2023 is the year when most Chinese return to the world, and it is also a year to go further to the world. Since the second half of the year, Georgia, Thailand, Tunisia, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries have successively announced visa-free travel for Chinese tourists, and Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand tours have also become a popular travel route for the Spring Festival in 2024. According to data released by Ctrip, during the Spring Festival, the travel orders of Chinese tourists to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand increased by more than 15 times year-on-year, and Malaysia increased by more than 22 times year-on-year.
As a long holiday, the Spring Festival naturally has a wave of travel peaks. China's National Immigration Administration has also predicted that this year's Spring Festival ports across the country will usher in a new round of inbound and outbound passenger flows, which will be the same as the 2019 Spring Festival inbound and outbound flows.
This time, "People" found 5 people who traveled abroad during the Spring Festival, and most of them also went abroad for the first time after the epidemic. People are surprised to find that the Chinese have returned to the wilderness of the world, and the world is also undergoing various changes. Compared with before, cost performance has obviously become an important factor to consider when traveling. In this long-lost trip, some people feel the flavor of the New Year in a foreign land, and some people find the courage to explore outward, and feel a kind of comfort, flow and openness.
The following is their overseas travel story -
Text: Li Yuning
Edited by Chu Ming
Photo provided by the interviewee
"Dad, the desert is full of Chinese"
Black Rabbit 26 years old UAE
This Spring Festival is the first time our family has gone abroad in three years. At the beginning, we considered Australia, South Korea's Jeju Island, and Singapore, the former had to apply for a visa, and there were a lot of procedures, so we went for five or six days, which was not worth it; the latter two places were still in Asia, and my father felt that it was not easy to go out, but he still had to go to a different place. People always say that the Middle East is very proud, and I want to go and see if it is really the same as it says.
We set off on the 29th of the Lunar New Year and flew straight from Beijing. The flight was almost full, and it was all family units to play, and there were many children. Visa-free, Spring Festival, plus a 1:2 exchange rate, there are many Chinese who come to Dubai to play. There is an attraction called Abraham's House, which has just been completed in 2023 and is a foreign business card of the UAE to show tolerance. There are three buildings inside, namely a mosque, a Christian church and a synagogue, each of which is cleverly designed, using light and shadow, and various intricate patterns will be cast on the walls, so it is also a new check-in point on Xiaohongshu. There are many religious attractions in the UAE like Abraham's House, all of which are quite formal, and you need to wear robes and headscarves to enter, and when you walk inside, you will hear a sentence, "This place is so beautiful" or "You help me get a camera", and sure enough, there are Chinese everywhere in the wilderness.
On the message wall of Abraham's House, Chinese can be found everywhere.
Another attraction, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, fully embodies the pride of the UAE. According to the introduction, the construction cost is 600 million euros, and the Abu Dhabi government has paid an additional 500 million US dollars to allow this and the museum to co-brand. There are a lot of such places in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and our first-tier cities are modern, and they are really arrogant, and they are also brightly lit at night, and some of the buildings are directly painted gold.
The gold market is the place with the largest number of Chinese besides the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Before we went, we also saw the strategy and thought about buying some gold, but after we actually arrived, we were a little disappointed. I thought that the gold market would be a very high place, but in fact, it was a very commercial little market, selling gold jewelry and gold shawls, and I didn't think it was that cheap. But Chinese tourists like to go to gold shops, and they all gather in small shops to pick styles.
A small shop in the gold market, where Chinese tourists are picking up.
Maybe it's because of the Spring Festival travel, I feel that the atmosphere of the New Year in the UAE is very strong. Usually in China, these things may be commonplace, but suddenly in such an exotic place, that kind of New Year's atmosphere can be captured, I am also a little surprised, so far away there is still the smell of the New Year. For example, walking in a shopping mall in Dubai, some clerks will tell you Happy New Year when they see that you are Chinese, and some can even speak a word or two in Chinese. The mall also has a Chinatown-themed merchandise street, selling pot-wrapped meat and milk tea. There is a Warner theme park in Abu Dhabi, and several foreign staff wear cheongsams and dance Wishing you prosperity.
The most impressive thing is that on Chinese New Year's Eve, after 4 p.m. local time, we were waiting in line to wash the sand. Counting the time difference, it is exactly the time for the Spring Festival Gala to be broadcast in China. My dad has a complex, so he used his mobile phone to watch the Spring Festival Gala while waiting, and I was bored, so I watched the sketch together. At that time, there were many Chinese in the waiting area, and there were three or four tables around us, and when they heard the movement, they all took out their mobile phones to search. So in the end, it became a group of Chinese watching the Spring Festival Gala and chatting together. It was actually a bit of a magical scene, because the place where the sand was washed was in the desert, the temperature was high, everyone was dressed coolly, there were Arabic songs in the car next to it, and there were camels not far away, which had nothing to do with the Spring Festival at all. But it is quite wonderful to gather such a group of Chinese, and to adhere to the sense of ritual of the festival even after the time difference.
