Traveling all the way from Ningxia and Shandong to Jiangsu, the two young “backpackers,” in their early twenties, had hitched over 30 rides along the way as they prepared to “travel on a budget” across the country. Yesterday morning, they were spotted walking on the Nanjing section of the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway by traffic police. Considering that pedestrians are not allowed on highways, the police patiently persuaded them and then escorted them to Maqun.
At around 10 a.m. yesterday, traffic police from the First Highway Brigade were patrolling the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway. Near the ramp leading to the Second Bridge, they suddenly noticed two men carrying large backpacks walking on the emergency lane. When they saw buses, they even tried to flag them down. The police witnessed this and quickly approached, bringing the two men onto their patrol car. “Pedestrians are not allowed on the highway—you do realize how dangerous this is, right?” Hearing this, one of the men looked somewhat embarrassed and quickly explained that they had intended to hitch a ride at the highway entrance but had walked past it. It turned out these two were the so-called “backpackers.” One was from Jiangsu, the other from Fujian. “We share the idea of ‘traveling on a budget,’ so we teamed up and came all the way here from Ningxia,” one of the men told the police. They hadn’t spent a penny on transportation along the way—all rides were “hitchhiked.”
Speaking of this, both seemed particularly proud, claiming they had hitched rides in all kinds of vehicles, including private cars, long-distance coaches, police cars, and military vehicles—totaling over 30 rides. “We’ve been turned down many times, but eventually some kind drivers agreed to give us a lift,” the man said. To reassure others, after getting in the vehicle, they would show their ID and briefly explain their situation. It is reported that the pair had already visited Nanjing and were about to head to Suzhou. So they walked onto the highway hoping to continue hitchhiking. Hitchhiking on highways is extremely dangerous, and if any vehicle stops, the driver may also be penalized once the police find out. After explaining the relevant laws and regulations to them, the police used their patrol car to take the two to Maqun and advised them to take a bus to continue their journey.