This is the 242nd different traveler story pushed by Go.com
RV player Lao Kang, 72 years old, Tianjin, ancestral hometown Jinggangshan, retired civil servant, suffering from blood disease and death in 2013, after discharge from the hospital with his wife RV self-driving footprints all over the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, three times into Tibet, four times into the border, self-driving RV through the land of Russia, travel around Europe 26 countries, a total of 300,000 kilometers.
Q1: Welcome Lao Kang, one of the earliest RV players in China, to "Let's Go". First of all, please introduce yourself to the 4.5 million+ bar fans on Go.
Hello all bar fans, I am a caravan player Lao Kang, because of the hobby of self-driving, very early and go bar network connection. My personal experience is complicated, I have been in the military, overseas, and worked and lived in the United States for a few years, I had a serious illness in 2013 and almost didn't make it through, after I recovered from the illness, I cherished my life in my old age more, for many years I have been traveling with my wife in an RV, touring the great rivers and mountains of our country, now not only has my condition been completely cured, my body and mind are very good.
Q2: When did you get hooked on RVing and what do you think are the benefits of RV travel?
According to statistics, 300 million Americans have more than 10 million RVs, while 1.4 billion Chinese have only about 100,000 RVs, so I think RVs will definitely have great development in China in the future.
I was also influenced 20 years ago, after returning to China, I bought my own RV, and also became the earliest group of domestic RV players, RV travel has a unique advantage, the biggest benefit is the convenience, as you wish, food and accommodation are clean and sanitary, but also to save the cost of food and accommodation, but also to fully enjoy the beauty of nature, my wife and I drove the RV, the footprint has been all over the world dozens of countries and most of the domestic places.
Of course, the domestic RV campgrounds still have a lot of room for improvement, like the United States has tens of thousands of RV campgrounds, there is still a big gap in this area in China, but I believe it will get better and better in the future.
Q3: As a senior RV player, what do you think a qualified RV needs to have?
My WeChat name is "RV player Lao Kang", I have been playing with RVs for more than ten years, and I not only drive my own RVs, but I also design all my own RVs, combining the advantages of American RVs with the national conditions of China.
I think that in order to play a good caravan, this car has to have the following conditions. One is the flexibility, parking is convenient, the roadside parking space can go in at any time, the general parking space is 2 meters wide and 5 meters long, so the size of the caravan can not exceed this length, the European parking space is even smaller, you will find after going to some attractions, can be convenient parking is really very important.
Second, the function should be complete, not because the vehicle is small, and give up some features. My current caravan is converted from Iveco, the vehicle is 5 meters long and 2 meters wide, easy to park and can drill small streets. The dining room, sleeping quarters, closets, hanging cabinets, cooktop, bathroom, air conditioning, TV, etc. are all available. Although small, it is as functional and comfortable as a large RV. I prefer to sleep in the car when I travel outside, not too willing to sleep in the hotel, because I am used to it, but can not sleep in a different place.
Third, consider the economy, from the economic point of view, you buy a caravan, but also can not be used only for travel, a year to drive a month or two to travel, put in the garage for ten months, my car than a small car on the big deal, usually I go out to do things, are driving my caravan to go.
Q4: You were once seriously ill, and it is said that you almost did not recover at that time, can you tell us about your condition at that time?
In 2013, I also traveled around the country, coughing because of quitting smoking, then I ate a lot of medicine and had a lot of fluids, maybe because I ate more antibiotic drugs, and I also like to exercise in the morning, when the haze in Tianjin was very serious, but I didn't know what the haze was, maybe also because I exercised in the haze every day, in any case, I don't know what the reason was, I felt very tired.
In December 2013, I returned to Tianjin for a checkup, the doctor said I had a blood disease, we may not know much about blood diseases, the cure rate of blood diseases is very low, generally into the blood disease hospital, as if into the cancer hospital, are very difficult to cure out, our unit more than 40 people, there are 2 people died of blood disease.
The name of my disease is called aplastic anemia, which is very serious. After repeated resuscitations, I was able to escape from death because I had no underlying disease, and two patients in the same ward with me, one in his 20s and one in his 40s, both died.
