After getting off the plane, this strange land did not excite me at all, but instead there was an inexplicable nervousness, the cold wind blew the people who were anxious, I used my broken English to find the hotel that Amy had booked for me, and then met the person who had booked the hotel for me, but refused to go to the airport to pick me up.

Tall and thin is his first impression on me, the first time we met, I smiled politely with this British overseas Chinese, and then chatted, in the awkward chat, I learned that his name is Chinese Dai Le, a clothing designer, as Amy said, he does feel different from ordinary people, a mature man in his 30s, with a small beard, a casual blue suit, with a beige top hat, neat and not sloppy, that kind of temperament I can't describe.

After a short break, I didn't rush to check in and asked Dai Le, "Do you know where there are youth hostels around here?" ”

"Occupational disease?"

"Probably! Personally, I think that youth hostels all over the world have a common characteristic, they are all passers-by, and they are lonely and bored living in this hotel. ”

"Is that really your personal opinion, how many friends are you planning to make in the UK?"

"Who do you think I can talk to in English?"

Dai Le shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant expression.

……

While waiting for the subway, I wanted to understand what life feels like here as soon as possible, and Dai Le explained to me: "The hostel market in London is a bit weird, there are a lot of cheap hostels in the best parts of the city center, but the environment is very scary: a narrow room is crowded with a dozen iron beds, a small window lets in a little light, and I'm really scared to live a few times, so I'm going to change places for you." ”

"So where are we going this time?"

"I chose the boundary a little farther away from the north of the city, the subway is directly connected, and the traffic is quite convenient."

I nodded, yes, hesitated for a long time, wondering in my heart that since he was Amy's friend, would he know Li Shi?

I didn't dare to ask this question abruptly before I knew him, if he was a friend of Li Shi, he would probably know what happened to Li Shi in China, and my sloppiness might attract his disgust, which may eventually lead to a failure.

After almost an hour's drive, we arrived at our destination, and the hostel was in a brick-red Victorian mansion, which was already cool.

After some English exchange with Dai Le, the owner led us through the huge hall and up the wooden staircase with carved columns, the floor, beds and closets were dark wood, the floor was covered with crimson short pile carpets, the bed curtains of the same color were hung, and the toilets were also huge.

The store manager led the way in front and briefly introduced the attractions, and I deliberately slowed down my pace with Dai Le and communicated privately, and Dai Le asked me, "Are you still satisfied?" ”

"This is really pretty good, thank you for bothering!"

"You're Amy's friend, and I'm supposed to help you, it's far from the tourist area, and the north of London is quiet and affluent, and I remember once wandering around and breaking into a middle-class neighborhood, with big trees and shrubs trimmed and pale carved classical mansions along the way, and the buildings were so beautiful that they looked like another world."

"You see you're quite rich, and you've stayed in a hostel?"

"Does staying in a hostel have anything to do with whether you have money or not? Could it be that this is how you know about hostels? ”

I shook my head and said, "My perception of the hostel is from strangeness to intersection and then to parting. I once chatted with a stranger in the hostel until about two or three o'clock, and then went back to the house to sleep. When I woke up, I never saw each other again, and I didn't know each other's names. This is probably one of the characteristics of the hostel: don't ask where you come from, don't explore the way. Some are just the moment, and we are familiar with them just because the timing and ourselves are. ”

"Aren't you lonely when you go out to play alone?"

"Sometimes, but the hostel is like a short home, and whenever you go out and come home, someone will greet you. Like me in China, I can also ask someone to eat hot pot in Chongqing, find roommates to be photographers in Xining, eat and eat together, kill the three kingdoms under the stars together in Qinghai Lake, watch the sunrise together, find someone to eat snail lion noodles and eat seafood barbecue in Beihai, buy a big watermelon in Lhasa and laugh and laugh while watching Kuaiben in the living room The loneliness of the journey will not be melted away, and I will meet a lot of interesting strangers, which is also my biggest gain in the tourism industry, and I am not here to play, but to find people......

"There are so many fun places in the country, I haven't been back for a long time, and there doesn't seem to be much to touch you here."

"Personally, I think that the hostel is a little human touch from time to time on the fireworks. At the hostel you just need to experience, not plan. There are many reasons to choose to stay in a youth hostel, including convenience, low price, and rough and exciting things. ”

"It's really unbelievable!"

"Typical examples: Tibet and Lijiang. If you haven't stayed, you'll be nervous and excited about the first night at a hostel, but nothing happens the next morning. Or maybe you see and hear how beautiful the hostel is elsewhere, and choose a multi-person room, before you find out the environment, you put things outside, and when you get up in the morning, except for the underwear you wear, there may only be people left......"

