On May 8, Zhang Renfeng set off from Beijing on a longboard with a backpack weighing nearly 50 pounds. His planned route takes him through Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and other provinces, first heading to Hainan, then via Yunnan to Lhasa, Tibet. The entire journey spans 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers, which he plans to complete in four months. If all goes well, he also intends to apply for a visa in Lhasa to travel to Nepal.
Zhang Renfeng said the longboard under his feet, also known as a street board, is a variation of the regular skateboard. Compared to ordinary skateboards, longboards are more expensive but suitable for long-distance travel. His longboard is about 1 meter long and cost over 2,000 yuan. Because of the long journey, he has prepared two spare sets of longboard bearings.
He only has a little over 2,000 yuan, and will take odd jobs if he runs out of travel money
Over the past 12 days, Zhang Renfeng has passed through Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, Anyang and other places, with Zhengzhou being his ninth stop.
Along the way, Zhang Renfeng mainly travels along national and provincial highways. Due to the heavy backpack, he usually leans forward and carefully avoids vehicles and pedestrians. On smooth stretches, he can travel about 15 kilometers per hour, covering an average of 60 to 70 kilometers per day, with a maximum of 100 kilometers in a single day.
Whenever possible, Zhang Renfeng sticks to routes where he can use the longboard. When encountering difficult sections, he seeks rides with passing drivers. He only takes buses when absolutely necessary. Along the journey, Zhang Renfeng has met many kind-hearted people. Some restaurant owners, upon hearing his story, offered free meals and even free accommodation; others gave him water or contributed travel money.
On the national highway from Xinxiang to Zhengzhou, a section under repair made skating impossible, so he had to walk. A kind-hearted driver from Zhengzhou saw him and gave him a ride to the city. A friend he met during the trip in Zhengzhou offered him accommodation. Some local residents were so moved by his story that they invited him to lunch and even gave him travel money. “I feel that the people of the Central Plains are very warm-hearted,” Zhang Renfeng said.
Zhang Renfeng plans to cover 80% of the journey on the longboard. With just over 2,000 yuan, he has been very frugal along the way. In the more than ten days since setting off, he has only spent 200 yuan. Most of the time, he camps outdoors, staying near parks, and occasionally crashing at friends' places locally. His goal is “to travel farther with the least amount of money.”
Can a little over 2,000 yuan cover a journey of several thousand kilometers? Zhang Renfeng says that if he runs out of money, he’ll find a local job to earn enough for the next leg of the trip.
Carrying a nearly 50-pound backpack, he keeps a daily journal
Skating on a longboard, Zhang Renfeng looks like a “lone ranger,” attracting quite a bit of attention. What draws eyes is not only the nearly 1-meter-long board under his feet, but also the heavy backpack weighing nearly 50 pounds behind him. This is Zhang Renfeng’s treasure chest, containing a tent, sleeping bag, trekking poles, water bladder, camera, as well as a tool kit with equipment such as pliers and flint, and common medications. At the innermost layer of the bag, he wraps his passport, driver’s license and other important items in plastic bags.
Encountering pouring rain or scorching sun isn’t even the most troublesome part. Sometimes, Zhang Renfeng is chased and bitten by stray dogs. In addition, washing clothes and taking showers are what he finds most challenging. He can only rinse off briefly by the river or at roadside faucets. Washed clothes can only be hung outside the backpack to dry slowly.
Along the way, Zhang Renfeng has kept a daily journal. At every place he visits, he stamps it at the post office. He expressed gratitude to all the kind-hearted people he’s met. Once he reaches Lhasa, he plans to send postcards from there to everyone who helped him.
Yesterday at 1 p.m., reporters saw Zhang Renfeng off at the Xinzheng section of National Highway 107, where the young man embarked on the next leg of his journey.