My First CouchSurfing Experience

CouchSurfing is a community of travelers, backpackers, nomads, and pretty much everyone else on a global scale.  People from all walks of life can be found among its members.  What these people, including me, have done is gone to the website and created a profile.  Most people agree to host travelers in their home, though it is not required.  Some simply agree to meet with travelers coming to their village/town/city and show them around.  The level of commitment and participation is entirely up to the individual member.  Up until a few months before I left for China I was not a member of CouchSurfing and I knew virtually nothing about it.  This past weekend in Guilin was my first experience surfing on someone’s couch and it has opened a whole new world to me.

Independence Bridge all lit up

A week before I left for my trip I made contact with several people on CouchSurfing living in Guilin.  I found someone who agreed to let me stay on his couch for a night, all was good.  For the rest of the week I tried to create a rough plan for what I really wanted to see while in the Guangxi province.  This person, Leo, and I wrote many emails back and forth, discussing what I should do and my options on how to do it.  With a day or two left I decided to change my plans and extend my stay in Guilin from one to two nights.  Thankfully it was no problem for him.

Leo and I in front of the Sun and Moon Pagoda

Before meeting Leo I had no idea what to expect.  Really, truly no idea.  As it turns out Leo is an incredibly generous and nice person.  He put me up in his dorm room for two nights.  He arranged and prepaid for my day trip to Longsheng (before even meeting me, now that’s trust).  He set up a dinner that other CouchSurfers came to and took us out for drinks afterwords.  He showed me around the city and gave me great advice for what to do during my time in Guilin.  It’s hard to describe how taken aback I was by Leo’s ability and willingness to play host to a complete stranger.  That sort of attitude is something I really admire and hope to emulate if a traveler wishes to surf on my couch.

This reminds me a lot of the Diplomacy hobby and the people in it.  So many of the people I know and care about in the hobby are incredibly generous people.  For the people that travel great distances to attend tournaments all over the country there is always a dedicated group of locals that are more than happy to entertain, give advice, and go out for drinks.  Half the time (if not more) there is an open invitation for travelers to sleep on couches or floors or spare beds for free.  My favorite part of the game is the people I meet and the friendships that I have formed.  Through it I know I can show up half-way across the USA and be taken care of and accommodated.  So in this way the community of CouchSurfers is reminiscent of the Diplomacy players around the USA and I just love that.  It excites me to know that there is more than one group of people in the world (I’m sure there are many more, I just don’t know them) who are willing to open their homes to complete strangers and take them in just as they would an old friend.

For those of you that want to travel but are restricted by cost, consider CouchSurfing.  More likely than not you can find someone to put you up for absolutely free.  On top of that, your host will probably show you around and have great advice for places to see or eat and things to do.  And on top of that, you will make a new friend in a new place.  To me, connections like these are priceless.  But really CouchSurfing is not just for those traveling on a budget, it’s for anyone who wants to experience a travel destination in a whole new way and make some friends along the way.

Alright, alright.  Enough of my proselytizing.  You get the picture.  I love CouchSurfing and I think you should all check it out if you haven’t already.  I truly believe that it is groups like these that make the world go ’round. OK, that’s all I’m gonna say. Honest…. Seriously, go check it out.

Damn!

I know I should be talking about my time in Guilin.  But really my best impression of the place is how awesome Leo was and how great I now know the community of CouchSurfers to be.  You still want an evaluation?  Alright, fine, here’s the short and sweet of it.  Guilin is a relatively small city (1 million people) with some of the best countryside I have ever seen.  It is up and coming and I feel it has a lot to offer in terms of tourist destinations and nightlife.  That being said, I enjoyed Yangshuo more because it has much more of the same beautiful scenery and it is still an out-of-the-way, sleepy little town compared to Guilin.  Yangshuo is a backpacker’s paradise while Guilin is more for the traveler who wants a bit more luxury and modernity.

That’s all I got.  Coffee in the afternoon is never a good idea.  Now I’m totally wired and I can’t think straight.  Here are some more pictures from around Guilin, I will upload the rest later.

That’s right, I climbed another mountain (3 in 3 days!). This is the view from the top of the mountain at Seven Star Park. What you are seeing is the Glory of China Square.

The temple at Seven Star Park

I was especially excited to see this, being an engineer and all-around nerd/dork/geek.  It is the largest artificial water fall in the world!  Boo-yah!  For ten minutes every night this show goes on.  Basically it’s just watching water fall down the side of a building with music, but I thought it was quite impressive.  I mean, that’s a lot of water.  The largest artificial water fall in the world is part of the, you guessed it, Waterfall Hotel.  The name gives it away, I think.

Related Posts:

1. CouchSurfing: What’s in it For Me?
2. CouchSurfing: How Do I Ensure My Safety?
3. The Dangers of CouchSurfing
4. How to Be a Good CouchSurfer
5. More Climbing in Longsheng