

“The work itself cannot fully satisfy my creative desires. The requirements for the work should not be too high. I can use my spare time to explore other things.

“My previous plan was to spend five years becoming a freelancer, leaving the ladder-climbing workplace, trying more things, and establishing connections with people of the same genre. But recently I discovered that in a company, you can always There’s an acumen for cutting edge stuff. If I were really a freelancer, I probably wouldn’t have that acumen, so that’s doubtful for now.

“I like a rhythmic life. I work for a few years, take a break, concentrate on absorbing knowledge, and then go to work. Whether you are an undergraduate or a graduate student, there is always employment pressure or financial pressure. There are all kinds of things that bother you and prevent you from completely immersing yourself in knowledge and scholarship. I hope that if I have the opportunity in the future, I can simply enjoy knowledge instead of gaining anything through it.”

Some advice on choosing a life direction

“Looking back on the past, the choice that had the greatest impact on me was to resign. At that time, my work was not going well, and there were changes in my family and relationships. Under such circumstances, I decided to resign. In fact, I gave up a lot and endured a huge hardship. Pressure. After this incident, my ability to withstand pressure and face setbacks has improved a lot. Another change in my concept is that I dare to let go, let go of past achievements, and let go of some baggage and labels. Only when you let go of these things can you go further. ”

For friends who want to make a choice in life direction, can you provide them with some reference suggestions?

“The first suggestion is, don’t have too high demands on yourself and don’t compare with others. If you compare with others and find that others are not confused, why are they so directional? You may suddenly feel very anxious and inferior. You must not be affected by these external standards. Find your own rhythm and know what you want. There is no way to compare between people. Instead of spending time doubting and entangled, waiting for others to tell you whether it will work or not, Why not act quickly and prove for yourself that you can really do it .

“The second suggestion is that when you are confused, go see more of the outside world, chat with more people, and try more new things. You will find that maybe the door to the world will open more for you. . After trying something, if it still doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter, because you are still so young, then you can try something else. Treat this process of trying and overthrowing yourself as an experience, and don’t pursue the results too much. Let you enjoy the process more. If you are temporarily confused about life and can’t find the way forward, then boldly try and make mistakes. There is nothing more exciting than taking risks.

“When you are confident and strong enough, you can achieve physical and mental freedom without being kidnapped by the ’excellent’ standards defined by the environment. That is something more worthy of pursuit than the freedom of wealth.”

After OpenAI’s ChatGPT hit the Internet, Microsoft also launched a Copilot conference. During the AI-related learning organized by the company, Vivi regained the enthusiasm she had when she first started working. She planned to use AI on the Midjourney platform to draw Make a web page and try new product design methods.

An era of AI has begun. After handing over tedious and repetitive tasks to AI, will humans live a better life? What kind of person do you want to be, what kind of life do you want to live, and what is your answer to this?

Yangshuo travel diary

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sat, 07 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The first time I wanted to go to Yangshuo was when I saw a Chinese chapter of “Lonely Planet” in a youth hostel in Shaxi Ancient Town. The book praised the scenery of Yangshuo.

During the May Day holiday in 2022, I finally went to Yangshuo. Many of the itinerary arrangements were temporary, but the right time, place, people and people actually made for an unexpectedly wonderful holiday life.

Every day’s experience was great, so the first half is a daily record to share this wonderful journey. The second half will summarize some experiences for readers who want to travel to Yangshuo, hoping to help you.

Day 1 Dinner at Betty’s house

When we left the Yangshuo High-speed Railway Station, it was still raining lightly and it was a bit cold in spring. Friends from Guangdong opened their suitcases and took out their coats to put on. Take the high-speed rail station bus (¥20) and arrive at Yangshuo Fengming Tourism Distribution Center in more than 1 hour. Pack your luggage and get off the bus, then take a taxi for another 20 minutes to reach Jiuxian Village.

After getting off the car, we were surrounded by green mountains, ducks were playing in the farmland, geese were roaring, farmers were talking to each other from a distance, and drizzle was falling, moistening the air.

Dragging your suitcase and walking a few steps, Betty’s “Old House” B&B is hidden in this rural area of ancient houses, without any violation. The main room of the “old house” is just like my grandma’s house in my memory. It has old wooden doors, high tile roofs, and brick walls. It’s a bit damp and cold. Betty poured me a cup of scented tea and we sat down in the main room.

In the evening Betty had two friends over and we had dinner together. Dinner is divided into meals, a main dish and a bowl of chicken soup with shrimps and pumpkin flowers.

After dinner, we played poker “Fast and Furious” and drank home-brewed plum wine until late at night. I went back to bed first, while Betty had to wait for the next guest who would check in late at night.

Day 2 Baisha Market & Crayfish Party

The market day in Baisha Town is on the last 1/4/7 of each month. This day is May 1st, and I just happened to catch it. The market actually means that nearby villagers bring their agricultural products to the market to buy and sell. Because they usually live far away, they only gather together on market days to form a lively market.

Brown sugar glutinous rice cake is very delicious, fragrant and glutinous, a bit like the taste of fried pumpkin pie. Camellia oleifera is a specialty of Gongcheng. Stew ginger, spices and tea leaves together, filter out the residue, and put it into a boiling kettle. When guests come, grab a handful of fried balls into a bowl, pour the oleifera tea from the kettle, and scoop A little salt, it tastes fragrant, hot and slightly bitter, but the aftertaste is rich and sweet.

Betty bought pumpkin seedlings at the market and took them back to the backyard to pick them. In order to prevent nearby chickens from damaging them, she put up a simple cover with bamboo branches around the melon seedlings.

There are two entrances to the backyard. The first entrance is a flat green brick area for barbecues and a hammock. Pass through a small gate and walk a few steps up the mountain to the second entrance. There is a small vegetable field surrounded by stones, where peppers and pumpkins are planted… Behind the second entrance is a row of bamboos, with several bamboo shoots rising from the bricks.

There will be crayfish for dinner, and in the afternoon Betty will go to her friend Ding Ding’s house to help process the crayfish. Ding Ding’s family also runs a B&B in a very remote location, at the foot of the mountain, and the backyard leads to the mountain.

It started to rain in the afternoon. I took an umbrella and walked along the mountainside. I saw many unique B&Bs along the way, including the “Rose Garden” B&B mentioned in the Guilin chapter of “Lonely Planet”. Walk to the vegetable field and follow the path to a stone-paved staircase. I was pleasantly surprised, the light rain rustled on the umbrella, and the birds were chirping in the forest. Going up the stone steps, there were dense trees on both sides. The branches scratched my waterproof jacket, but still made my pants wet. This mountain road leads to the connection between the two mountains. It seems that there is still a way forward, so I decided to visit again next time.

Change the direction and walk in the fields, surrounded by peaks with karst landforms, farmers’ chickens and dogs, the sound of running water, and thin raindrops. It’s like a paradise.

The long-awaited dinner began, with the fragrant smell of crayfish, cold cucumbers, boiled peanuts, and delicious Liquan beer. After one table finished eating 2 large pots of crayfish, another 2 large pots of crayfish were served. Halfway through the meal, they added noodles and cooked them together. The noodles were soaked with the flavor of the shrimp and were extremely delicious.

Later in the dinner, Betty’s husband Devin came back from out of town and joined us, but he was only vegetarian and ate the garlic-fried celery and fried baby potatoes that Betty prepared for him. The weather was cold, so Tintin’s family prepared a bonfire. The guests gradually gathered around the bonfire. Devin played the guitar (he is a musician in the demo bar), and Betty sang (a professional singer). It was great! Then the guitarist was replaced by Ding Ding’s husband, the guests started singing, and the bonfire was very bright and warm.

