On January 8th, amid the bustling crowd of travelers returning home for the Spring Festival, two people managed to "travel home on a low budget" by hitching rides, sharing meals, and crashing on couches. That day, Kang Dan, who had already reached Nanjing by hitchhiking, walking, and staying as a couchsurfing guest, shared the touching moments of her journey with reporters. "We tried to convince ourselves through this low-budget journey that there are no strangers in this society, only friends we haven't met yet."
Do you believe it? Guangzhou to Shenyang for 140 yuan
What can 140 yuan buy? Maybe just a single meal, but Shenyang native Kang Dan aimed to use that exact amount to travel from Guangzhou back to her hometown of Shenyang to reunite with her elderly parents.
Kang Dan explained that she was joined by fellow traveler Jiang Long from Dalian. The two decided on the 140-yuan limit in reference to Twitter’s 140-character restriction. These two previously unacquainted northeastern men then traveled to Guangzhou together and set off to hitchhike back to their hometowns in the northeast. Tens of thousands of Weibo users began following their journey from the start, keeping up with their real-time updates.
When asked about the motivation behind their trip, Kang Dan said it was partly due to the difficulty of buying train tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush, and partly to build trust among strangers through this act, proving the existence of human kindness. "Many things money can’t achieve, we can accomplish with courage and love," Kang Dan admitted. In truth, we’re not really strangers; we just haven’t met yet. That’s why they hoped to complete their 4,000-kilometer journey home by hitchhiking and couchsurfing, using their experience to gauge the "temperature" of society.
What were the results? Guangzhou to Wuhan cost just 11 yuan
Kang Dan said that on January 2nd, a netizen from Dongguan named "Xiao P" booked two high-speed train tickets for them from Guangzhou to Chenzhou and also gave them a notebook. This was the first netizen to support them during their long journey, and Kang Dan particularly liked a line in the notebook that read, "Anything is possible."
In Chenzhou, a netizen named "Ding Yi" helped arrange accommodation and meals for them. On the evening of January 3rd, "Ding Yi" even took the initiative to help them find a ride, enabling the pair to catch a delivery truck heading to Changsha.
In the early hours of January 4th, the two arrived in Changsha. To save money, they spent the night at a McDonald’s and then at a post office. By 4 p.m., a netizen named "Xiao Mi" invited them to stay at her place. After one night, they caught a ride on a steel-delivery truck at the Xingsha toll station. After being dropped off at the Pingjiang service area, they then hopped onto a banana transport truck headed for Wuhan.
Kang Dan explained that the driver was from Haicheng, Liaoning, and surnamed Teng. The cab had the air conditioning on, making it warm, but the driver’s kindness warmed their hearts even more—he not only gave them a free ride but also offered them cigarettes and oranges. "Northeasterners are really straightforward," she said.
At 6 p.m. on January 5th, the two arrived in Wuhan. Kang Dan noted that although they had only spent 11 yuan each from Guangzhou to Wuhan, they still felt quite anxious—like listening to Gong Linna’s breakout hit. Most of the money went toward breakfast and taking the subway.
What were their impressions? Rejections, but more acts of kindness
"Throughout our hitchhiking journey, we felt there is a lot of trust between people," said Kang Dan, who had already reached Nanjing. She added that although there were rejections along the way, what warmed her heart was that there were always people who trusted them, offered help, and even a stranger left them the key to their home.
Netizen "Chen Woyan" wrote on Weibo: "Although these actions may not be easily replicable, they offer us a new perspective and reveal the warm and kind side of society."
