2005 China Navigation Challenge

Ryan Petersen shares a story about moving to China in 2005 and experiencing adventure before smartphones made international travel easier.

"It was 2005, China was clearly booming and seemed like the future. I was working for my brother at our scooter company, buying dirt bikes and off-road vehicles. We were buying everything from China, but no one had actually been there. During college, I lived in South America - Chile and Brazil - and learned Spanish and Portuguese, so I thought if anyone could learn Chinese, I probably could.

I saved up money and just moved there. I didn't have an exit plan - I was just going to learn Chinese, learn about Chinese culture, history, and economics. This was pre-iPhone, so it was pretty adventurous. I didn't have GPS in my pocket or translation apps. I just had to figure stuff out walking around, asking people for directions and hoping they'd be nice to me, which they were.

I once rode my bicycle from China to Vietnam with no map - well, the map we had was all wrong, which is worse than no map. We just had to figure it out, sometimes sleeping at people's houses. It was old school adventure.

Now it's different - you show up in China, you call Didi, you've got Google Translate, you've got maps, translation apps. It's a little too easy now."