This is the 250th different traveler story pushed by Go.com
Song Minglang, born in 1951, go bar Internet cafe powder, self-driving travel enthusiasts, has now traveled the vast majority of the country, the early 1990s in East Central Europe to work and live for six or seven years, in 2001 with the Chinese women's Everest expedition along the 318 national highway to Everest base camp, once six times to Tibet, three times to Xinjiang, four times to the northeast and Inner Mongolia, many times to East and North China, more than five times to South China and the Central Plains, more than ten times to the northwest and southwest areas.
Q1: I'm glad to have another fan of self-driving tour today, Brother Song, come to "Let's Go", Brother Song is also a long-time follower of Go.com, please introduce yourself first.
Hello, friends of Go.com! I am Song Minglang, born in 1951, now I have passed the age of old, also a bar fan, but also a self-driving travel enthusiast, I went to the countryside in 1969 to the Sichuan Ya'an Meishan County as a youth, after returning to the city as a worker, and then worked as a self-employed businessman, and in the 1990s went to Eastern European countries to earn foreign exchange for the country.
I can say that for more than 50 years, no matter what job I have been in or my retirement status, I have enjoyed going on trips and have been constantly on the road.
Q2: Everyone who loves to travel has had a dream of traveling in their hearts when they were young. Do you remember when the first act you could call a trip was?
The initial travel should be considered the 1960s, when there was no concept of travel in China, it was not easy to go to the field, I had been to Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xi'an and other places by train and ship at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, and later walked in tandem to Chongqing and Zunyi, these experiences were very impressive for me in my teens, and was my first look at the outside world.
Q3: In the 1990s, when most people were rarely able to leave the province or even the city, you were sent to live and work in Central Europe for six or seven years, what did you see and hear and what were your greatest feelings during this period?
In the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, I went to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to run a company to earn foreign exchange for the country. As my friend was a soldier in the Sichuan Foreign Language Institute in Chongqing, specializing in Russian, and we both held Chinese green official passports, although we encountered some problems on the road, but in general it was quite smooth.
Our first stop was Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, a city I had visited in the winter, when it was the coldest time, with temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature I had ever encountered in my life, with a strong grip on my face, without pain, and I could only stay outside for about twenty minutes at most, and then had to immediately go to a store, subway or bus to keep warm. Both of us are well aware of these conditions, so we chose to go on a summer trip.
At that time, Romania was a relatively poor country, and the buildings in Bucharest, the capital, were similar to those in Chinese counties at that time, with six- to seven-story buildings with red brick facades. So much so that when we all arrived in downtown Bucharest, we were still asking how long it would take to get there, and we couldn't believe that this was their capital.
After leaving Romania and entering Bulgaria, we were amazed at how well the vines and other crops grew in this agricultural country, and how large the forests were, even though they didn't have highways at the time, and it was pleasant to look out while driving along the forest roads.
After leaving Bulgaria and entering Turkey, which straddles the Eurasian continent, the vegetation here is obviously not good, and there are more bare mountains and hills, until we get close to Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, the scenery and architecture becomes good, especially the mega bridge over the Black Sea is very spectacular and majestic, the Eurasian divide is not far from the bridge, we stopped here to take photos.
After leaving Turkey and entering the former Yugoslavia, Serbia and Slovenia, these two countries were in a state of war, as China and their relations are very good, we decided to enter Hungary from here, in the road, the United Nations troops in this peacekeeping, posters printed with the sign of the road of death, looking at the loaded soldiers, the heart is inevitably a little nervous, but that is to come, only brave forward. These two countries are mountainous terrain, the scenery is also very beautiful and pleasant, the town along the way is quiet and calm, the people are as friendly as ever, many of the wooden houses feel particularly warm. Friends on the trip all hope to have the opportunity to live here for a while.
Soon after entering Hungary, we arrived at the capital Budapest, a place where I lived for a while on my first trip abroad, with beautiful views on both sides of the Danube and beautiful houses, known as the Paris of the East. The people here are also very friendly to the Chinese.
After leaving Hungary, you enter the Czech capital of Prague, a place where the United Nations has listed the entire city as a World Heritage Site, with the old Charles University, the old castle, unique houses of medieval architecture, squares, bridges of all kinds, and tourists from all over the world make this place one of the top city tours every year. The country is also famous for its machinery industry and military industry.
Finally arriving in Poland, the Gdansk shipyard near the Baltic Sea is very famous, where our containers from China are disembarked at the port and sent to Minsk by freight car. In Poland we went to Auschwitz, the German concentration camp built by the fascists during World War II, where so many Jews were murdered that later German Chancellor Mr. Brandt knelt down to repent here.