Back in the evening, the Burj Al Arab also has a drone show, with hundreds of dragon-shaped drones circling around the hotel's skyscrapers. The show was posted back on social media by Chinese tourists, and it was a hit, but unfortunately we missed it.
When I go abroad this time, I feel refreshed, my vision is very broad, everything is normal, even the air is good. In fact, "the feeling of being Chinese everywhere in the wilderness" is not bad, after all, it also means that we have finally returned to normal life.
"Sanya really can't afford to go, or Southeast Asia is more cost-effective"
Bun 30 years old from Bali, Indonesia
I am from Northeast China, and when I was young, my family would go to Hainan for the Spring Festival, and over the years, I have been to Hainan Island no less than ten times. But now, more and more people go to Hainan for the Spring Festival every year, and the duty-free shops in Sanya often line up as soon as they open, and attractions like Nanhai Guanyin must be crowded. The price of Hainan is now more expensive, our family of 4 eats, even if it is an ordinary restaurant, the meal cost is nearly 100 per capita.
We were also going to be different, after all, the Northeast is more than 20 degrees below zero for the New Year, and no one likes to be so cold. But now there are many people in the Northeast in Hainan, and the Northeast accent is all on the plane, which seems to be no different from going home. I also remember that in the past three years, there has been a period of "small xx" and "xx replacement". To be honest, I followed the photo once and felt cheated. Because the photo may look similar from a certain angle, but after all, the photo is not the same as the real feeling, and it is actually quite a bit worse.
This year is the first Spring Festival that can go out, I see, flying to Southeast Asia is cheaper than Hainan, RMB is worth a lot there, the same price, the hotel is better than Sanya. In terms of value for money, I definitely chose Southeast Asia, I have been to Bali myself before, where the water is very clear. So, this Spring Festival, I took my family and flew over together.
Bali sunset
My family and I spent a total of 10 days in Bali. I feel that when I went out to play before, I was quite a special soldier, and I couldn't wait to go to many places in Europe every day, and I had to travel to several countries in a few days. But this time in Bali, I woke up normally every day, packed up and went out to eat with my family at 9 o'clock, arranged one or two projects a day, and didn't think about rushing for time every day.
Bali is also a place where there are many things to do and are suitable for all ages. For example, young people can go surfing, there are places where digital nomads gather like Long Valley, there are forests, rafting, and boats that take you out to sea. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, we went dolphin hunting, and I felt that in front of nature, all the troubles I had at work were really not worth mentioning.
The dolphin that the bun chases
As for the air ticket, it must be more expensive than in previous years, before going to the Philippines, 1,000 yuan can go back and forth, but now there is no such price, it is two or three thousand yuan. We traveled during the Spring Festival this time, and it cost about 4,000 yuan. In addition, I feel that whether it is Thailand or Bali, they even seem to have been "secretly learning" for 3 years, and each vendor can speak a few words of Chinese. Especially when I was in Thailand in May 2023, when the "Ka waist" saying was particularly popular, we still saw a lot of Chinese in the local area, and they were very brave. We ourselves felt safe and nothing, and it could be that we, as tourists, didn't go to particularly remote places.
There are some places in China that are not so cost-effective. For example, this year, I heard that the return ticket to Hainan is very expensive, and it is up to five figures, and I also saw on Xiaohongshu that someone is studying transferring from Haikou to Seoul, saying that it is cheaper than flying directly to Beijing, even only 600 yuan. When I was in Bali, I also swiped such posts. At that time, I also transferred it to my friends in Hainan this year, hoping that they could return to work smoothly.
The world is so big, I can indeed go to some new visa-free places first. Next, I should go to Thailand and Singapore, and I can really go over for a weekend.
"I don't have any money, it's not a contradiction to hang out with me."
Li Qingse, 25 years old, Japan
After I resigned in the middle of last year, I went to South Korea with my colleagues who had resigned.
I remember that we wanted to get an expedited visa, but the embassy replied that the expedited visa would stop in May or June of the year. May Day in 2023 may be the first holiday where you can travel, and everyone wants to do it urgently, and they all want to go out.
In the past year of work, I have basically sat there, facing the computer, and usually lived in artificial cities and people. One day, I looked up from the table and looked at the white wall, and suddenly I wanted to go outside, to nature.