Day 3 Rock Climbing & Hiking

In the morning, after eating a big bowl of rice noodles, I went to Baiyan Rock Field to try rock climbing. There are already ready-made hanging points on the rock wall. The coaches climbed up along the hanging points first, hung the fulcrum at the highest point, and hung the rope. The fulcrum is a slide rail structure. One end of the rope is buckled on the climber’s waist, and the other end is buckled on the belayer’s waist. As the climber moves upward, the belayer will tighten the rope to ensure that the climber will not fall even if he misses.

Step on the cracks in the rock wall with the toes of your rock climbing shoes, place your weight on your legs, and support your waist upward. But I was nervous and my arms got sore pretty quickly. Everyone is very powerful, especially girls, who are very smart. Unlike boys who use brute force, girls use more flexible postures. One girl climbed all 5 routes.

The weather was sunny that day, so I met up with my friends in the afternoon to finish hiking the mountain path I discovered yesterday. Going up the stone steps, there were a lot of small branches, but it was obvious that someone had walked on this road. We moved forward, not sure what would greet us ahead. There is a loquat tree on the roadside, pick one to quench your thirst. On the other side of the hillside, the stone steps were replaced by stones, surrounded by orange groves, and the smell of farmyard manure could be smelled in the air. Further down, the road is wide and there are traces of farm tools. Here is a large orchard with oranges, oranges, and mulberries. Further down is the vegetable field. My friend taught me to identify what I am growing.

Soon we entered the quiet village. There was an elder sister who was washing carrots in the pond. She gave us two freshly picked carrots. She washed away the dirt with the pond water and started to chew them. Along the road is the cement road in the countryside, here is Baishabao Village. Going up the cement road, there was another orange orchard. After asking the villagers for directions, we decided to climb over the mountain in front.

The villagers were spraying pesticides, and there was an unpleasant smell of pesticides in the air. We made our way through thick, difficult-to-walk bushes and finally found our way back down the mountain, following the orchards back to the village and back to the stone steps.

After returning to the “Old House” and talking to Betty, I realized that we were taking a hiking route here. We were really lucky.

Day 4 Devil’s Cave

Some of yesterday morning’s rock climbers joined me in today’s technical caving. The tour leader Jerry drove us to Xingping, and we were accompanied by Oula, a Polish rock climber. She spoke Chinese very well and introduced us interesting knowledge about healthy vegetarian food and mushrooms.

Wearing belts, helmets, and search lights, we went up the mountain and entered the cave after obtaining permission from the cave owner. The caves in the scenic area are illuminated by colorful lights. In fact, the caves are white-gray, and they will become gray-black after oxidation. The clean caves are milky white.

Climbing up is not bad, it is much easier than climbing on the rock wall, but I am always a little nervous when descending and often bump into the rock wall. The final exit was so cool, just like the cave exit in the Xbox game Halo series, but this climb was very challenging for me, and I ended up getting stuck in a very difficult place. I knew I was not capable enough, so I cheated and climbed. The rope is out. The exit is halfway up the mountain, which is also an orange orchard. The sun is very good, surrounded by mountains, and there are people paragliding and hot air ballooning in the distance.

The caving process was bumpy and bumpy, and there was rock climbing. I came back exhausted and fell asleep. Jerry posted the caving video on Xiaohongshu .

Day 5 Motorcycle & River Tracing

After a night’s sleep, I regained my strength. In the morning, we gathered at Betty’s old house and set off to the valley where we trace the river. The distance was quite long, so Devin took Betty on a motorcycle, and I took another friend on a motorcycle. This is my first time riding a motorcycle, and it’s also my first time carrying people. But it’s easy to learn, and a motorcycle starts more smoothly than a battery-powered scooter.

On a sunny day, I rode along county roads, country roads, and mountain trails, and passed a waterfall. I gradually heard the sound of springs and saw clear streams. I put on my sandals and stepped into the stream. It was cool but not ice-cold. I waded through the water and stepped on the rocks until I reached a pool of water. Betty frowned and said that someone had been here, and it had been vandalized. There were tracks of large vehicles on the road, and it turned out that a logging camp had been built in front of it.

We stopped by a pond, lit a fire and set up a frying pan. Betty fried a poached egg, sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper and salt, sandwiched it between slices of bread, and bit into it. The egg yolk flowed out, it was very delicious.

Devin worked hard, clearing the campground and pulling up the hammock in front of the rocks and trees. After eating and drinking, I lay on the hammock, looked at the woods and sky on the top of the mountain in the distance, and took a nap.

After packing up the garbage and luggage, we returned the same way. The sun gradually softened and the sun on the valley illuminated the intimate backs of Betty and Devin. What a beautiful afternoon.

Day 6 Family State Hiking

Following the guidance from the Guilin chapter of “Lonely Planet”, my friend and I planned to hike all the way from Xingping to Family Prefecture (14 kilometers) today.

Take a bus from Yangshuo Bus Station to Xingping. Walk along the Li River from Xingping Ancient Town to the Lengshui Village Ferry. It costs 10 yuan to take a boat across the river. Crossing the river is Bama Painting Mountain. Then continue walking along the country road to Jiatianxia Scenic Area.

This part of the walking experience was not very good. The highest temperature that day reached 31 degrees. There were few shade trees along the road and the roads were smooth and hot. But when you reach the Jiatianxia section, it begins to turn into a stone path along the river, with shade trees and cool breeze.

Unexpectedly, something happened here that cleansed my soul. There are scattered vendors setting up stalls in Jiatianxia Scenic Area, some of which are elderly grandparents. According to my usual habit, I ignored the vendors along the way and did not talk to them. My friend bought two small fish stones from an old lady. The old lady didn’t have a QR code, but luckily I brought cash. The old lady hesitated to change my 50-yuan banknotes into change, and took the change from her roll. I found a brand new banknote and gave it to me. The roll of change reminded me of my grandma. I haven’t reacted yet.

Next we met an old man who was picking up slingshots with his friends. The old man was deaf and could not hear our bargaining clearly. He was just making gestures for ten yuan each, then picked up pebbles on the ground and showed us how his slingshot can be shot. far away. Suddenly I was moved. The two stores my friends bought were both handicraft stalls owned by grandparents, but I just bought a bag of oranges to quench my thirst. Watching the grandpa’s demonstration, I turned away and my eyes got wet.

When I came back in the evening and lay on the bed, I thought again of the grandmothers and grandfathers I met today. I imagined the scene of them standing guard in front of the stall and in the empty old house during the long afternoon. My tears kept flowing down. I don’t know. Why, I just hope that I can be a kind person in the future.

Walking along the stone road, there were no other tourists. We were the only ones on the road, and there were many fallen leaves. On the roadside, we constantly see warning signs saying “Land-in section, proceed with caution”, and advertisements “Family Weekly Hiking Section, please call xxx to charter a car”. The experience along the way was very good, passing through the whole family village and arriving at the Quanjiazhou Ferry.

“Lonely Planet” said that the ferry on the other side had stopped running, so we made some repairs at the ferry, washed our feet and cooled off. I accidentally saw the river crossing phone number on the passenger boat at the ferry. After calling, someone came to take us across the river by boat for 10 yuan per person.

After crossing the river, there is an orchard. The direction to Xingping is blocked, so you can only walk along the river in the direction of Yangdi. I met fruit farmers resting by the river. Their large oranges had been picked and purchased, and they were leaving the small fruits and were about to throw them away. When they met us, they gave us a big bag of fresh and sweet oranges.

Continuing forward is a comfortable stone-paved hiking route. Villagers said that there were many people hiking here in previous years, but there were very few people this year. When we arrived at Yangdi Ferry and crossed the river, it was already past 5 pm. The primary school was over. We waited for the bus at 6:10 with the primary school students. The primary school students got off the bus one by one along the way. We walked around the mountains. The cool mountain breeze blew in through the car window, smoke drifted from the countryside, and the sunshine was gentle. Yangdi’s bus can go directly to Yangshuo Bus Station, get off at the station, and ride your own electric bike back to the B&B.

