Let me talk about a travel friend, a Singaporean whose zodiac sign is older than mine. I will call him S here. He came to Sichuan, China from Singapore many years ago to do business in Chinese medicinal materials. Later he backpacked around many countries and met his current wife at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I was traveling with a Japanese girl at the time. I don’t know exactly how we met, but we met at Angkor Wat. Thinking about the sunset at Angkor Wat, it should be quite romantic. I also traveled to Cambodia that year, and then traveled to many places together, and then settled down in Chengdu. After a trip, a person has to find his next goal and something to do. It was around 2003, and Chengdu at that time was very different from now. The pace of life was slow, and the streets and alleys were full of fireworks. The two of them walked around in this idle city, thinking about what to do, and finally decided to open a youth hostel together so that both of them had something to do. It was a perfect idea.
The next step is to find a place and property, a small building with a yard suitable for running a youth hostel. S rides a bicycle around the streets and alleys of Chengdu every day. It is difficult to find a property suitable for a youth hostel. Most of the youth hostel owners are idealistic people with artistic temperament and stories (or people who have had accidents 😂). It is really difficult to work in this business, and no one with a bit of reality will know how to work in a youth hostel. After searching for two months, I finally found a small building with two buildings with a long courtyard. It was not the current place. They later moved, but I liked the building they rented before. It was neither big nor small. It was very comfortable to live in. Wenshu Monastery was next to it when I went out. That was in 2004. At that time, the alleys around Wenshu Monastery were full of fireworks, with teahouses, snacks, small movie halls, earplugs, storytellers, mahjong, antiques, calligraphy and painting, and everything related to life. It was just not as fancy as it is now. It was more down-to-earth at that time, and it was fun to walk around.
The next step is decoration, which is very hard. It is very hard to decorate a home with less than 100 square meters. Not to mention two buildings and a yard. I can't understand the details without going through them. It is hard work for sure. He has traveled for many years. After paying the rent for two years and paying the deposit, there is really not much left. With limited funds, decoration is even more tiring. It is tiring. I save everything I can, but save money and worry.