"So exaggerated?"

"No, don't talk about it, most of the time you don't know how to communicate or don't want to communicate. If you are lucky enough to meet someone who can play the guitar, it is best to have a calm face, and there may be a story of vicissitudes below. Some of them are mixed, and most of them like to live together, and if you are unlucky, you will go in absolutely all kinds of shoes and feet, and walk so many roads, it is considered light. If the people who live together have similar interests, no matter how bragging they are, they will sit next to the people who look good, and the people next to them are likely to take advantage of the situation to hook up if they are sleepy. No matter how much you want to see it when you add WeChat to leave a phone, you can take it away with a wave of your hand at the end. ”

Dai Le was excited by my topic, and for the first time after meeting, he took the initiative to take out a cigarette and threw it to me: "Tell me something funny, I want to laugh." ”

"Once I met a thing, I once ate half a pack of words Mei on the bed, came back and disappeared, so I shouted to jump off the building to commit suicide, in fact, the so-called building is a bungalow, everyone held back and didn't laugh. I wanted to get up in the middle of the night to look at the stars, but I didn't see the stars, only grinding my teeth and snoring one after another, which was very rhythmic, and I couldn't help but shake my legs...... At night I heard the sound of my ribcage passing through the thin wall of the old house, and when I got up and turned on the light, I was horrified to find: Damn, there is a super large Xiaoqiang on the ground, and this is not the point, after killing the first one, the second one appeared...... I grabbed one and interrogated it for a long time, Nima, are you moving? If the girl is estimated to hold the quilt and open her eyes all night...... There are also routines, if someone knocks on the door in the middle of the night and asks me if I want supper, I will be very nervous, this person is afraid that he will take a fancy to me...... The wallet is ......"

Dai Le listened quite attentively, and the cold form he was holding before also opened up a lot with the topic.

During the conversation, a few foreign girls who passed by the door of the hostel room saw the slender Dai Le standing by the bed affectionately, and couldn't help but cover their mouths and sigh, it seems that really know no borders, but Dai Le seems to be accustomed to other people's praise, and then talked to me: "You should be quite familiar with various places in China, right?" ”

"It's not all very familiar, some places have no mobile phones, you have to find a kind passer-by to ask for directions, because of this I met a kind sister, when I asked her a bar, the other party didn't know how to go. She said you wait, and then immediately called a friend to ask, I said no, it's too troublesome for you, she said no, so that next time someone asks me, or I'm going, I know how to go. No, it's still a lot of good people! ”

Dai Le's expression was a little complicated, and after a long time, he flicked off the cigarette ash in his hand and replied with some confusion: "Personally, I don't think the hostel is as literary as you say." ”

"It is undeniable that the unexpected story of the hostel has indeed invisibly lowered the compulsion of travelers. A lot of people have a certain amount of income security, and they probably don't want to live with a 20-year-old furry kid and experience that rough thrill, because that's when you want to really travel. ”

Dai Le looked at me and smiled, finally realizing that there was no point in continuing this topic with me, and then fell into silence, and suddenly remembered something, and asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?" ”

I exhaled heavily, as if releasing the pressure on my body, and said to him: "Do you think any girl like me will take a fancy to me, squatting in the corner of the hostel in winter when the crowds are surging, missing the girl I love, although it is a little frustrating......"

Dai Le smiled meaningfully, but didn't say anything, but I was telling the truth: I still see that the girls I like can be a little shy, and I feel sorry for the girls around me who work just as hard as I do, especially when they smile at themselves. Walking at night with a girl like Li Shi, you will feel two hearts sparkling. When I was young, I was restless, I wanted to have sex, I wanted to travel through the world, but now I can live everywhere, occasionally have wine in my glass, my knuckles are strong, and I sleep in a crunchy bed......

I often tell myself: There are so many beautiful things in this world, what should I do, with your hoarse singing, there are bad times in the world, and in the end, my back falls and my face is full of stubble......

Chatting and chatting, Dai Le answered the phone, did not continue to chat with me, told me that after rushing to meet a customer, he left in a hurry, and I habitually lost my mind for a while, and finally found the mobile phone from the bag, and then sent a friend, telling my friend that I was all safe, and finally I couldn't help but send Li Shi a location to share, hoping that she could see it.

After Dai Le left, I went to the front desk to buy a few bottles of beer, ate the snacks I brought, poured myself a full glass and drank it all, the jet lag made me feel no sleepy, looking through the window at the city at night, empty and quiet, and the Li Shi I thought of was in every corner of this land......