Experience in food, clothing, housing and transportation

I came to Yangshuo on May Day. The first two days were rainy and cold, with temperatures ranging from 13 to 23 degrees. Wear a medium-thick jacket and long trousers. The weather will soon get hotter after the weather clears, reaching almost 30 degrees Celsius. It is recommended to prepare long-sleeved clothes and pants, sun protection hats, umbrellas, and non-slip sandals.

When eating, I try to arrange to eat with the innkeeper. At other times, a bowl of Guilin rice noodles costs 15. The authentic rice noodles here do not come with soup, but are mixed with some pickled beans and pickled radish, which is very delicious. The signature rice noodles come with three kinds of meat, the most expensive, usually 15-20 yuan; I often eat pot-roasted rice noodles, 10-15 yuan.

I stayed in Yangshuo for 7 nights. The accommodation in three Airbnb B&Bs was all comfortable, but I still recommend that the B&B owner is very fun-loving and will organize many interesting activities.

It is very convenient to have an electric car near Yangshuo County. Whether you are going to the market in Baisha Town or playing in the villages of Jiuxian County, it is not a problem to go back and forth for 20 kilometers. It is estimated that the mileage can be up to 40 kilometers, and the speed on flat roads can reach 45 kilometers per hour.

There are buses from Yangshuo Bus Station to Xingping Town and Yangdi Township. The price is less than 20 yuan and there are many buses. There is Yangshuo Fengming Tourism Distribution Center not far from the bus station, and the high-speed rail line can directly reach Yangshuo Station.

Yangshuo County People’s Hospital can provide nucleic acid testing, as can Baisha Town Health Center. Both are priced at 8 yuan per person for one test for multiple people.

If you want to experience bamboo rafting, you should choose the Yulong River section and be careful with wet shoes; the Lijiang River is full of electric plastic tube rafts with motors, which are very noisy.

This year of not working

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In early July 2020, I received the company’s resignation certificate and rode a small yellow car out of the company building under the scorching July sun. There were few people on the road, the road was steaming and the sun was shining brightly. In late June 2021, I was about to join a new workplace. There had just been a heavy rain and the weather was cool. One year has passed and the days of not working are coming to an end. Here is a brief review.

1. Childhood and Game Consoles

In the first three months, I realized my childhood dream, bought an XBOX Scorpio game console, a 4K monitor, and played games in a small room.

I can’t go back. I can’t go back to my childhood immersion in games. My favorite age to play games is between the third grade of junior high school and the first grade of high school. “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”, “Red Alert 2”… After this period of time, I no longer care about games. I can arouse interest, even in college, I only played “Left 4 Dead 2” online a few times with my roommates. I couldn’t accept the fact that I devoted a lot of time to the game and found it boring.

This time too, the game was well made and the story was great (The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2), but I just couldn’t get into it. After confirming this, I sold these gaming equipment again.

In addition to playing games, I also discovered some outdoor groups in Shenzhen, crossed the beach, hiked in the mountains and forests, and was deeply impressed by the sea view of South Australia. This is the sea in my imagination.

2. Traveling?

The original intention of traveling was to sleep in a different bed😂.

For a long time, I suffered from back pain while sleeping on the bed, and I kept making do with it. Finally one day, I felt it was no longer possible, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because of my waist or the bed, so I needed to change to a different bed for comparison. hotel? Then travel. After checking the tickets and accommodation, there are discounts due to the epidemic, so let’s stay there. This is how the plan to live in Chengdu and Dali began.

3. Chengdu

Carrying a medium-sized suitcase and a programmer’s backpack, we set off from Shenzhen in early November, transferred to Guangzhou and arrived in Chengdu. On the train, there was an aunt from Sichuan who worked in Shenzhen and taught me some Sichuan intonations. I couldn’t tell the difference between the pronunciation of “forty” and “fourteen”.

Du Fu Thatched Cottage, People’s Park, Kuanzhai Alley, Wuhou Temple, Jinli, this is not the way I want to experience it, it’s just like watching the flowers on the fly. I simply stopped going to check-in attractions and only went to places I really wanted to go. That is Qingcheng Mountain hahaha.

I went to Qingcheng Mountain twice. The first time was to the front mountain. The front mountain is mostly Taoist temples and there are relatively more tourists. The second time was to the back mountain, which is rarely visited by tourists. I was amazed by the waterfalls in the back mountain. On the way down the mountain, there were There are small waterfalls in sections, walking in the mountain stream, with moss-covered mountain walls on both sides, and turquoise spring water at the foot. It is extremely beautiful.

The rest of the days, I just read quietly and borrowed “Little Fire” and “Silent Confession” from the library in Chengdu. The B&B where I stayed was very quiet. Located on the first floor of an old community, a residential house has been transformed into 3 independent B&Bs. There is a floor-to-ceiling window, but it is a pity that there is little sunlight in Shu. There are often crickets chirping outside the window, birds chirping in the morning, and the sound of sweeping the floor. Reading in a room like this feels very peaceful, but I feel a little chilly after reading for a long time, so I asked my roommate in Shenzhen to mail me the cold-weather clothes I brought back from the Northeast.

In the evening, I would walk to the “Huanhuaxi Park” south of Du Fu Thatched Cottage, watch the cranes playing and flying in the pond, watch the sky slowly darken, and imagine myself in a deep valley with no people, very peaceful.

After staying there for half a month, there was no one to talk to, and it was quite lonely.

4. Dali

In mid-November, I left Chengdu and arrived at the long-awaited Dali. I spent an unforgettable two months here and it was more interesting and wonderful than I imagined.

I stayed in an inn until the end. From the difficulty of integrating at the beginning, I now have a familiar place and familiar people. The details have been written in the previous diary.

One special thing I observed about the Dali community is that the people here are very diverse, mainly middle-aged people. The age of 40 is a very full age in life. When different people gather together and just listen to their sharing, you can feel a lot of rich things. And it’s different from just sitting and talking. There are many creators here. They make wine, bake bread, organize events, write public accounts, write novels, climb mountains, hike, and build houses. It feels like you can do everything by yourself. For example, he can build his own shop by himself, cut wood, hammer nails, and work in frustration with the master workers.

Some small shops in Dali also give people a different feeling. The shop belongs to the owner. He is not only the boss, but also a member of the community. You can communicate with each other. While he provides you with services, he is also an equal to you. In standardized, customer-oriented chain stores, sometimes people forget this and treat service as a machine. How can they relax when working here?

The development of industrialization has trained many specialized people and improved social production efficiency, but I actually feel that something is missing. During working days, ordering takeout, taking a taxi, and shopping online, a mobile phone can outsource many scenes of life to others, but it also feels like a working machine, and all needs can become commodities. I want a more delicate life experience, I want to feel like I am living.

But actually, I was anxious again in Dali. When someone asks me what I do, I just say “a programmer”, feeling very guilty. I haven’t created anything for this world yet, and I haven’t proven my ability yet. What can I do?

5. Return to Shenzhen

After returning to Shenzhen, this anxiety quickly dissipated. It’s back to a familiar scene, I know I’ll be at work soon, and the only question left is what to do next. The programming world is huge and there are many directions. After trying several directions of study, I decided to go back to the direction I started with and do it well. The rest is to find a job.

My eyes saw something new , and I discovered that like Dali’s “Dali Haozai” public account, there are also some public accounts in Shenzhen that share local activities. Later, I went to the “Spiritual Manifesto” bookstore and the Movie Club, where I met friends with whom I could watch movies and chat.

One day, I saw a photo of cooking posted by a good friend I met in Dali. I suddenly wanted to cook and live a good life.