When we went to South Korea, we still took a three-row wide-body plane, there were not many people, and we could lie flat. When we landed in Seoul and started playing, it may be that they have not fully recovered, and there are no tourists at the famous scenic spot Namsan Mountain, so we sat there quietly for a long time. In Busan, I was walking on the beach, it was probably sunset, it wasn't completely dark, the lights were on again, and the locals were all on the beach, and there were people singing every once in a while. I heard the singing, and beneath my feet was the real and rough sand. I almost burst into tears. It turns out that in addition to that kind of life in the middle of a crowd, we can also be aimless, just walking, or sitting.
When I returned from South Korea, I found a new job. But when I came back, I realized that I really wanted to go out and have a look. When it came to this year's Spring Festival holiday, I discussed with my sister to take annual leave in advance and go to Japan to play. I didn't often go home for the holidays in the past, and when I went out, I was able to escape giving red envelopes. There is no contradiction between going out to play and having no money, for example, in order to save money, this trip is Spring Airlines, which is really a "green train in the sky", first of all, the plane seats are green, and the other is to catch the Spring Festival, the whole process is very noisy, just like the train of the Spring Festival, all tour groups and children.
I actually made a lot of efforts to avoid the crowds and get back to the trip itself. On this trip to Japan, I also deliberately avoided the popular spots. For example, in Tokyo, we didn't go to Tokyo Tower, Ikebukuro, Sensoji Temple, and Shibuya, but we just walked around Ueno Park. Duty-free shops and luxury stores were not on my radar, so I went to Ginza because I had to buy Sanrio and Chiikawa (a type of IP doll). For example, in Hokkaido, we only went to the hot springs, and we didn't go to the most crowded ski resorts.
Hokkaido, snow scene in the town of Noboribetsu Onsen
For the last two days, we stayed in a log cabin on the outskirts of Sapporo. By the end of the year, there were more and more Chinese tourists in Sapporo, and most of the hotels that could be booked for seven or eight hundred yuan on weekdays had risen to four digits starting with "2". It was also by accident that we found a suburban golf resort with wooden cabins that could be used for a night in our early 1000s.
Because in the suburbs, we were almost isolated, and the rest of the guests were mostly white-faced. There is no New Year's atmosphere in this place, and we are happy to be at ease. On Chinese New Year's Eve, it was quiet outside the wooden house, there was no sound of firecrackers, only snow falling on the trees, finally pressing down to the treetops, and then returning to its original state, and so on. Compared with the reunion night, it is more like the atmosphere in "Love Letter".
In the past few years, I have gradually felt that coming out is different from daily life, and since we are outside, we should stop applying our habits to others. On Chinese New Year's Eve, we ate all-you-can-eat salmon rice and eel at a seafood market, and we were satisfied at the end. Only when I returned to the wooden house, I met another group of Chinese, who said goodbye to each other and said "Happy New Year" to each other. It was also at that moment that I realized, oh, it turns out that tonight is Chinese New Year's Eve.
Chinese New Year's Eve "Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner"
In strange places, I proved myself
Juli is 27 years old in the United Kingdom
Before leaving, I also told my friends that I was nervous because I hadn't been abroad for 6 years. In fact, in the past three years, I still have a chance to go abroad, but as soon as the policy changed, I did not succeed. At that time, I was very uncomfortable, because at the beginning, I really had a lot of thoughts, such as whether my self-care ability would improve when I went out, and whether my life plan would change. But I'll never know that.
After graduating from school, I followed the steps and became a teacher. The first year of work was really fresh. I was very excited, and I took the initiative to work a lot of classes, which I also felt was very meaningful and very passionate. But the next year, we moved to the suburbs, away from the main city, and I became familiar with the process of work, and there was no new excitement, and slowly, burnout also came up. Life is about to enter the age of 30, and the problems of marriage and childbirth are also coming up.
I had a vague feeling of being "trapped", as if I was carrying a lot of heavy stuff on my back. Last summer, I had a fight with my parents, and I can't remember the specifics, but I was definitely angry at the time, or I wouldn't have said something like, "I won't be going home for the New Year this year." I always joke with my friends, saying that I am an "unfilial girl", as if I have committed some great sin. Once, in the second half of the year, I trekked back to the city to have dinner with friends, during which I also said that I felt like I was not living on my own. They also asked me, "Aren't you living well on your own right now?" but what I thought to myself was, maybe this alone is not the same, and I need something stronger to prove myself.