After I was discharged from the hospital, I drove my motorhome to 26 countries in Europe, feeling happy on the way, who knew that my condition would slowly heal during the 90-day driving journey in Europe. The other day I had a medical checkup and all my indicators were very normal, even the doctor who treated me felt very amazing.
Q5: Through all your years of RV driving trips, what do you think is the biggest benefit of traveling for individuals?
I once said to someone "travel to cure diseases, it is true", travel can cure all diseases, because in the process of travel, the mood is happy, fresh air, eat healthier, we are in the journey to buy some local people's own food, to Xinjiang to eat the local ecological mutton, to Tibet to eat the local yak meat.
The disease I had was very serious. At that time, I was transfused with blood for 4 consecutive months, and it was said that if I was transfused with blood for 5 consecutive months, I would not be able to slow down. I was like a dry grass on the prairie, which came to life again when I encountered continuous rain, and it was a miracle that my hematopoietic function was fully restored again through the delightful trip.
Through this incident, it has inspired my love for life even more, and also given retired older self-driving enthusiasts an inspiration to love life and arrange their retirement life in a colorful way.
One of my mottos is that passion and energy are the magic words to overcome illness. Do not take age too seriously and think that you are old and can't do it, but feel that you are no worse than the young and energetic, which is the magic weapon to overcome all difficulties.
Q6: What are the things you have encountered while traveling by car in Europe that are different from those at home?
Over the years we have been used to good security at home, but in Europe is different, there are many thieves, especially Chinese license plates in Europe is too conspicuous, it is easy to attract thieves, driving to Italy, and I traveled with four large caravans are met with thieves, one car lost a camera, computer and wallet and other valuables, but the people in the car did not know, they suspect that the night may be drugged.
My car is small and less conspicuous, plus at night when I park it, I take the sign off. Then behind the window glass, get a broken plate, which put a piece of bread, thieves look at this is a poor man, there is nothing to steal.
Another night, we drove the car to Nice, France, and at 1 a.m., we got a knock on the door from the police. Although my English is not good, I understood that the place where we parked now belongs to Monaco. This is a small country with an area of only 2.02 square kilometers, and because the place is really too small, Monaco does not allow the parking of RVs. The police told me to drive the car to France to park. I started the car to drive a junction, 50 meters to France, see how small the small European countries.
Q7: Nowadays, there are more and more elderly people who love to travel, but many people don't quite dare to go to Tibet because they are afraid of high altitude sickness and they are afraid they can't bear it, while you two couples can still drive yourselves to Everest Base Camp, tell us about the situation at that time.
If you're a lover of driving, it's a lifelong regret not to go to Tibet, and my childhood dream is to see Mount Everest. People who play caravans must go to Tibet.
In 2017, after finishing our journey in Lhasa, after a two-day journey of more than 600 kilometers, we arrived at Mount Everest National Park in Tingri County, Shigatse Region, Tibet. The park gate is still 120 kilometers away from Everest Base Camp, and we circled up the newly paved tarmac road, halfway over the Gagola Pass, which is 5,198 meters above sea level and only 2 meters lower than Everest Base Camp.
According to the locals, a few days ago here is still cloudy and rainy, foggy, can not see Everest, we arrived at the time is a clear sky, standing in the Gagola pass to look at the Himalayas five 8 km above the peaks, clearly visible, to Everest base camp, the majestic Everest also unobstructed in front of us.
At this time, our husband and wife, combined age has 134 years old, but in Everest base camp I did not encounter any high reflexes, my partner also just because too excited, coupled with the altitude is too high, some shortness of breath, its also no big problem. The driving trip to Everest Base Camp gave us a lot of confidence, and this day was very touching and unforgettable.
But as a senior citizen, if you want to go to Everest, I still recommend to be well prepared and have an oxygen tank, even if you can't use it. In addition, the season is also very important, from the climate, it is best to enter Tibet after June, but July and August is the rainy season, easy to see the snow-capped mountains.