I have always been resistant to the kitchen. I think it is greasy and dirty, and I have almost never cooked since I was a child. But suddenly, it started, everything was so natural, I could cook it for myself and eat whatever I wanted. Peanut oil, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil, mature vinegar, ginger, onion, garlic, green pepper, dried pepper, corn starch, chili powder, pepper powder, lettuce, potato, mushroom, carrot, white radish, I gradually became familiar with them through hands-on work. The reasons that used to prevent me from entering the kitchen suddenly disappeared, and cooking became a natural thing. And it is very tolerant, allowing me to make some mistakes, but I can still eat it, which gives me a sense of accomplishment.

What’s missing is the concept of money. I am also resistant to making money. I bought “Chen Zhiwu Finance Class” a long time ago but never listened to it. I gradually picked it up again and let “direct financing”, “indirect financing”, “bonds”, “equity” and other terms that I didn’t want to come into contact with enter my vocabulary. Life. Money is a subject that runs through the lives of modern people. It is really a pity that we do not understand or even resist it because of education issues.

In April, maybe the time was ripe again, and I suddenly wanted to pick up the habit of meditation. I started to be exposed to meditation on and off a few years ago, and I know clearly that it has many benefits, but I just can’t do it. After repeatedly hearing guests on Jade’s podcast mention meditation, I decided to start it, so I started a morning meditation routine. I think that during my job search, I may also benefit from this meditation habit in terms of adjusting my mentality. I can reduce some of my resistance and face the emotions themselves.

In June, I submitted my resume, found my favorite job, and returned to my professional direction, hoping to do some useful creations.

It’s almost been a whole year, is it considered a “gap year”? When I chose to start this year, I did not expect it to develop like this, but many of the life issues I wanted to solve at that time were answered to a certain extent.

Finally, I would like to conclude by quoting Xu Zhiyuan’s conversation with Yu Feihong in S1E9 of “Thirteen Invitations”:

Yu: “Although saying it may not have a good impact on young people, in fact, life is meaningless.”

Xu: “I quite like a Western tradition. They believe that life is inherently a permanent Struggle, an eternal struggle that can never be peaceful. So they must be constantly entangled throughout their lives. They actually use creativity to face death and overcome this meaninglessness.”

Let's start with "The Wedding Banquet"

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I watched “The Wedding Banquet” (released in 1993) directed by Ang Lee at the Movie Viewing Exchange Meeting. This is my second time watching it, and when I watched it I just thought it was beautiful, interesting, and rich. I didn’t know what to say just after reading it, but in the aftermath, I had some personal thoughts.

1. Sexual repression

First of all, it is about the sexual description. In the film, the heroine always does not wear a bra when painting, letting her thin shirt stick to her chest. This is a true and bold description. In mainland China’s current film and television works, those characters who deliberately expose their cleavage are far less expressive and natural. Later in the film, there is a shot of the heroine topless while taking a bath. This shot is not necessary to advance the plot, but I think it interacts with the audience, allowing the audience to truly participate and experience “Five Thousand” for themselves. The impact of “sexual repression” on us. When I see this scene, I will suddenly act out. I will observe whether others see me watching this scene intently. I will feel a little shy about expressing my interest in sex.

The director only made a cameo appearance in the film and said one sentence: “You are witnessing the results of five thousand years of sexual repression” to the foreign guests when everyone was stirring up the atmosphere at the wedding banquet. In fact, at first I didn’t understand why there was a causal connection between the custom of weddings and “sexual repression”.

In the eyes of foreigners, Chinese people have an image of “docile, silent and mathematical geniuses”, but when it comes to wedding banquets, they have a lively energy to cause trouble. The father in the film is the image of a traditional Chinese elder. He likes calligraphy. He sits at the head of the table during meals. When the landlord cooks, he must wash the dishes himself and speak to his juniors in a precise manner. But at the wedding banquet, when everyone was noisily doing things with sexual implications, he was actually very happy, because the more lively the wedding, the more face he would gain. Various signs in the movie also suggest that the father himself is very likely to be gay, but as a commander of an army, as the head of a family, and as a traditional Chinese, he hid it very well.

2. Perfect ending

The film seems to have reached a perfect ending. Same-sex lovers are not separated, the heroine gets a US green card and life security, and the old parents see their son getting married and having children. But if you think about it carefully, this perfection is so fragile. The whole story begins with the old parents hoping that their son can continue the legacy of the Gao family, urging their son to get married and have a grandson as soon as possible; the old father’s first comment when he saw the heroine was “she can have children and raise children”; at the end, the old father said to the pregnant daughter The Lord’s message was, “The Gao family will thank you.” From the parents’ point of view, the mission given to them by traditional culture is to continue the family legacy. The heroine’s pregnancy seems to be a fulfillment that suits their purpose, but if the child is a girl, the expectation of continuing the family legacy will immediately It was shattered.

As long as we don’t get rid of the old tradition of continuing incense (giving birth to boys) and don’t confront this tradition, the son in the film will not have a perfect ending.

3. Present, past and future

Times are evolving. In mainland China thirty years ago, many Chinese may still be trapped in this old tradition, but in 2021 we obviously have a different understanding of LGBT people and giving birth to girls.

When the director made such a film, I think he was also recording the Chinese society he observed at that time and place. When people see this film a hundred years from now, they may be surprised that our culture once had a part like this, and it lasted for thousands of years. Maybe just like what we see now about ancient women’s foot binding, it was actually a bad habit that only stopped 100 years ago.

Of course we hope that our culture can develop in a better direction, so we have to think about why we can discover and change some bad habits now? Why did we lose foot binding 100 years ago, and why are we more LGBT accepting today?

The narrative background of “The Wedding Banquet” is that Chinese people live in the United States, and the conflict is constructed through the cultural differences between the younger generation who have lived in the United States for a long time and the older generation in Taiwan. Those who call on and influence us to abandon foot binding are the Chinese who have returned from studying abroad and who have accepted new ideas at home. What makes us more accepting of LGBT, I think, is the constant attention from mainstream overseas film and television dramas.

Continuous exposure to new and different things can increase our awareness of existing things. We need to embrace diversity and oppose monotony, embrace change and oppose stubbornness, so that our culture can develop in a better direction.

This is better because it transcends time and politics and is based on universal human values. Universal human values have always existed. For example, “A Dream of Red Mansions” boldly records the Qing Dynasty’s concern for sexual enlightenment, women, and gay men. These universal values do not exist now, but have been suppressed in the mainstream discourse of one place and time. Perhaps as the director himself said, “You are witnessing the results of five thousand years of sexual repression.”

Reference remarks

LGBT is the abbreviation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, referring to homosexual, bisexual and transgender people

Dali to Shenzhen

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

In the afternoon of 2 months ago, before the plane arrived at Dali Airport, he looked out from a small window. It was a mountain and blue sky, and it was a Dali dam built around Erhai Lake. In the evening when I returned to Shenzhen, I looked out of the small window of the plane. It was the real seawater nearly in front of me, and it was the human lighting of the star on the water.

While I am not used to Shenzhen, record my little feelings in the conversion of the world.

advertise

Arrive in Shenzhen, walking all the way through the airport channel, subway passage, bus platform, elevator side wall, there are advertising posters everywhere, and advertising movies are also reflected on the electronic display of the eyes. Wrap. One of my roommates is engaged in advertising and copywriting. In the late night, working overtime and meeting in the bedroom. He was also wrapped forward, and then continued to help this push for this push, apply marketing theory, grasp user needs, complete work, and improve performance.

In the future of the British drama “Black Mirror”, the advertising time of people’s views becomes a currency of consumption. The poor must browse the advertisement on the wall display of the room to survive. Once they close their eyes, they will receive the bill warning ⚠️, only there is only there are only, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is, only there is. Spend money to skip the advertisement. The story is exaggerated, but isn’t we in a similar environment now? Some APPs start “Skip Advertising (3S)”, and some non -member 60S advertisements before playback, so on.