After leaving the camp, we entered from Brest, the border city between Poland and Belarus, from where the German fascists attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and since the Soviet Union was unprepared at that time, the German army occupied Minsk in one day, and our company was doing import and export trade in Minsk. Many of the locals' predecessors died under the Nazi guns.
In the process of traveling and living and working in Central and Eastern Europe, the greatest feeling is that European civilization is really the birthplace of modern civilization, where the vast majority of ordinary people have faith, conscience and kindness, and are willing to help others. My greatest achievement was to bring my daughter to Minsk to study abroad, from the 6th grade to her undergraduate degree, and finally to graduate from the Belarusian Academy of Arts with a master's degree in piano. In 2008, we returned to Chengdu after completing our mission safely and successfully.
Q4: In 2001, you went to Everest Base Camp with the Chinese Women's Everest Expedition, can you tell us the story?
In 2001, the first China Women's Everest Expedition was co-organized by Sichuan Women's Federation and Fraction Magazine, and I signed up to help with the logistics of the expedition out of love for this activity. Eight male staff members served with the team, and I rode with a driver and cameraman from Chengdu TV station and a reporter in one car. We rented four old Beijing buggies, and because of the poor condition of the cars and roads, we had to stay at 11 or 12 pm most of the time every day in order to catch up.
The expedition leader is a beautiful woman, taller and a good driver. The next day our car to Litang on the breakdown, because a part is broken, the local goods are not available, only to find my friends in Chengdu to drive parts to send over. Our car's camera and female reporter went to their four cars to squeeze a little. Another driver and I stayed behind to wait for accessories, three days after the parts were delivered. After repairing the car, our two drivers rushed to finally rendezvous with them in Bomi, Tibet, although only a few days apart, were very excited to see each other, hugs and congratulations.
The next day continue to set off, in a maintenance road class rest, I saw a few very beautiful flowers in full bloom, so I folded them down and gave them to the captain, the car just walked for ten minutes, as a result, the leech on the flower path climbed on the captain's hand hip, rushed to stop and pat the leech, fortunately found in time, no big problem, simply good intentions do bad things, this episode as an interesting story was written down and released by the reporter.
When taking the 318 national highway is the most difficult to pass through the Tongmai Sky Danger, where the road is narrow and steep, one side is the rocky mountains, the other is the Yarlung Tsangpo River, meet the meeting is even more trouble, this section of twenty to thirty kilometers of the whole section walked for four or five hours, meet the steep slope when all the team members except the driver all get off to push. The road is slowly getting better after Tongmai Sky Danger, not far from Linzhi, the road is very good, in the forest on the tarmac road, the driving feeling is like driving in East Central Europe as pleasant.
In this section of the road we happened to meet the military vehicles of the troops stationed in Lhasa, their leaders admired us female team members and warmly invited us to their quarters to have some fun when we arrived in Lhasa. We had a female team member whose son was a soldier in Lhasa, so we happily accepted their invitation. On the afternoon of the day we arrived in Lhasa, the authorities held a grand welcome ceremony for the Women's Everest Expedition in Potala Palace Square. The next night we were invited to meet with the troops and held a party in their auditorium. Comrades from both sides who had literary cells sang and danced on stage and performed skits, and had a wonderful evening. During the rest period in Lhasa, we visited the Potala Palace, Barkhor Street, Lop Noringa and other places. After leaving Lhasa, we went through Shigatse, Lhatses and Tingri and finally arrived at Everest Base Camp.
Tingri to the base camp this section of the road, at that time many places simply no road, only try to go in the direction, the result or go lost, return because it is too late to live in a small township field, because the conditions and safety of everyone regardless of men and women are accommodated in a large room. The next morning we got up to seize the time to launch the impact of Everest, finally, the sun came out, Everest also saw, we took a group photo at the base camp, and brought a monument to Chengdu buried there, although all the way hard, but we all think it is worth, the joy of success is everyone can not be found.
After descending from the mountain, we went back to Chengdu along the Qinghai-Tibet route, soaked in hot springs in Yangbajing, and went to Sonam Dajie Nature Conservation Station to remember the county party secretary who died to protect the Tibetan ridge sheep. When we arrived at Golmud, we took a rest day. A policeman who was with us used to be a soldier here, and he invited us to have a day of revelry on the grassland, treating us to hand-held mutton in the tent, singing and dancing. After leaving Golmud, we returned safely to Chengdu via Qinghai Lake, Xining and Ruoerge Grassland. Chengdu Lhasa Hotel, which sponsored our activity, held a grand welcome banquet for us. All in all, this trip to Everest left me with unforgettable memories.
Q5: Over the years, especially since your retirement, you have had a lot of travel experience, can you tell us what places you have traveled.
