In the West, many people may take an "international working holiday" in which they spend a year traveling and doing volunteer work at the same time. This period is called a gap year. In China, the idea of a "gap year" is a new concept. But a recently published book entitled "The Late Gap Year" has been getting a lot of attention. Sun Dongchun, the author, tells about his experiences during his gap-year trip. His stories have touched many people who also want to take such a trip.

Cover of "The Late Gap Year" [Photo: cribeyondbeijing.com]

       

"After a year's trip, the world was the same, but I had changed." This is a sentence from Sun Dongchun's book "The Late Gap Year."

Before 2006, Sun had no idea about what a gap year was. At the time, he had a fairly good job related to urban gardening in Guangzhou. A book given to him by a friend introduced him to the idea of "gap year".

"A friend of mine gave me a book called 'The Gap Year', and that was the first time I had heard about it. The idea of traveling combined with volunteering was very new to me. And I felt an urge to do such a trip. Although there were many things that were difficult to quit such as my job, I knew if I didn't do it, I would definitely regret it."

With plenty of travel experience, Sun first only wanted to make a short gap-year trip. After he got a three-month leave from his company, he planned to spend two months doing volunteer work in India and one month visiting Tibet. With about 20 thousand yuan, or about 3,000 U.S. dollars, in savings, Sun started his trip by hiking with his best friend.

But after they arrived in Bangkok, Sun's friend suddenly decided to return home. Even worse, Sun found that he could not get cash from the ATM because the money in his bank account was in yuan and not U.S. dollars. He asked for help from friends in China, but had to wait two weeks before the problem was resolved.

"I felt very chagrined at that time. I had already got an offer from an Indian AIDS NGO before I set out. But because of my delay in Thailand, I could not arrive there on time. Without the volunteer work, my trip would lose the most important part. Also, I was depressed about my friend leaving."

Because of a lack of money, Sun had to change his plans and travel on the cheap. He met many people as he traveled from Thailand to Laos and then to Burma, but felt lost.

"After I lost the chance of doing volunteer work at the Indian NGO, I gradually felt my trip was pointless. I didn't know where to go, but only kept on walking without any plans. It was hard to find volunteer work in Laos or Burma. But without volunteering, my trip could not really be called a gap year, so I decided to go to India."

When he arrived in India, Sun had already used up his three-month leave from his company. He wrote an e-mail to his manager to inform him that he would not return to work, but continue traveling.

Fortunately, he soon found a volunteer position in a branch of Mother Teresa's House in Calcutta. At the end of his job interview, a nun named Salina said: "We don't need your help, but you need to be here."

When he recalls this experience, Sun says he believes the nun's words made him decide to quit his job and stay in Calcutta. He says volunteering changed him even more.

"I have done three volunteer jobs in India, mostly in rest homes. My job was to help the elderly with their daily tasks. When I was there, I saw a lot of disease and death everyday. In this process, I started to ask myself what the meaning of life was. Working with volunteers from across the world, we showed our love and care for each other. I felt I had been reborn, and found the real value of my life."

When asked about his understanding of the meaning of life, Sun summed it up in a single word.

"Love. To live with love. To love the people around you, and help those who need help. To love this society and love this world. I think the world will become more beautiful if people can show a lot of love for each other."

When Sun finally finished his gap year, he had been on the road for 13 months. During the trip, he posted his experiences on his blog. The fascinating and touching stories received great responses from netizens. The stories were later published in a book entitled "The Late Gap Year." It was selected as the best publication of the year at the China Outdoor Golden Rhino Awards in February.

During his gap-year trip, Sun met a young Japanese woman named Sayaka, who later became his wife. Because Sayaka has a three-year contract with the Japanese Red Cross, Sun now teaches Chinese in Japan so they can be together.

But Sun says he still plans to go somewhere else to see more of the world. For him, life has unlimited possibilities.