Do I really need so much, what is my real appeal? Why do I want to watch this TV series and why do I want to eat that food? Is my needs really from me or advertisement around me?

小房间

Back to the room for many days, I suddenly realized its narrow cramped, and the space of 10 square meters was crowded with my daily necessities.

From the student dormitory to the rental house after work, I finally had their own small rooms. Set up comfortable bedding here, add wardrobe, desk, chair, curtains, racks, storage boxes, green plants, mirrors, coasters, aromatherapy, carefully arrange your own rental house, try to treat it as a home, one After work, a warm nest, a large city belongs to its own windport. I never thought that I was trapped in my room without knowing it, lost the connection with the community and strangers, and closed my heart in a 10 -square -meter space.

In the exchanges with the Dali community, I maintain the silence of habit. I cannot interact with improvisation and interact with dance partners. Influence. Until gradually, I forgot myself to suppress myself, but just asked because of curiosity, because I wanted to understand, and I started to believe in some natural sense of security.

In the days of living, we lived with a suitcase and two backpacks to live in different inn. Gradually used to the large space of the inn, accustomed to not exceeding the three -story residential houses, the blue sky and white clouds, Cangshan Erhai Lake, and Bamboo Tao Birds were used to the roar. Those windy nights, flying sand and stones, the air was hissing, and humans were so humble in the face of this natural power.

We are just travelers of life. Are we really going to be trapped by something? Everything is like a dream, such as dew and electricity, you should watch it.

城市声音

The place I live in is not in the village in the city, but it is not a quiet community, but an ordinary residential building on the side of the road. On the night of the day I came back, I found that I couldn’t get quiet. The flute of the big cart in the air, the sound of traffic, and engine vibration (there was an electric diamond sound decorated with a neighbor). Only at midnight and closed the window to get a closed tranquility in the small room. But this is a kind of tranquility without flowing, just like the stagnation behind the tight headphones, which is different from the tranquility that Dali can feel in the wind.

What are you lost?

On Sunday evening with my colleagues for dinner, go back after meals, and at the fork intersection, I said, “I am very idle anyway, take a walk after meals and accompany you to your house.” So he took me to the fruit shops and snacks he often went to, and I suddenly realized that this was the first time I learned about his life scenes. During the year of work, everyone seemed to have their own business, and they were more willing to return to their own small world. We said goodbye to the subway station late at night after get off work, and they went lonely to our small room. I did not know more about the feelings of another soul, and only paid attention to my own one -acre.

In addition to busy, the dense population is also intensifying my indifference. In cities where people are surging, people are like air. They need to be accustomed to it and become the background of life. I have to focus on my destination, thoughts, and mobile phone messages, and gradually passivated the perception of human beings around and became more silent.

After returning, I dispose of myself on the second -hand platform. There is a folding bed for lunch breaks in the company. The buyer is a bit far away. The courier is expensive and difficult to transport. I simply became a courier and sent it by the subway. After sending the folding bed, I was surprised to find that there was a vegetarian buffet restaurant nearby. I heard that the boss used the title of “Brother” in the conversation, and felt kind.

Why do we always pursue high efficiency and optimal solution? In this high -efficiency era, is it really more complacent than in the past? Where did the time to save? What we are pursuing, what we have lost is really worth it? “Cafe at the End of the World” raised three questions, “Why are you coming to this world?”, “Are you afraid of death?”, “Are you satisfied?”, What is your answer?

Shenzhen is a colorful scroll, but it is painted with a lot of painting. The space that can be left in white is filled with advertisements, buildings, sounds and crowds. How powerful, firm and wisdom do we need to filter out those extra things and return to us?

The above is all the contents of this article. If you have any opinions and suggestions, please leave me a message in the comment area.

Reference Remarks

The story of “Black Mirror” mentioned in the text comes from the second episode of the first season “The value of 15 million” https://movie.douban.com/subject/7054120/

Dali Living Guide

xiangaoole@gmail.com (Harold Gao) — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake are beautiful, but what attracts me most about Dali is actually its precious community atmosphere. If you want to know in advance what this kind of community atmosphere is, you might as well read the book “Interviews with Dali: As if There is Light”.

My yearning for Dali was deeply influenced by Jade’s podcast “Evening Breeze” . The epidemic in early 2020 finally pushed Jade to travel from Beijing to Dali and started a series of podcasts interviewing people living in Dali. In those days, I was struggling in Shenzhen. I would often listen to these podcasts and run along the seaside on weekend evenings. In those tender nights, I was gradually moved by the different life choices presented in the program. Finally, at the end of 2020, I also came to Dali and stayed for 2 months.

This is not a travelogue, nor does it cover many of Dali’s internet celebrity check-in points. It is completely the fragments that I like very much in slow travel, and it constitutes the Dali that I yearn for. In the past two months, except for three days in Shaxi Ancient Town and Jianchuan Ancient Town in Jianchuan County, one day hiking in Jizu Mountain in Binchuan County, and one day cycling around the Erhai Lake, I spent most of my time in Dali Ancient Town. Surrounding activities.

The first part introduces the places and people that attract me to Dali, and the second part shares the travel information I collected.

Part1: Interesting places and people

When I came to the ancient city of Dali, I visited Douban writer Chen Xiaochen’s Lingdang stall on Guangwu Road, listened to a live lecture by Douban digital nomad yeye at 706 Dali, and went there with Jade, the author of the podcast “Evening Breeze” In September of Dali, I met Roy and Sue, the Condor Heroes couple from Station B, while eating at Ben Su Shi Tang. It was like a huge star-chasing scene. Not to mention the other interesting people I met. Dali is a place where people are very close to each other. After participating in several activities, joining several WeChat groups, and eating a few more meals in the same restaurant, I discovered that the creators I had seen on a certain platform before were now there. Be there for you.

Dali is a place of slow life. There is a story that may be a bit extreme. A friend ordered a large plate of chicken rice bowl in a restaurant. The boss was eating, so he asked me to wait until it was finished before frying it. This made my friend wait for more than 20 minutes. There is a famous burger restaurant in Shaxi Ancient Town. The owner only makes about 20 beef burgers every day. Guests who come late can only eat other dishes, or make reservations for the next day. I came here for two meals. I didn’t even get the beef burger when I first arrived. I made a reservation for it and got it the next day.

If you come to Dali and want to quickly make friends with whom you may be able to chat, you can participate in more activities. The public account " Dali Haozai " has summarized many recent activities near the ancient city of Dali, so be sure to pay attention. Below I will also introduce some interesting places I encountered.

bensu shitang

(In a return visit in September 2022, the senior brother has opened an inn. The cafeteria has been transferred to a mother and daughter who believe in Buddhism. The chanting sound will be played during meals. The types of dishes remain the same and the taste is still delicious.)

This is a vegetarian restaurant, located next to Yiduo Cafe, a high-quality and low-price restaurant. The owner is called “Big Brother” and is also an old Douban user from the Northeast. Half of my meals are eaten here. This is Dali’s “late-night dining hall” in my mind. Visitors who come to Bensu to eat often can’t find who the boss is, and other diners will come to guide them where to scan the code, how many lunch boxes to pick up, and where to find the paper cups.

The eldest brother often lies on the deck chair at the door, wearing a pair of round glasses, reading in the sun and chatting with regular customers. You can often encounter some familiar faces and voices while eating, and you will become familiar with them if you come and go frequently.

I particularly like the limerick written on the small blackboard in front of the restaurant:

One small shop, two beings.
Eat vegetarian meals for three meals, and the four seasons will reincarnate.
End of life in Cangshan Mountain, scattering bones in Erhai Lake.
Let go of life and death and gather and disperse accordingly.