After Everest back to Chengdu, since I was freelancing, I had more time to do my favorite self-driving trips. Over these twenty years, I have been to Taiwan for fifteen free trips, taking a plane from Xiamen to Kinmen Island, knowing the battle of Kinmen for the first time, visiting the 101 Building in Taipei, going to Taoyuan to see the tombs of Chiang's father and son, and then going to Taichung, Nantou, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taitung and Hualien.
The most memorable part is that we also took a boat trip to the Little Liuqiu Islands and looked at the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean from the southernmost Oluanbei Seaside Park. From Hualien, we went west over Alishan Mountain to see Sun Moon Lake, and finally took a boat from Taichung back to Xiamen across the Taiwan Strait.
Later two more trips to the northeast, to the northernmost Mohe Arctic Circle, the easternmost Heixiangzi Island. Everest expedition back and five times to Tibet, to Ali Shizhuan River, Tibetan no man's land, three times to Xinjiang, four times to Inner Mongolia, East China, North China, South China, Northwest, Southwest and other places have been five to ten times. Hong Kong and Macao have also been two or three times.
Q6: After traveling to so many places, where do you think is the most attractive place in the country and why?
At present the country's famous attractions I have basically finished, I think the most attractive places or Tibet and Xinjiang. Because Tibet has the world's highest mountain peaks and a variety of landscapes and humanities.
Xinjiang is the largest area, with the world's second largest desert, the famous Kunlun Mountains, Kanas in the north, the Pamir Plateau in the west and the Kashgar region are worth experiencing many times, this year's Qingming holiday we went to Xinjiang to see thousands of acres of wild apricot flowers, the results of the second night to Jiuquan was the local police in a police car escorted us to the highway, had to rush back to Chengdu overnight.
Q7： Now travel on the road is generally a state, there is no strategy and plan, like to go to what kind of attractions?
Although I'm already old, but I am now as long as the trip is very excited, usually do not do a very detailed strategy, the general simple look on it, because I am very familiar with the direction of the country, the provincial capital cities are clear, the vast majority of prefecture-level cities know, all the counties of Sichuan are basically played or passed. As for the attractions, I now basically do not go to commercial scenic spots, unless accompanied by friends and family that is another story, if I want to go out to play, I still prefer to visit the wild spots.
Q8: There are more than 300 prefecture-level cities in China, and you have traveled to so many of them, which ones do you find most attractive.
There are about 300 prefecture-level cities in China, and I think Ali and Shannan in Tibet, Kashgar and Huocheng in Xinjiang, Yushu in Qinghai, Ganzi and Aba in Sichuan, and Shangri-La in Yunnan are all good choices.
Q9: In fact, many retired people want to carry out self-driving tours, but people will have various concerns and worries. With your long-term travel experience, can you share some experiences of self-driving tours for senior citizens.
Retirees generally have time, in fact, living outside the money is not too big a problem, as long as you add a little courage on the line, the beginning of the trip can be about the experience of friends traveling together, but I often travel alone. If you are still timid, you can first take a short distance to start, and gradually extend the route, now go out more convenient than before, first of all, the road is no big problem, and navigation, as long as no health problems can act, the old saying that the heart is better than action.
In case you encounter various car breakdowns after your trip, it's easy to call for help, and it's just a little more money at most. Even if a sudden illness is not a big problem, now the medical conditions are much better than before.
In addition, long-distance driving as far away as possible from large trucks, with the car is not too close, either a little faster than the car in front, either a little slower to go, preferably before and after two hundred meters are no other cars, take the snow and ice rain road must slow down a little, it is best to less night driving, every day plan in what place to rest and stay, such as special circumstances require night driving, my experience is to find a speed and their own about the same car with the car driving much easier.
Q10: Thank you, Brother Song, for the interview on "Let's Go", and thank you for your sharing. Finally, I would also like to ask you to say a few words to the bar fans.
Thanks to go.com this platform allows us travel-loving self-drivers to communicate and learn from each other, during the journey you will forget your worries, have fun and be happy, so as to achieve the purpose of physical and mental health. Finally, I also wish all the bar fans a safe, smooth and happy journey.
| The above interview content is provided by the guests, go away.com finishing release, the content and views in the text does not represent the position of go away.com.
Go have a date - the first brother said
Hello everyone!
I am the co-founder of Go.com Good Dreams Come True
life is seventy years old, but it is rare
Even today
Average life expectancy of Chinese people
It's only in its 70s
And at the age of old age
Still traveling by car
Can be even rarer
......
People who love to travel
Curious about the world
People who love to travel
Even aging will be delayed
People who love to travel
Life is full of fun
Age does not matter
The important thing is
Have an ageless heart