I never feel that age is a constraint on our progress, on the contrary, I have always believed that no matter what difficulties we encounter, this is a rare opportunity in life, there is no big deal, optimistic face, find a solution, can always pass.
There are also many magical and beautiful places in Tibet, such as the skeleton wall in the county and the Zizhu Monastery in Dingqing County, all of which are unparalleled landscapes in the mainland.
Zizhu Temple is a rather spectacular temple, more than 4800 meters above sea level, more than 10 kilometers of mountain roads, the general car is very difficult to drive up, we drove the caravan very difficult to go up, I hung a gear all the way slowly drive, good thing there is no car on the way, otherwise it may be very difficult to continue, this is also a reason I modified the caravan, is to adapt to a variety of complex road.
Q8: Xinjiang, during the epidemic, you made another trip to Xinjiang, this is also your fourth trip to Xinjiang, can you tell us what is the most memorable thing?
2021 May-November, I was out driving for six months, we drove all the way from Xingxingxia into Xinjiang after the epidemic, the national highway was closed, only high-speed, when Turpan no nucleic acid can not be out of the highway, we drove to Urumqi's Dabancheng off the highway.
Along the way, we went to Dabancheng, Tianshan Grand Canyon, Tianshan Tianchi, Cocoto Sea, Kanas, Wucai Beach, Devil City, Tacheng, Alashankou Port, Selim Lake, Gozigou Bridge, Yili, Yizhao Highway, Yili Lavender Manor, Horgos Port, Kerala Grassland, Bagua City, Qiongqushi Terrace, Kucha Mysterious Grand Canyon, Shata Snow Mountain, Narathi Air Grassland, Bayinbruck Steppe and Dokku Highway, as well as Tibet's Zizhu Monastery, such as the county skull wall, Sap Shenshan, Pingcha Highway, in Xinjiang and Tibet for more than three months.
Xinjiang, like Tibet, is the most beautiful place in China, and every beauty is enchanting. As an RV player, Xinjiang and Tibet are absolutely unmissable places in China.
There is also the new National Highway 219, which starts from Kanas in northern Xinjiang and extends all the way to Dongxing City in Guangxi, reaching a total length of 10,065 kilometers, making it the longest national highway in China in terms of mileage. This national highway not only runs through the entire Xinjiang, but also through Tibet, Yunnan and Guangxi.
I have driven most of the highways in China and many famous highways abroad, and I think the new National Highway 219 is one of the most beautiful highways in the world.
Parts of this national highway are also very difficult to navigate and require an off-road vehicle to pass, but we did it twice in our RV.
Q9: The epidemic has really stopped or slowed down many people's travels. Where else would you like to go after the epidemic and what are your plans?
In January 2020, we were ready to send the car to the United States to drive ourselves, all the paperwork's were already done and we were ready to drive ourselves in the United States for six months, but it was disrupted by the epidemic.
Under the epidemic, you can only drive in the country, so the two years are mainly running to the west, this one or two years are not less affected by the epidemic, but under the epidemic travel also has the advantage that people are particularly small, prices are very low. After the epidemic, we need to seize the time to open a self-drive trip abroad.
Q10: Thank you for the interview with "Let's Go", I hope you can continue to travel healthily and happily, and have a more exciting life on the road, and finally, please say a few words to the bar fans.
My feeling now is to seize the time, I am 72 years old this year, if the conditions allow to strive to play another 10 years, more to see the great country and the changes in the motherland.
So I want to say to the bar fans, friends who like to travel, when you have the opportunity to go, do not wait until you are old, poor health, many dreams will be difficult to achieve, go, say go!
Go have a date - the first brother said
Hello everyone!
I am the co-founder of Go.com Good Dreams Come True
Travel to cure illness
It's true.
This is the old Kang's experience
It is also a personal experience
Disease manifested in the body
More but from the psychological
Pleasant mood
all diseases go around
......
Tibet Xinjiang
is his favorite
Self-driving around the world
It is also his yearning
Life is just a few decades
Time to do something you like
No more departures
It's really old