Space 42

(In 2021, Sister Lu came to Wutongshan, Shenzhen, and started classes online. In 2022, Dora, the Feldenkrais course teacher, traveled back and forth between Shenzhen and Dali, and also started classes online, with the public account “Dora’s Question Guide”. )

Public account " space 42 “. Space 42 is located in the third phase of Shanshuijian Community near Dali University outside the ancient city. It takes half an hour to get there by riding a small battery, so I often come to participate in activities. Here I came into contact with improvisational contact, free singing, shakuhachi, and Feldenkrais dynamic awareness courses for the first time. This is a world full of spirituality and tenderness.

When words stop, when feelings open. When we pay attention to the awareness of the body and the vibration of the sound, everything starts to change. What gives me a special feeling here is that when the guide asks us to do an action, I feel that I am allowed to fail, allowed not to cooperate, and allowed to fall asleep. In this pressure-free situation Now, I can play as much as I want and try out those unaccustomed moves.

At the end of the first event I attended here, the hostess Lu gave me a hug, which flattered me; at the end of the last event before leaving, Lu gave me another hug when she learned that I was leaving Dali. .

706 (Dali) Living Laboratory

The public account " 706 Dali “. 706 Dali was officially launched on December 1, 2020. It is located in a small courtyard on Yincang Road. It recruits interesting tenants who are willing to abide by the 706 community standards, and organizes sharing and lectures from time to time. At that time, a group of interesting young people gathered here, including digital nomads yeye (the public account and podcast " Not Working Commune “) and Danniel (the public account " Digital Nomad Intelligence Bureau “), as well as international students studying for Ph.D.s overseas (still remember her The excitement of childhood when someone says his thesis will revolutionize a field), former Google programmer Ren (he said, “Do what you like to the best, and opportunities will come to you”), etc. Lectures on digital nomads, South American travel, science and cognition, and careers have been held here, and I have benefited a lot.

calligraphy books

The public account " Calligraphy Books “. If you like reading, don’t miss this. Books on calligraphy are donated and of high quality. I read “You Should Fly Like a Bird to Your Mountain” and “The Buried Giant” here. The tables, chairs and atmosphere here are very close to a library, suitable for reading and working quietly (it’s just a bit cold in winter). Shuli is also an inn. If you donate 5 books, you can stay for one night for free.

September in Dali

The public account " Dali September “. If you like music, such as donbra, jazz, blues or some avant-garde music, you might as well give it a try here. This is a long-established bar in the ancient city. It is very famous among long-term residents. It is located in a small courtyard that is difficult for tourists to find. It has a bar, a courtyard, and an old hall used for performances, integrating modernity and classics. . The drinks in the bar are high quality and cheap, with a gin and tonic costing 35 yuan.

Performances usually start at 8:30 pm on Fridays and weekends, some are free, some have a fee. In the wooden house, the musicians huddled together to play passionately, the audience crowded on the straw mats and relaxed to listen. In the yard, some people were warming themselves by the fire, and some were talking. The night was gentle and the stars were twinkling.

Dali bed sheet art factory

This is a factory area south of the ancient city of Dali. Because it is separated from Renmin Road by a military management zone and is at the end of a small road, there are few tourists.

One of my favorites in the factory is the rock climbing wall transformed from a corridor. A single rock climb only costs 30 yuan. It is open every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoon. Watching the sunburnt children climbing here, I feel happy and happy. envious.

Another place I like is the famous Dolphin Ade Bookstore (public account " Dolphin Ade Bookstore “), which is half book area and half coffee area. The book area also sells some literary and creative works. Books from the library area are not allowed to be brought to the coffee area, but there is a small bookshelf in the coffee area that can be read for free. If you buy a cup of coffee, it’s very comfortable to sit here all afternoon. The bookstore contains the book “Under the Cangshan Mountain” that is not available online. Dolphin Ade’s shopkeeper Ade wrote in the preface of the book:

In the real society, “mainstream values” are devouring us every second, turning us into various “categories” of people. What’s even more frightening is that when we truly enter the category of “success”, happiness does not come, and boredom and emptiness follow one after another. Because from the beginning of our extremely utilitarian education to the continuous “struggle” for “success” after entering society, there is no time and space for searching for interests. As a result, the most boring and pale well-off generation in the history of this country emerged.

– Ade

Da Bing’s House (Four Seasons Market Store) 2nd Floor

(A return visit in September 2022 found that it was closed, the Four Seasons Market was deserted, and the toilets were sealed.)

When I first arrived in Dali in November, the Elk Market was still deserted. It had been renovated before New Year’s Day. There were slides, grass, and exquisite shops. There were often bonfires at night. It was worth a visit.

Da Bing’s Hut (Four Seasons Market Store) is located in the Elk Market. There is a bar on the first floor and a 24-hour free library on the second floor. The lighting on the second floor is particularly good, so much so that in the afternoon the Dali sun scorches it like an oven. There are many and miscellaneous books, including various literary classics, essays and novels. There are long tables for working and sofas for lying down. It is suitable for bookworms to come here to read. However, due to the weather and sun, the overall look is a bit shabby, like an attic. piles of old books inside.

A suitable place for office and study

Considering that friends who live for a long time may need to work and study, here are some options you can try:

Ancient City Library: Next to the Confucian Temple, from the friends’ circle of friends, it looks like a normal library. free.
Calligraphy books: Very suitable for reading and working. The only drawback is that it is a bit cold in winter. You can skip the purchase or order a cup of tea with unlimited refills (10 yuan).
DaliHub Shared Office Space: The public account " DH Shared Office Space " is a shared office space co-founded by two digital nomads, yeye and Danniel. It is professional and convenient to meet some friends who work remotely or freelance. The location is near March Street, and you need to leave the ancient city and cross the West Scenic Line Highway. The rent for the workstation seems to be 600 yuan per month.
The second floor of Dabing’s House (Four Seasons Market Store): There are stacks of old books in the attic, as well as desks and chairs. free.
Wutong Academy: Located in a small alley next to the bustling Renmin Road, it is quiet in the bustle. There are not many high-quality books, but the space is large and the tables and chairs are comfortable. You can sit for free, but it seems a bit embarrassing not to buy a cup of coffee (from 30 yuan).
Dolphin Ade Coffee Area: The environment is very good, with jazz music in the background, but the coffee table is not high, so you may need to put your laptop on your lap. But the atmosphere of the coffee area makes the office very efficient. Coffee starts at 35 yuan.

Part 2: Dali travel information

If you are already interested and want to live in Dali for a while, then here is some travel information I have collected, I hope it will be helpful to you.

The ancient city of Dali borders Erhai Lake in the east, Cangshan Mountain in the west, Xiaguan in the south, and Xizhou in the north. There are four city gates in the east, west, south and north, namely Erhai Gate, Cangshan Gate, South Gate and North Gate. It is easy to identify the direction in the ancient city. If you look up and “see Cangshan leisurely”, you will be due west.

climate

I came to Dali in winter (November to January) and experienced the coldest days in Dali since 2016. The biggest feature of Dali’s climate is the large temperature difference and high intensity of ultraviolet rays. Here you will strongly feel that “all things grow depending on the sun.” Most of the time, the sky is blue, with large white clouds on the top of Cangshan Mountain. The temperature ranges from 20 to 4 degrees Celsius a day, mainly determined by whether there is enough sunshine. Because the sun’s ultraviolet rays are very strong, students who mind tanning must pay attention to sun protection.

When walking or dazing in the sun, I will wear a pair of thermal underwear and a sports sweatshirt; when dark clouds come and it will get cold soon, I will add a fleece jacket. Most of the time, there is no need for a down jacket, but it is still necessary to bring one. It is enough in the coldest weather, and it can also be used when climbing Cangshan Mountain. January 11 and 12, 2021, were the coldest days I have ever encountered. The temperature was around 5 to -1 degrees Celsius. Snow seeds fell in the ancient city. I wore a light down jacket and a scarf.