But it's one thing to say, at the end of the year, I still hesitated, thinking about whether to go back during the Spring Festival, after all, it is not filial piety not to go back. It just so happened that my cousin was studying in the UK, and she kept calling me over from time to time to play. To be honest, in the past, I often just verbally promised to "have a chance to go", but I didn't have that strong action, and I often didn't follow up later. But last Christmas, she came to ask me again, and at this juncture, I suddenly felt that I was going to be impulsive.
On January 28th, I set off from Beijing for a stopover in Shanghai and embarked on a trip to the UK. I landed in London early the next morning, and I had to take a train from the airport to the city, because I was not familiar with how to buy a ticket, I was still as anxious as usual at first, but after thinking about it, I didn't have anything to do behind me, so why bother? I took it slowly, and I didn't get to the hotel until about noon.
As soon as I put my luggage away, I came out with my bag on my back. There was a bakery nearby, so I bought food and took it and continued on my way. The hotel is not far from Hyde Park, as soon as you walk in, the first feeling is that it is too green, a large number of lawns, in winter are verdant, which can not be seen in Beijing. It was noon when I arrived, and there was a fountain in the park, and the sun was shining brightly on it. It was a Monday, but the park was full of people walking, walking their dogs, feeding the pigeons, and a lot of runners.
Hyde Park, where people take a leisurely stroll.
In 2023, I learned to watch birds, and this time I came to the UK with my binoculars. There are many seabirds, swans and ducks in the pond. There are also a lot of squirrels, just 3 meters away from you. In fact, I just watched blindly, and I haven't understood anything yet, but I have been watching it for a long time, and I feel that life can be so happy and comfortable. Later, the mobile phone was about to run out of battery, and I looked at the last trace of power or habitual anxiety, and I always felt that I was not familiar with my life. But I turned my head and thought that it was not far from the hotel, and I could go back on my own. I can.
Later, I got back to the hotel later and later every day. Before I came out, I also found out that there were car thieves in London, and I was afraid that I would be robbed and robbed. But as soon as I really started to get to know London, I felt like it didn't matter, I had a connection with the city. Every day, I wander around the city with a telescope on my back. At the museum, see popular paintings. In the theater, watch plays and musicals. When you're outdoors, just look at nature. With the telescope, I found that my vision was really wide and I could see far, far away.
During the trip, I could feel myself getting more and more relaxed. A week later, I went to Edinburgh to find my cousin, I thought Edinburgh was small, there should be nothing to see, and I planned a lot of other trips, but when I actually arrived, I thought, how is it so interesting, each city has its own history and story, I can't finish reading. Including before I came, my sister and I were just juniors at home who met on holidays, and we didn't have a deep chat. Now we live together and talk a lot every night, from relationships to careers, and I feel like I've really got to know her again.
I'm not usually a person who likes to post on Moments, and I always feel that my life is lackluster. But this time, when I came out, I went crazy, and I didn't deliberately think about nine pictures or copywriting, and I posted scenes that I felt really happy at that moment.
This year's Chinese New Year, my sister and I, as well as two other classmates of hers, spent 4 of us together. After the decision came out, I also sent a message to my mother, saying again that I would not go home for the Spring Festival. But she only replied with four words, "Enjoy". So, in fact, it is not much of a contradiction, and the "unfilial piety" or obstruction that I am worried about has not happened. On Chinese New Year's Eve, I called home, and they were still lively and happy. It seems that at this time, I felt another kind of support.
Obviously, I came from China and didn't have much obsession with the holidays. The local Chinese are different, I remember that on the 27th and 28th of the lunar month, there was a Spring Festival flash mob on the main street of Edinburgh, and there was a dragon dance, a guzheng and pipa performance. It was raining that day, but there were still international students wearing Hanfu and rushing over to see it.
On the morning of Chinese New Year's Eve, my sister also went to the Chinese supermarket to buy vegetables, and they must make very Chinese dishes, such as mapo tofu, and they also disliked that my mushroom soup was not authentic. I also heard that another dormitory building is a 100-seat kitchen, and on Chinese New Year's Eve, every stove is a Chinese student stir-frying. We also have a time difference here, when they cook at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, they start to play the Spring Festival Gala, and after they really start eating in the evening, they will replay it again. Including the day of the first day of junior high school, my sister's classmates also ordered the ground pot chicken in advance, and when I went to the restaurant, it was all Chinese.
Chinese New Year's Eve, Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the dormitory.
By the time I talk to you, I'm already on my way back. After I came back, I still had to continue to go to class, and I still had to face those problems, but I understood that there are many things you want to do, but in fact, the resistance is not as great as you think. If you do it, others won't do anything to you, you just have to be responsible for yourself. Because I didn't go out before, I kept holding back a lot of energy in my heart, wondering what I would be like when I went out. This time I went out alone, and I knew that I could live alone in a foreign country, and I knew what it was like to be in a foreign country, and I could get close to it, which was very important to me. In a way, I feel like I've rediscovered my abilities and I'm more determined about myself.
