While in Asia, I had the chance and the obligation to travel constantly.
The first years, it was due to visa deadlines that I had to leave China every three months. Later on, when migration laws got more difficult, my business visa was for a year but for 30 days entries only. China was aggresive in visa matters but a gift in traveling.
This took me to several places by bus, train and plane. Most all of those trips were made by myself and on a budget since the first years (being and intern and then a young entrepreneur) were limited in resources.
Some of those adventures remain clearly in my memores. I will share one today.
It was ealry 2014, six months since we founded Inventto, a venture with a couple of friends. Budget was limited and my visa was forcing me to leave China every month. One of the budget options was to take a 12 hours train from Beijing to Guangzhou (where a good friend of mine lives) and then cross the border to Hong Kong, get my passport stamped and come back to Mainland. The train ticket was around 700 yuan (US $100).
It was friday morning, I was planning to take the 9:15 am train, arriving to Guangzhou by 9 pm, planning dinner with my friend, crossing the border on Saturday morning and taking a train back to Beijing on Sunday.
I woke up, showered and took the subway to the train station. Arrived to the station by 8:45 am, expecting to get my ticket and go to the platform. But this time, the station was fully packed and the line was so long…time was limited so I started asking people to allow me getting to the window so I could take the train on time. I arrived to the ticket window at 9:12 am, got my ticket and run to the platform…it was late. And I remember how important those 700 yuan were at that time.
Since I had to leave China right on time considering the days of entry, the only option was to find a way to get to Guangzhou and cross to Hong Kong on Saturday. I was so frustrated for missing that train. Took a sit, called a friend to tell him what happened and he suggested going back to the window and asking for a new departure time with the same ticket.
I made the line again, arrived to the window and asked the lady what was the next train to Guangzhou. It was at 11 am but it was a 19 hours train, meaning I would arrive by 6 am on Saturday. I asked if I could change my ticket, she said yes and assigned a “hard bed seat” for me. I did not know what it meant.
I was relieved. Got my ticket, walked to the platform to find an old train that was going to take me all across China in 19 hours on a hard bed seat. Yes. A hard bed seat means one bed in a 6 beds room. No private toilet, no shower, everybody with their instant noodles boxes, their green tea, a garlic vibe and that’s it. For 19 hours I layed down, walked around, wrote some thoughts, read “Viaje a Pie” by Fernando Gonzalez and swallowed the environment. Despite how isolated but surrounded I felt, it was my time.
These type of journeys when you find yourself because it is the only thing you can find become just beautiful. You reflect, you value what you have and the path you are walking. It becomes the time to properly think if the direction is the right one or if something should be changed.
I thought about being a foreigner, an entrepreneur far away from home and the hardness of these ideas…to conclude at the end of the journey that I should trust the instinct and keep on moving forward.
It would later pay off…
David Perez 