Have a meal

When eating alone, my main choices are rice noodles, vegetarian buffet, and stir-fried rice bowls. A meal costs 10 to 15 yuan. Places I’ve eaten at:

Yirantang: There is a self-service vegetarian meal for lunch and dinner (5 yuan meal + 1 yuan paper bowl), and the background music of “Amitabha” chanting will be played. You can feel full, and the taste is relatively simple.
Ben Su Shi Tang: The place I go to most often has a vegetarian buffet for lunch, which costs 13 yuan per person. It includes soy milk, black rice porridge, and sometimes bread slices and egg fried rice. They are all home-cooked vegetarian dishes, and some dishes have Eggs, others are vegan, northeastern, very delicious; dinner is noodles, about 10 yuan, some noodles have green onions, you can add fried eggs, if you are vegetarian, remember to order plain noodles.
Yunfengyao Rice Noodles: Wangzi Braised Pork Rice Noodles, Wangzi means Maoxuewang. It tastes very delicious and only costs 12 yuan for a large bowl.
Original local chicken rice noodles: Erhaimen in the ancient city, the chicken soup is super good, a large bowl of local chicken rice noodles is 15 yuan.
Shiwu Nanbei Private Kitchen: The format is very similar to Japanese food. The boss will cook it under your eyes and serve it in front of you. It looks very high-end but the price is relatively affordable. A simple set meal is 28 yuan to 40 yuan. The boss likes to cook and does what he likes seriously.
Selemu halal snack: It is also quite famous. The boss said “Selemu” means “hello”. Beef rice noodles in clear soup (beef slices), braised beef rice noodles (lots of beef pieces), dry fried rice, beef sausage fried rice, and chicken sausage fried rice are all delicious; there are also many regular customers who like to eat braised beef rice noodles, which I think is a bit salty. .
Suxinyuan Halal Snacks: An inconspicuous little shop, the restaurant is crowded with locals, and the fried rice with shredded chicken (12 yuan) is more delicious than the colored one.
The local stir-fry shop opposite Dali September Restaurant: Twice-cooked pork rice bowl is really delicious, 14 yuan.
Sifang Street Supermarket (Yu’er Branch): Take away two meat and two vegetarian dishes for 10 yuan, or you can eat in the store for 15 yuan. I think the taste is average, with too many seasonings.
Beimen Vegetable Market: The place with the lowest prices in the ancient city. The fruits are delicious and cheap.
Nanmen Green Jade Farmers Market: Outside the south gate of the ancient city, there are many delicacies: Lemon Chicken, Xiaoyang Chicken Feet, Yang’s First Roll Noodles.

long term rental

If you stay in an inn for a long time, the monthly rent ranges from 800 to 1,800. 800-1200 is close to the usual standard room, with a 1.5m large bed, separate bathroom, small table and stools, public washing machine, kitchen, and clothes drying on the roof; if it is 1800, it has a small living room and balcony, with a sofa and a larger table. Of course, these are prices during the off-season, and some hotels may increase their prices during the peak season.

Some long-term rental information in Dali can be found in the Douban groups “Love Dali” and “Dali Rental”. You can also rent for a few days first and then visit each inn after you arrive. There are many inns in the ancient city of Dali. In addition, there are inns all around the ancient city. On Douban, the most places for rent are near the South Gate and Erhai Gate.

travel

If you want to travel in Dali Ancient Town, it takes about 20 minutes to walk from south to north and from east to west. If your activities are more frequent, you can rent a small electric car. The Hello electric car I rented costs 169 yuan per month. It can be ridden for more than ten kilometers when fully charged and can be charged at the inn. There are no shared bicycles in the ancient city, but there are on the Erhai Greenway.

When going to other places from Dali Ancient Town, most buses depart from Xiaguan County. You can check on Ctrip.

Dali Ancient Town to Lijiang: There is a direct shuttle bus from Xiaguan City. It is said that you can wave to the bus on the Dali Highway. There is a sign to Lijiang on the window of the bus. If there is no seat, the driver will usually wave to you to indicate that there is a seat. will stop.

From Dali Ancient Town to Shaxi Ancient Town: There is a shuttle bus from Xiaguan directly to Jianchuan County Bus Terminal, which runs every 20 minutes. I caught a bus on the Dali Line Highway; when I arrived at the Jianchuan County Passenger Terminal, there was an official green minivan on the right side of the passenger terminal that went directly to Shaxi Ancient Town. Taking a bus is the cheapest, totaling 55 yuan (40+15). If you want to save trouble, you can consult at the Lanlingge Hotel in Dali Ancient Town. There is a chartered bus directly to the Lanlingge Hotel in Shaxi Ancient Town, which is said to cost more than 100.

Dali Ancient City to Jizu Mountain: There is a shuttle bus from Xiaguan directly to the entrance of Jizu Mountain scenic spot, which can be purchased on Ctrip. But the return time of the shuttle bus is too early. What I encountered was that it returned at 3 pm. If you don’t climb the mountain in the whole journey, just taking the ropeway and sightseeing bus is enough. For example, I climbed up the mountain for a while, played for a long time, and didn’t get down to the entrance until 6 o’clock. Finally, a few people chartered a bus back to Xiaguan City (70 yuan per person), and then took a bus from Xiaguan back to Dali Ancient City.

Erhai Lake

Erhai Lake is not a sea, but it is more beautiful than many seascapes, thanks to its mountains, light and clouds.

A clean sea-ring highway was built along the Erhai Lake, with the west line of the sea ring on one side and the east line of the sea ring on the other. Some sections in the middle were still under construction at the time, such as the section from Xizhou to Shangguan. The management of the Haixi Line Greenway near the ancient city is very strict. Only bicycles are allowed, and electric bicycles and other motor vehicles are prohibited. Electric bicycles can also be ridden in other places on the Haixi Line Greenway. The Haidong Line is more relaxed and the road is wide. There are red bicycle lanes on most sections of the road, and passenger cars, large trucks and luxury sports cars rented by tourists for taking photos are common on the road.

The closest seaside to the ancient city is Caicun Pier, to the south is the more famous Longkan Pier, and a little further to the north is Shuangyuanxi Park. This is a great place to take your family for a picnic on the grass in the afternoon. There are large grasslands and woods of different brown and yellow colors by the water. The bright sunshine shines through the clouds and it is so quiet that you can hear the sound of water and the chirping of birds. It feels like you are in a fairy tale. world. Of course, these three sea-ringing greenways also attract many tourists to take photos and check in. There are often seagulls circling at Longchun Pier.

In the afternoon on the Haidong route, you can have a panoramic view of Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake. The sunshine and cloud cover are just right, and the scenery is very good. Shuanglang Ancient Town is a beautiful scenic spot. In addition to the famous Sun Palace, the buildings here also have seaside characteristics and are suitable for taking pictures. Mountains and sea are both great backgrounds, so many couples taking wedding photos are also common on the Haidong Line.

The entire Erhai loop is about 128 kilometers. Riding a mountain bike starts from Erhai Gate to the north and passes through Caicun, Xiayi Village, Majiuyi Village, Shuangyuanxi Park, Haiji Park in Xizhou, and passes through Shangguan Town and Shuanglang Ancient Town. , Waise Wharf, Little Putuo Island, Luoquan Peninsula, Jinsuo Island, along Airport Road to the city, Erhai Park, and finally return to the city from the south gate. It lasted 11 and a half hours, starting at 9 a.m. and returning at 8:30 p.m. It gets dark around 7pm. It will be very cold when riding after dark, so you need gloves to keep warm. I was exhausted from the journey back to the ancient city from Xiaguan City, and my butt hurt from riding for a long time. I rode for a while and pushed for a while, and finally returned to the city.