"The world is big, and we have a choice in life."
Dada is 42 years old from Malaysia
On December 1, 2023, Malaysia happened to be visa-free for China, so I took advantage of the Spring Festival to bring my 13-year-old daughter to Malaysia.
Our family has always been very lenient about how to spend the Spring Festival. I'm also an adult who can be responsible enough to have my own way of celebrating if I don't want to follow the traditional way. On Chinese New Year's Eve this year, we were in Kuala Lumpur, and my daughter and I made an appointment to take photos by the pool on the top floor of the hotel, and then we went to Alor Street Food City for snacks in the evening.
This is also my second visit to Malaysia, the last time was in 2016. Kuala Lumpur is a very unfriendly city for City Walk, and there are no bike-sharing bikes. Gasoline in Malaysia seems to be very cheap, and the outdoor temperature is usually high, so everyone is used to driving. One day, after eating a Peranakan meal, we thought that we could walk back a kilometer or two, but there were no motorized lanes, and bicycles and electric scooters were crowded with pedestrians, which was very congested and not safe. We also went to Penang this time, it has changed so much, I used to like the graffiti in their old town, but now it has lost its character due to urbanization and has become a rural-urban interface.
Compared to the last time, the size of the town of Semporna has also increased three or four times, the population is larger, and there are many more Chinese. Malaysian locals don't drink much either, and even if it's hot, it's all Chinese tourists. A friend of mine is in the liquor business, and this time he asked me to check to see if there was a market, and I went to the supermarket to see if there was basically no liquor, only a little Korean soju. Personally, I don't think I can do it.
Originally, my daughter wanted to come to learn to dive, but because she suffered from mycoplasma pneumonia in the winter, she didn't succeed. Instead, we snorkeled in Sipadan in Semporna to see the storm fish. To be honest, when I first started traveling, I still felt that I was not as excited as before, did I not go out much for three years, and after a long circle, my age has also come up. But then amazingly, I quickly returned to the familiar state, including when I watched the fish, I couldn't help but run after it, and the swimming ring was directly behind me.
In Semporna, Dada and his daughter snorkeled and saw a variety of marine life.
That day, I also told my daughter that in 2016, I carried a mountaineering bag and came to Malaysia on a low-cost airline, which was also the first time I went abroad in my life.
The reason I wanted to go out at that time was that I was getting a divorce at that time, and I wanted to save myself, and I wanted to stretch. For a long time, my life was conformist, and my whole person was in a very closed state. But a year or two before I decided to divorce, I took my daughter on a self-drive in China, and we went to Yunnan and also to Tibet. I just wanted to see if I could get down this way, okay, then I should be able to get out of my marriage, and I don't have to rely on others to take care of myself and my daughter.
As women, I know that my personal space and rights will be compressed, but on the other hand, we are lighter and more adaptable to migration. Going out is just an attempt on my part. As for that time in Malaysia, I played by myself, so I can have no ceiling and continue to find new ways.
Later, I finally got my own "happiness certificate". In those years, I went to the Philippines and also to Lake Baikal with my daughter. In between, I also went to further study and worked with my mentor on projects.
In 2019, I also took my daughter to New Zealand for a self-drive. It was the first time we left Asia, and I had a friend who had studied in New Zealand going with us, so I had a light-hearted expectation of the trip. Another mother and I drove in a strange land with two children. New Zealand is still a right-hand drive car, and at the beginning, we wanted to steer, the wipers were all overturning, and we had a ticket in between. But we still had a lot of fun there for more than 20 days. In the middle I was chatting with the locals, and I said that I was a single mom, a single mother, and I took my daughter to see the world together. I couldn't understand it, so I made a gesture on the paper and wrote it. When we got back, we weren't used to the left-hand drive again (laughs).
I also felt that I really had to live my life on my own terms, and although I also encountered a lot of difficulties, including various psychological blows, I was really moving forward slowly step by step. This time back in Semporna, I also passed by a restaurant I went to 8 years ago, and I even remember the hostess. I walked in and told her that I had been here 8 years ago.
Over the years, we have been to prosperous places, and we have crossed the national border, and we will continue to walk like this. I hope my daughter can know that people don't have to be confused, trapped in a small field of vision, and do some indifferent internal friction. The world is big, there are so many things we can do, and we have a choice in our lives.
During the Chinese New Year, Dada prays for his parents, daughters and himself in temples in Malaysia.