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October 30, 2016

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Those very strange bed stories

By Xu Qin | October 30, 2016, Sunday | Print Edition

WE just go, we don’t know no limit. …

This Wiz Khalifa lyric best explains the adventure of Maotouzi, a Shanghai girl, who left home at the age of 25 for Singapore, and eventually moving to the United States to do her MBA from the Oklahoma State University.

What followed next can best be described as: the road less traveled.

“Looking back, I don’t know why I took such decisions. Just to think of the number of latitude and longitude spanning over the map pushes up the heart beat even today. I guess it was because I didn’t see who I was then. I needed to borrow light from something bigger than me, so that I could shine,” Maotouzi told Shanghai Daily during the launch of her book, “A Hundred Ways to Wake Up.”

Talking of her first experience of traveling alone, Maotouzi recalled her trip to Vung Tau, south of Vietnam, about 20 years ago. She said she met Hoa, a Vietnamese girl, at the reception of a small seaside hotel where she stayed.

She asked for a ride and Hoa agreed. In the following days, on her motorbike, Hoa took her to the night market, the tower house for the sunset and even her home where she met Hoa’s mom and ate pho for breakfast with the families.

“By the time I was leaving, we were very close. I asked Hoa why she would be so friendly to me. She said ‘…because I admire you. You travel alone with such a big backpack. You are very brave,’” recalled Maotouzi, who said it was Hoa that made her see the possibility to shine on her own by just being herself.

In 2008, Maotouzi quit her job as a financial analyst at her Silicon Valley company to become a full-time freelancer, focusing on more intimate and affordable travel with Airbnb — Airbedandbreakfast.com.

Officially launched in August 2008, Airbnb is a peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network that enables people to list or rent short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by the property owner.

The book “A Hundred Ways to Wake Up” is a collection of Maotouzi’s cheerful encounters with some of the unique homes on Airbnb and their hosts across the world — 20 stories in 20 places, including the best kept secret: the Deep Springs College in California, a cooking vocation in Italy, a camp named Shangri-Lao, and the legend behind Qinglong in China’s Taiwan.

“You’d never know what will strike you by staying at somebody else’s home,” Maotouzi said.

“Those strange beds on Airbnb redefine the meaning of accommodation in my way. Sometimes I would change my destination just for a special night on one of the unique beds. From one bed to another, they help me learn more about the local culture and its people.”

There are many ways to travel. What’s so unique about beds around the world?

The bed is more than just a place to rest and sleep. It is my way to discover the world.

In the past five years, I have slept on some of the very interesting or weird beds around the world, including the ones in houseboats, lighthouse towers, caves, bird nests, monasteries and castles … What attracts me to these beds are their hosts, who may tell you things that you will never ever encounter by staying at any standard hotels.

The book comes with a pamphlet “Airbnb Tips and Tricks for first-timers.” What is your experience with Airbnb?

To find lodging at Airbnb is like finding a proper date online for your vocation. Airbnb hosts list their properties on the Airbnb website, through descriptions, photographs and a user profile where potential travelers can get to know a bit about the hosts, while travelers search the available database of properties by entering details about when and where they’d like to travel. Sometimes, it is a “hit and miss” experience if you don’t act quickly enough.

What does traveling means to you? What have you discovered so far?

At some point during my trips, I would feel the only link to the world was the stranger sitting right opposite me. The simple connection and pure relationship between humans and nature while traveling made me relax. Most of the time, I would ask a lot of questions and I nodded while listening. When we bid each other goodbye, I would write down the story. It’s very fulfilling. I am lucky to have met so many people who’d love to share their ways of living.

What’s next after this book on beds?

After those strange beds, I am planning to discover the world through various means of transportation.

For example, taking the little green train to Pyongyang, visiting all the deserted mini-airports across America in a 4-seat chopper, riding a motorcycle through the Swiss Alps … I bet that will be another different and exciting way to discover the world.

About the Author

Maotouzi was born Mao Xiaowei in Shanghai in the Seventies. She is now a freelance travel writer, who spends one third of the year traveling around the world. Her passion for travel has inspired many people to find a meaning in their lives and switch jobs. She currently resides in California, the USA.

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