Cycling is not recommended for most people because it requires physical fitness and food reserves. Most of the road sections are actually quite boring. You have to squeeze in with big cars. Mountain biking is really annoying. There are electric cars for rent in the ancient city with a large amount of electricity that can go around the sea. The prices are not cheap, but it is fast and easy to go around. You can stop at any time when you encounter a good scenery. It is recommended for ordinary tourists.

Climbing Cangshan Mountain

The highest point of Cangshan Mountain is 4,000 meters above sea level. There are three cableways from south to north, namely Gantong Cableway, Ximatan Cableway and Zhonghe Cableway. The Zhonghe Cableway is almost in a straight line with the north wall of the ancient city. The Ximatan Cableway is almost in a straight line with the south wall of the ancient city. It goes down past the Tianlong Babu Film and Television City. The Gantong Cableway is the farthest and is usually the starting point for tourists to climb.

The most classic route to the top: Gantong Cableway-Ximatan Cableway middle station-top of the mountain-Ximatan Cableway lower station-Tianlong Babu Film and Television City.感通索道to the mountainside, follow玉带路to洗马潭索道中站, take the Ximatan Cableway to the山顶, wear a down jacket on Cangshan Mountain at an altitude of 4,000 meters to see the distance, and then take the Ximatan Cableway down to天龙八部影视城, and finally return to the ancient city. The top of the mountain is nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. Down jackets are required and can also be rented on the mountain. Students who suffer from altitude sickness should remember to buy a small portable oxygen tank at the bottom of the mountain. (When I went to climb Cangshan Mountain in late November 2020, due to a landslide, the middle station and lower station of the Ximatan Cableway were closed, and I could not go down to the Film and Television City)

The other is the Yudai Road travel route: Gantong Cableway - Yudai Road - Zhonghe Temple - Zhonghe Cableway - March Street. If you are more interested in walking the Yudai Road, you can not take the Ximatan Cableway up the mountain from the middle station, but continue along玉带路to中和寺and take中和索道down the mountain. The entire Yudai Road is about 11.5 kilometers. You must consider your time, because the last train of the Zhonghe Cableway leaves at about 4:30. The cableway is very slow, and it takes about 20 minutes to get down to the foot of the mountain. If you can’t catch the cableway, you can also go down the mountain along the path. The trail is just below the ropeway.

The reason why many people choose to start from the Gantong Temple Cableway is because this section has the most attractions, while the Zhonghe Cableway section has very few.寂照庵the internet celebrity’s check-in spot, is right at the entrance to Gantong Temple Cableway. There are many succulents in Jizhao’an, and the whole layout is small and exquisite. Many tourists will come here to eat vegetarian food at 11:30 noon. It costs 20 yuan per person. No leftovers are allowed, otherwise You will be punished by washing dishes. After lunch, we started an afternoon hiking trip from Gantong Cableway. You can go directly to Jizhao Temple by taking a taxi, which saves you a lot of walking on a steep mountain road and saves energy.

The above is my first experience of climbing Cangshan Mountain. I don’t like the smoothness of Yudai Road. Hiking shoes will get tired easily after walking on such a smooth road for a long time. The experience of climbing Cangshan Mountain for the second time was more comfortable. At that time, we were led by friends who were familiar with the road. We went up the mountain from the path beside the Three Pagodas. There were thick pine needles all the way, and we walked through the horse paths in the forest. The sun shone through the treetops. Entering the forest, the wind blew the pine waves, and we shared our experiences and fruits. It was such a quiet afternoon. After reaching Yudai Road, we walked a little further to Zhonghe Temple. We took a small path down the mountain from Zhonghe Temple. With the help of gravity and the cushioning of trekking poles, we went down the mountain very quickly.

If possible, hiking on dirt roads is my preferred way. However, there is a large temperature difference in Cangshan Mountain, especially the route above Yudai Road, which is risky and requires a guide. Forest fire prevention is a heavy responsibility. Please do not carry fire on the mountain.

Shaxi Ancient Town

After arriving in Dali Ancient City for a month, people kept telling me that there are two other places in Dali that are worth visiting, one is Shaxi Ancient Town and the other is Jizu Mountain. Finally, at the right moment, I set off. The transportation methods from Dali Ancient City to Shaxi Ancient Town have been introduced in the “Travel” section.

Shaxi Ancient Town in Jianchuan County is a more secluded place than Dali Ancient City. Some people say that it is just like Dali Ancient City a few years ago. There are not many inns in the ancient town, concentrated in the northeastern area. The other parts are still the living places of small town residents. It is very similar to the small town where I grew up. Even the market every Friday is very similar to the morning market in my hometown. , crowded with ordinary people selling various agricultural and sideline products, but foreigners are often seen in the market in Shaxi Ancient Town, and Chinese guides explain to them what products are sold here.

If you want to experience secluded pastoral life, this is the place for you. The ancient town is full of quaint houses, and the area near the ancient stage is very beautiful and easy to take pictures. There is the arched Yujin Bridge to the east of the ancient town. Walk for 1 kilometer on the country road and you will arrive at the popular “Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore”, with earthy Shaxi red walls and tall bookshelves in the bookstore. There is a wide range of books and a cafe next to it. You can explore every corner of the ancient town in one day. At night, the place is shrouded in darkness, leaving only the lights of the inn. When you look up, you can see the sky full of stars.

The next day, I didn’t know where to go, so I was basking in the sun on the roof of the youth hostel. I listened to the lambs bleating in the house downstairs. Next to me was the tiled roof of the neighbor’s house that was drying out jelly. Stay for a while. We walked to Yujin Bridge and walked slowly north along the creek, forgetting the passage of time.

In the Northeast area, there are also some interesting shops. For example, after eating the beef burger at “Xiang12 Western Restaurant”, Anyanshi, the UP owner of Station B, said it reminded him of the taste of Australia. Only about 20 beef burgers are made every day. They are very popular and can be reserved in advance. There is also the Tangkou Youth Hostel where I stayed for two nights. The owner and his friends often play darts downstairs. They play very professionally.

Jizu Mountain

Jizu Mountain in Binchuan County is one of the ten famous mountains in Buddhism and is the ashram of Gayapa Bodhisattva. I don’t know the specific meaning. The transportation methods from Dali Ancient City to Jizu Mountain have been introduced in the “Travel” section. There are many temples and nunneries on the mountain. If you take the sightseeing bus and cableway directly to the Jinding Temple, you will miss many temples on the road, including the Gaye Temple. You can take sightseeing buses and ropeways when going up the mountain and walk down the mountain. This saves energy and does not miss the scenic spots, although it may hurt your knees. I climbed up the Golden Summit. I wonder if it was because of the altitude of 3,000 meters. I was out of breath while going up the mountain.

Many temples on the mountain provide accommodation, fast meals, and morning and evening classes. The accommodation conditions I saw in Gaye Hall were a bit like a youth hostel, with dormitories, single beds, and electric blankets, and the prices were cheap. In the side yard of Gaye Hall, there is a lotus pedestal, which looks particularly Zen-like in the mountains. When I went there, I saw a monk wearing a yellow cotton jacket, meditating with his eyes closed in the sun.

The above is the entire content of “Guide to Living in Dali”. If you have any comments and suggestions, please feel free to leave me a message.

Reference notes

This Douban article is a very detailed life guide summarized by a senior brother who has been in Dali for many years. It involves the food, clothing, housing, transportation, convenient services, and medical information in the ancient city of Dali https://www.douban.com/doubanapp/dispatch?uri=/group/topic/95143053&dt_dapp=1
“Living Elsewhere” directed by Zhang Yang, Dali ten years ago https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Nx411N7DW
Bilibili video of Roy and Sue, the Condor Heroes couple who sing, shoot videos and tell stories while traveling https://b23.tv/Wgwzyz
I saw the beef burger at “Xiang 12 Western Restaurant” in Shaxi Ancient Town in the Shaxi travel video of Anyan City, the UP host of Station B https://b23.tv/mxLWpK