Couchsurfing is all about trusting, sharing and communicating.

CURRENT MISSION

I mean, what the hell does CURRENT MISSION mean, the thing I am doing right now? Editing my profile, of course.

ABOUT ME

Born and raised in Hohhot. I am open minded, love to meet all kinds of people with all kinds of culture.

PHILOSOPHY

I love being free. I believe that happiness is the true meaning of life. I want to fill up my life with all kinds of things. I don't care how many years I can live for, I want to make every day worthy.

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TIPS ABOUT INNER MONGOLIA, GRASSLAND AND DESERT

Here I want to tell you something about this place. As you may know, Inner Mongolia is a big province. In the east, we have great grassland such as 辉腾锡勒(Hui Teng Xi Le), 锡林郭勒(Xilin Gol), 呼伦贝尔(Hulun Buir). In the west, we have Badain Jaran Desert(巴丹吉林沙漠), the third largest desert of China. However, Hohhot, as the capital city of the province, is in the middle area between grassland and desert, which means the grassland and desert around this city are the worst in Inner Mongolia. You probably have read some information online, and known that near Hohhot there is a grassland called 希拉穆仁(Xi La Mu Ren) or 葛根塔拉(Ge Gen Ta La), they are different parts of the same grassland, and close to each other. And I don't recommend any of them. Those places are close to Hohhot so they are made into very touristic places by travel agencies. All the things are fake except for the poor grass.

And the nearest desert is called 响沙湾(Xiang Sha Wan), which is located on the eastern edge of 库布齐沙漠(Kubuqi Desert). Actually it is more like a amusement park built on desert. At least the sand is real. And it is a good start if you want to go deep into the desert.

Many trevellers have asked me how to find a real yurt and spend a couple of nights inside. Well, for that you need to go deep into the grassland(one of the top three grasslands I mentioned above) and find a real herdsman family who's living in their yurt, then ask nicely. To do that, you may need to rent a car, or hitchhike.

Speaking of hitchhiking, this may be the best way for trevellers to get to the distant places in Inner Mongolia. And it's quite easy for foreigners, according to some of my guests.

And the best time for grassland is July and August. In Spring, no grass, strong wind, cold. Before July, young grass, wind, cold. July to August, best time. After August, the grass is on its way dying, cold. In winter, no grass, extremely cold, and some places are kind of unreachable because of the snow.

So what's good in Hohhot? Except for the huge museum, the temples and mosques, we have some good restaurants here. If you want to try some DELICIOUS local food, Hohhot is the best choice. Don't expect too much when you are on some grassland or desert. : P

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And here I want to say something about couchsurfing.

First of all, I am not as good as the guy you know from my references. My guests wrote me their best words, I appreciate it so much. But I am just a common person, ok? As any common person, I also want to be respected. Like I said, it is all about trusting, sharing and communicating. But above all these, to surf a couch usually means that the surfer will get all kinds of resourses and help for free from the host. And it will cost the hosts not only a small amount of money but also some time. No matter how willing they might be, it won't be too much to show some respect in our formal request or personal message. I've been hosting and also surfing since 2013, and sometimes I got messages which had only one sentence within, for example, "Hello, will you be available at that time?" Yes, this is a real message I got from a traveller. In my opinion, I am not a harsh host who would set a lot of rules for my guests. I don't care if the travellers read my profile or not, I don't care if they say why and how much they like me in their message or not, I don't care most of the things. But for those one-sentence-messages, I could do nothing but to decline them. Sometimes I would reply them with also one sentence, hoping this could remind them of politeness. Sometimes I just ignored them.

I mean, in a proper request, the travellers should at least introduce themselves and tell the host about their plan in the city or region they plan to visit. In the best requests I've ever received, travellers not only did the 2 things above, but they also talked about my profile and told me their thoughts about me. For me this is not necessary, like I said, I don't set rules for my guests, they don't have to read my profile and prove it to me. I even don't need them to send me a so-called "personal" request. I'm ok with copy. I've accepted many requests without these contents. I understand that some long-term travellers don't have enough time to read everyone's profile and write many different requests for each host. But to be honest, it will definately increase my willing to accept this request if they do. You know, sometimes I just don't want to host, maybe because I'm in bad mood, maybe because I just want to rest, but if I see a perfect request, I won't be able to do anything but to accept it. How can I decline such a sincere request?

Everytime when I try to find a host, I will search all the available hosts and choose my favourite ones. I will read their profiles carefully, then write each of them a personal request. I will introduce myself and my partner(usually it's my wife). I will tell the host our plan, including the dates and the ways we come and leave, what we want to do there, etc. Then I will talk about their profile and tell them why I decide to contact them. And I never forget to thank them in advance.

I understand that some travellers only consider CS as a cheap way to travel, a way to find free hotels. Once a girl even told me that she didn't understand why some people would use CS for making friends. No judgement here. But, please, just don't forget the basic manners, and remember that the hosts don't host due to duty, they host because they are kind. As Ellen DeGeneres said, we should all be kind to one another, shouldn't we? Let's make this world a better place!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I found CS by chance when I checked travel information online. And I was like, "Wow, this is definitely my type of travelling!" So I joined this world immediately. Now it's 2023, I've been in this big family for almost 10 years, I've never regreted. And I will keep doing it.

Interests

Travelling, Sports, Reading, Movies, Singing, Comics, Computer, Making friends, Cooking

• culture
• marathon
• comics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• camping
• sports
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

I can't say that I love only this kind or that kind of music, movies and books. I love to try new things. And I don't think it's right to dislike something before you try it.

And sometimes it's complicated to explain one's taste. For example, I am not a guy who enjoys Jazz very much, but you know what, I love Norah Jones! This is it.

Music: Too many, I love music. I love singing too.

Movie: Quentin Tarantino, Jason Statham, Jackie Chan, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and also some Japanese and Southern Korean movies.

Book: I've read too many to say which is my favourite. Currently I'm reading Jeremy Clarkson's books.

Teach, Learn, Share

All the travellers are born to be family, even we don't know each other. I'm happy to share everything I have. And I'm prepared to learn everything new in my life.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Food, clean room, privacy, all the things in the house, respect.

My Wechat number is 121875075, Steve Hiker. Feelfree to contact me on Wechat when I don't reply your message here in time, or when you just want. With many reasons, I'm not able to check my inbox of CS very often, so the best way to contact me is Wechat.(Even some foreigners know that one can not live without Wechat in China.)

Having said that, a message or request on CS is the least we can do to show some respect to this community and its founders, isn't it? Plainly, it will also dramatically increase my willingness to accept a request, though I have never declined any request only because they didn't send me any message on CS.

And please, don't use me as a personal assistant.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Cuba, Czech Republic, Georgia, Nepal, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Georgia

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