In August this year, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei drove a RV to Yiwu County in Hami, Xinjiang. As they approached Yanchi Township, a pink lake broke into sight. The two immediately drove off the highway and drove towards the lake.
This pink lake of about 30 square kilometers is called Tolkule Lake. While admiring the gorgeous scenery, Mai Xiaodou explained to the audience that the pink color comes from the Dunaliella salina in the lake. They contain heme in their bodies. As the temperature rises and falls, the heme concentration changes, showing different shades of red.
The Symphony Lake seen by Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei in Xinjiang
In the past two years, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei have experienced similar journeys countless times. Seeing the beautiful scenery, we stopped and stayed for a few days. They once crossed the uninhabited land of Xinjiang's Hami Sea Road in a high temperature of 40 degrees, and ate hot pot in an RV with the air conditioner turned on; they also saved a local African car in the Sahara Desert
Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei In the Sahara Desert
On the road, they will always encounter some bizarre things, and there will always be beauty waiting ahead. In the past few years, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei have made videos of their experiences during the RV trip and posted them on the headline account @马小豆和Qian Bei.
I can no longer live this kind of life
While resting in a service area in Xinjiang, Qian Bei was surprised to find that there were more than a dozen RVs parked there. Five years ago, when she and her then-boyfriend Mai Xiaodou traveled in Xinjiang for the first time, they probably saw no more than five RVs.
Friends who often travel by car will easily find that in the past two years, more and more RVs have appeared on the road. On Toutiao today, RV creators are also emerging. They either share travel stories or introduce car purchasing information, inspiring more people to be curious about living in a car.
The sunset seen by Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei in Sanya in 2021
Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei can be regarded as the first people to eat crabs. In June 2020, they spent more than 400,000 to buy an RV. Previously, the two had been wandering on the road for four years.
Back in 2016, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei ran an online store. They spent time in the warehouse and store from morning to night, facing customers online all day long, and even going shopping became a luxury.
They can no longer live this kind of life, they have reached consciousness. This led to a bold decision: put the online store on hold for a while and spend a year traveling. Before setting off, they followed many travel creators on Toutiao and drove their cars on the road longingly.
The two left Yunnan, passed through Laos and Thailand, and all the way to Malaysia. The following year, they drove from China to Africa. The round trip mileage totals 60,000 kilometers, and the exotic scenery is dazzling.
At the beginning of the trip, Mai Xiaodou once thought that private cars were more maneuverable. However, after the epidemic began, people and cars were unable to travel frequently across national borders, and accommodation and meals often ran into trouble. If you own an RV, it is equivalent to eating and sleeping at your own home, and it can also reduce the risk of infection or isolation.
In the Northeast, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei visited the Yalu River Cross-sea Bridge
Yichun and Lin Ge, who also live in the car, are a post-90s couple. At the beginning of 2020, they resigned from their hometown in Heilongjiang and went to Hangzhou to find jobs. After their plans were disrupted by the epidemic, the two fell into a slump. In a dilemma, Yichun thought about how she and Brother Lin had passed by many RVs driving on the road during their honeymoon abroad.
They are all people who love traveling and yearn for freedom more than living in the concrete forests of big cities. So the two bought a RV worth more than 300,000 yuan on the spot and hit the road.
Open the door and see the mountains and the sea
Go shopping for 8 yuan abalone at Sanya Seafood Market, feel the colors of water and sky at Qinghai Chaka Salt Lake, and explore the secrets of Lenghu Lake The most Mars-like place on earth, appreciating the Yadan landforms in Oboliang, Haixi Prefecture, and eating barbecue in an unknown northeastern town
After having an RV, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei almost Traveled across most of China. From then on, they decided to record their stories on the road. In April 2016, they registered the headline accounts @马小豆和Qianbei.
The scenery they saw on the road, the food they tasted, and the interesting things they encountered were all captured in the video. These experiences are difficult to achieve during group tours and ordinary self-driving tours. Their adventure has also attracted many fans to follow the series online.
In Mai Xiaodou’s view, continuous shooting and sharing during the trip makes life more fulfilling and always earns thousands of likes from netizens.
Qian Bei is at the beach in Wanning, Hainan
Mai Xiaodou drives the RV into the pastoral area of ??Qinghai
Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei eat crayfish in Changsha
For Yichun and Brother Lin, the biggest gain during the journey was the arrival of their son Xiao Liudao.
In fact, at the beginning of the trip, Ichijun realized that she was pregnant. After traveling 10,000 kilometers, they drove the car to Hainan at the end of 2020.
In the end, the child was born in a hospital in Haikou. The camera recorded the family meeting to name the baby, the clumsiness of a new mother changing her son's diaper, and the joy of Brother Lin taking Xiao Liuda to the RV for the first time
When Xiao Liuda was only 60 days old, Yichun I held him in my arms and looked at the sea once, and Brother Lin even built a mini paradise for him out of sand. When Xiaolaodao reached 100 days, they hit the road with their son. This time, Brother Lin is planning to start from Hainan, travel through China, and finally return to Northeast China.
Yichun and Lin Ge took their three-month-old baby on the road together
Now, their happiest thing is to take their child around. In the vegetable garden of the Dali RV campground, Xiao Liuda stepped into the soil and stared at the unknown plants up and down with his little eyes. This child is more wild and interacts more with nature, Lin Ge said.
