Hong Mei (洪梅) is the author of The Further I Walk, the Closer I Get to Me (2014) – a tale of her and her husband’s (photographer Tom Carter) backpacking excursion through India in 2009. By staying clear of the traditional Chinese notion of travel, Hong and Carter made a point to travel rough and venture far off the beaten track, places many Chinese wouldn’t even think about going to. After her trip, Hong was named the first Chinese woman to backpack the subcontinent of India.

Photo courtesy of Tom Carter.

I was lucky enough to ask Hong Mei a few questions about her book and the state of Chinese travel/backpacking. Here is what she had to say:

1) Before backpacking India, you traveled to every Chinese province. Can you tell us a little bit about that trip? What did you learn about you, your country and heritage after such a journey?
That was the first time I had traveled anywhere. I quit my job in 2007 to go backpacking across China’s 33 provinces. It took about a year. Rough budget travel, taking the hard seat on the train and staying in lüguan. I tried to go to remote places nobody knew anything about. Even though I’m Chinese, it wasn’t easy to travel because of the language barriers; Putonghua isn’t as common as you’d expect. It also opened my eyes to the class differences between China’s wealthy coastal cities and the interior. China is changing – but only in designated regions. The rest of the country still feels like the 1980s.

2) You have also backpacked across all of India. Overall, how did the people of India treat you and other Chinese travelers? How was the relationship between Chinese and Western backpackers?
If China felt like the 1980s, then India felt like the 1880s. The trains, the accommodations, the infrastructure, everything felt centuries old!  That is why I fell in love with India. China is trying too hard not to be China anymore while India is content with staying the India it has always been for thousands of years. There was no smart phones or GPS then, and internet in India was hard to come by. I relied on word of mouth from locals, who were always very kind and excited to meet a Chinese person for the first time. I saw some Japanese backpackers in popular destinations like Varanasi, but I never met another Chinese traveler anywhere in India.

3) Why did you decide to write The Farther I Walk, the Closer I Get to Me? What’s the plot of the book, and the message you want readers take away from it?
This book (走得越远,离自己越近 in Chinese) is based on my travel diaries and, essentially, India through Chinese eyes – particularly from the perspective of an 80s-generation female. I had a journal with me in India in which I wrote about my experiences, and when I came back to China the following year, there was a wave of published travelogues from other Chinese backpackers who were seeing the world for the first time. However, most of these Chinese “professional travel authors” are sponsored by tourism bureaus and only go to developed places like Europe. India had never been extensively written about by a Chinese other than Faxian and Xuanzang. So getting a book deal came fast, even though it’s the first thing I have ever written!

4) Do you think the Chinese will move away from packaged tours and luxurious shopping trips to places like Europe into more adventurous journeys like the one you have done? If so, please explain what will contribute to this trend?
The first wave of Chinese travel writers, including myself I suppose, were at the forefront of a revolution. We have inspired a generation of young Chinese to go see the world. It must sound surreal to Westerners, but you should understand that it’s the first time the Chinese have had this much disposable income for decades. Going to Milan or Paris to buy designer shoes and a handbag is the story they’ll tell their grandchildren someday, but glamorous destinations like Europe will eventually become passé and the Chinese will look at less developed regions, where the real adventures are. I was kidnapped and arrested in Mumbai, I was an extra in Bollywood movies, I was the first Chinese to ever receive a permit to visit the Sunni Muslim tribal lands in Gujarat, I witnessed the Maoist insurgency in Orissa… these are just some of the stories I’ll be telling my grandchildren.

5) Continuing from the last question, is there already a thriving Chinese backpacker scene? If so, please describe how it’s similar or different from the quintessential Western backpacker.
It’s more like backpacking with Chinese characteristics. We’ve taken the Western concept of exploring new lands and traveling cheap, but we are not ready to dreadlock our hair or hook up with other backpackers in hostel bunks. Instead you’ll see upper-middle-class Chinese “backpackers” in expensive new hiker clothes sitting around a hostel eating instant noodles that they brought with them, playing on WeChat, and too scared to talk to Westerners. When I backpacked across China in ‘07, I saw maybe one or two other Chinese backpackers in a hostel. Now you’ll encounter large groups, usually college classmates, backpacking together to popular places like Chengdu and Dali, which pisses off solo Western backpackers because the hostel dorms get all booked up.

6) Based off my own extensive travel experiences, I’ve seen a huge cultural difference between Chinese and Western backpackers. (For example, I’ve noticed that Westerners are more inclined to go solo and visit more off-the-beaten-track places, while Chinese tend to stick to groups and tour the UNESCO World Heritage Sites). What on your thoughts on this notion, and if you agree, why is it that Chinese backpackers travel the way they do?
My guess is because for many Chinese traveling isn’t a “personal” experience. We want to show everyone our “selfies” standing in front of identifiable landmarks. If our mothers and co-workers have never heard of the place we’ve traveled to, then it’s like we never went there. Westerners read about cultures they are unfamiliar with to be inspired to go there, but we Chinese are the opposite. Even my own parents haven’t read my book yet because India is not a place they are familiar with.

7) Where do you see the future of Chinese travel? Currently, there has been a bit of negative press about Chinese abroad (so much that President Xi has announced points on how to be a good and respectful tourist). What is something in your opinion that can be done to improve the image of Chinese travelers?
I don’t think those Chinese tourists are concerned about their image. Chinese middle class like to show off their new wealth. They spend billions of dollars overseas, so the world goes out of its way to cater to them. That’s why you hear about so many Chinese tourists acting rude – because they can. It’s like that scene in Pretty Woman when they go shopping in Beverly Hills. At first they get mean looks from the shop clerks, but then the rich man says “We’re going to spend an obscene amount of money here” and the clerk smiles and says “I like you so much!”

8) What’s your message to all aspiring travelers out there? What’s your advice to Chinese travelers, and particularly female Chinese backpackers?
If they truly want to experience a new culture or have a greater understanding about the world, I’d encourage Chinese travelers to go off the trodden path, and try traveling independently. Female Chinese backpackers might not want to go it alone like Western woman do, but they shouldn’t let all the media stories about places like India scare them away. For aspiring travelers, the best adventures happen when you are lost; leave your iPhones and GPS at home. The only thing you really need on the road is a pack, and a good book.

Hong Mei’s book on Amazon China:
http://www.amazon.cn/dp/B00JUELG5U

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Keywords: Travel author Hong Mei backpacking with Chinese characteristics Backpacking China