Running in nature every day, you can see the sea and mountains when you open the car door. The scenes they once dreamed of have now come true one by one.
In addition to embracing nature, Yichun also looks forward to bringing the beautiful scenery he sees through the lens to more netizens who love life and travel.
Yichun and Lin Ge drove a RV to Gannan to participate in the recording of Toutiao Travel's "Self-Driving Season" program
Heating market vs. skinny reality?
Of course, the journey was not all beautiful. Brother Lin once encountered a thrilling moment.
The total length of his tractor and RV was more than 13 meters. Once, because the weight ratio was not done before departure, when the RV was driving on the highway, the car behind him suddenly swayed and veered off course. Fortunately, there were no other vehicles on the road at the time. He drove the car in front of him into the lane next to him and slowly slowed down, before the car behind him returned to normal.
This sounded the alarm for him: Driving safety is the primary consideration when choosing an RV for travel. Whether it is an integrated RV or a trailer-type RV, driving is not simple. You need to consider the safety of the tractor and the RV. The weight ratio makes it difficult to move forward sometimes when encountering narrow roads or height restrictions. After that, when he drove the RV on the highway, his speed never exceeded 100 yards.
In the past two years, the domestic RV market has become increasingly popular. The "2021 China RV (RV) Market Inventory" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association shows that in 2021, my country's annual sales of RVs will be 12,582 units, a year-on-year increase of 43.2.
From imported RVs worth millions to domestic entry-level models that can be purchased for more than 200,000 yuan, consumers have more and more choices. You can get one with as little as a few hundred thousand yuan. A used RV.
However, Brother Lin reminded that second-hand RVs are cheap but difficult to choose. Since the level of modification factories varies, you need to purchase them under the guidance of professionals. In two videos released on August 13, 2020 and August 13, 2021, Mai Xiaodou also shared his personal experience and popularized science for car fans from the perspectives of RV purchase, driving experience, repair and maintenance, etc.
Mai Xiaodou shares his experience of driving a B-type RV with netizens
Even if the market continues to heat up, there are still many practical issues to consider. In Mai Xiaodou's view, RVs are toys that have high demands on car owners.
Compared with the booming demand for cars, the number of domestic RV campsites is far from enough. Every holiday, RV campsites in the south, especially in Hainan, are always full. In addition, if the RV is parked in the campground for a long time, maintenance will also become a problem.
In a video in April 2021, Issun said that during her confinement period, the RV was parked at the campground for the whole month. When it was started again, mushrooms had grown in the car.
Yichun talks about the experience of mushrooms growing in his RV in the video
In addition, compared with imported RVs, domestic RVs will be equipped with large water and electricity facilities, but this only looks beautiful. Also limited by the number of campsites, some RVs have to be parked in ordinary parking lots, and how to deal with sewage and garbage is also tricky.
Lin Ge suggested in the video that car owners must be diligent if they want to live comfortably in an RV. They should clean up immediately after meals, check water and electricity before going out, and rest, work, eat, drink, and defecate within 10 square meters. To solve the problem, you must not wait until you hit the road to find out that you are not suitable for this kind of life.
Life is like a migratory bird, changing with the weather
As Xiao Liuda grows older, Yichun and Lin Ge's pace gradually slows down, and Xiao Liuda will also face challenges in the future Schooling is a problem, but Yichun said that if we have time during the winter and summer vacations, we will continue to take the children on the road. We also plan to fulfill our five-year dream of traveling across China.
Yichun shared Xiao Liudao’s growth experience in the video
Yichun said that people who like RV life have somewhat similar traits, such as loving travel, embracing nature, and enjoying On the road.
Some fans were moved after seeing their videos and sent private messages asking about the details of RV life. Yichun feels that although RVs are good, they are not suitable for everyone, and he does not recommend fans to try them rashly.
If you are too busy at work and don’t have much time on the road, maybe an RV is not suitable for you. In the message interaction, she persuaded like this. Mai Xiaodou also feels the same way. If the RV is regarded as real estate, you can't buy a house and live there for only one month a year, right?
However, for Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei, the convenience brought by the RV is far greater. of burden. On the road, they can always meet many car friends, most of whom are self-media practitioners. When we get together, everyone will share anecdotes about their travels and recommend each other’s next destination.
When you really decide to put your home in a car, an RV may be a more cost-effective option. Mai Xiaodou made some calculations. Under normal circumstances, the couple would spend about 15,000 yuan on the road, which included gasoline, water and electricity for the RV, as well as food and clothing for the two of them. These expenses can be roughly covered by the income from operating self-media accounts. For an ordinary self-driving tour, in Xinjiang during the peak tourist season, the monthly accommodation cost alone will exceed five figures.
Qian Bei shared the cost of traveling in an RV with netizens
Next, Mai Xiaodou and Qian Bei planned to go to Aershan to see the autumn scenery. The autumn there is short but magnificent, with vast landscapes. The forest sea and the lake reflecting the sky. They also want to wait until the epidemic is over to drive their RV to Europe and make their homes in more corners of the world.
For them, this is the most important thing about driving an RV on the road: two people are together, agree with and love their own lifestyle, care for each other, and support each other.