We are gypsy queers and monkeys, counting noodles and walking | Nomad Project

Hello! This is the nomadic group "Yu Zhoushan" , composed of Yu and Joe.

Yu's self-identity: 21st century gypsy queer, as a player, insert yourself into any self-development plot game.

Joe's self-identity: a monkey, using the inertia of his body to travel through the jungle of the world.

The behavior of "counting noodles" in the title is a game we accidentally created during our nomadic journey. The reason is that we often fail to grasp the time to eat on the road, and always put off looking for food until we are extremely hungry. It can easily lead to eating too fast and causing gastrointestinal discomfort; at the same time, because our neurodiverse brains often work too hard, we can’t stop thinking while eating, falling into sensory overload.

In order to return to eating well when eating, we suddenly thought: How about counting how many grains of rice we eat in a meal? !

However, in practice, we found that the plan of counting rice grains was too difficult for us to implement. In the end, counting noodles became a relatively feasible and unique way of meditation for us.

The Nomad Project of Yuzhou Mountain aims to naturally interact with the local place on the premise of seeing the true state of being a nomad. It is about how to face the reality before you and create stability and balance between the randomness and unknown in nomadic migration. Based on this premise, we should respond to "what is responsibility".

Our nomadism begins with questioning ourselves. This may be the biggest source of motivation for human beings to explore outwards.

Walking, writing, and keeping records have never been the purpose of nomadism, nor have they anything to do with lofty ideals, but an instinct of life.

We don’t want to turn the local residents into “the other” because when we put them in the position of “the other”, we actually put ourselves in the position of “the other”. The local residents are not our research objects or observation samples. They are our neighbors, they are you, they are us.

Therefore, we are not story collectors, but story participants and creators. We never step out of the narrative, and therefore we can share the emotion of being inside the story.

Issues are scattered all over the world, and we want to serve as a medium to convey information and love, sharing information about equality and diversity. We hope that our practice can also provide a possibility for self-care for nomads.

1.Introduce yourself

Yu:

Born in Changting, Fujian in 1996. Since 2020, he has lived a nomadic life in Fujian, Yunnan, Xinjiang, Tibet, Zhejiang and other places. He has held a performance art exhibition "Exploring the Boundaries of the Body" and written a travel diary "Wandering Rhapsody", etc. . As a Hakka, in the historical context where Yu lives, cross-border migration is almost the norm.

At the end of 2023, Yu traveled to Australia nomadically with only 300 Australian dollars in cash.

"In order to experience things beyond the plan and find a heart that conforms to the present, money is a tool rather than a purpose. I have doubts about modern values, try to re-recognize values, and explore the possibility of other values. Just imagine, if I am penniless How to play this game when you are placed in a new world when your literature and language are not fluent enough? Nomadism is never an easy thing to play. A responsible attitude is to rebuild the understanding of value (including money, etc.) towards others and yourself. Culture, identity, environment, environmental protection, health...) Nomadism originates from an ancient culture. Although the cultural characteristics of different places are different, just like the rainbow can transcend religion, country, race and social status, I believe that all ancient cultures They all tell us some of the same stories. "

Joe:

Born in Xuyi, Jiangsu in 1997, a region where "finding a stable job locally" is regarded as the highest universal value.

"My ancestors have lived in this province for generations, and I hope that my children and grandchildren will live here forever. But I left the county town when I was 12 years old, studying and working all the way... By the time I was 24, the time I had left home officially exceeded the time I had lived there. time;

In 2022, at the age of 25, out of confusion about the ambiguity between my hometown and my identity, I resigned and ran away in the summer when the lockdown in Shanghai was about to end. I said goodbye to my identity as a reporter and returned to my hometown and the streets in a magical way. Wonder - lobster sculptures in various postures are cut out, created locally, exploring the subtle identity relationship between me, lobsters, and my hometown, and published in a local journal "Crawfish GO!" .

In 2023, at the age of 26, I ran away again, traveling around the world with my lobster files. "

(((((((((About Uzuoshan))))))))

Yu(Rain) & Joe, together they are pronounced as "Yuzhou". Yuzhou is the field, and the mountain is the reality. The rainbow is the code for our gathering. Under the rainbow, we have homes in every corner of the universe.

In 2023, after Yu and Joe met in a digital nomad community in mainland China, they decided to run away together as a nomadic group "Yuzhoushan". We all left our "hometown" in the traditional sense. This trip started from Hangzhou and traveled through Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Koh Phangan, Chiang Mai and other places. Currently, Joe is temporarily returning to the mainland, and Yu is leaving To Australia. In a new round of nomadism, Yu and Joe plan to get together and run away again.

【Short film-See YOU in the mirror：】

At the end of 2023, we stand, wave, jump, eat, or remain silent in front of 23 mirrors in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. This is a slice of our relationship experiment.

2. Where do you want to go and why?

Before starting to imagine the future, I would like to share with you: What kind of records have we made in various places on the nomadic road we have traveled? Below are some excerpts.

October , Hong Kong, Hakka Village - Lai Chi Wo 

The 1.5-hour boat ride took us from Ma Liu Shui Pier to Lai Chi Wo, and we docked almost to Shenzhen. There is a section in the middle where neither signals from Hong Kong nor mainland China can be received, which still seems to reflect some special marginal attributes of this Hakka village to the two places, regardless of its location on the geographical map—— The northeastern corner of Hong Kong is still a reflection of the residents' identity as "New Territories residents" or their production method, which is dominated by family farming - if it is still measured by utilitarian and single standards.

 

Of course, it also feeds the city's imagination of "hidden villages" to a certain extent, a kind of adjustment for consumer tastes.

 

When we are there, we often feel as if we are not in Hong Kong. But in this way, what kind of picture will give people the feeling of being "in Hong Kong"? Is it the dense high-rise buildings, the swarming crowds, the speeding taxis, the financial center, the Victoria Harbor, the shopping malls, or the trolleys, night markets, and dripping air conditioners?

 

These seem to have never existed in Lai Chi Wo's history and present.

 

The "revitalization" and re-cultivation plan of Lai Chi Wo began in 2013, and the obstruction of outward movement during the epidemic pushed the flow of people from Hong Kong to a peak. The two local research books we saw in Lai Chi Wo were also born during the epidemic.

 

On the contrary, after the customs clearance between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, diners generally went north to look for food, and the business here was not as good as in previous years.

 

With the "city" as the center and the "township" as the center, the difference in perspective is likely to lead to two different narratives.

November , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

Before this trip started, I asked Yu a curious question: while we are constantly eager to leave our hometown and look for more ways out, a considerable number of Chinese people living abroad have a strong persistence or persistence in "finding their roots." , so what exactly does "root" mean? If hometown = root, then what is the "root" we are looking for and where is it?

 

The memory of meeting Sister Coe for the first time is filled with storms.

A black car parked in front of the store where we were sheltering from the rain. The cab window was rolled down. I could barely see her face through the gray water curtain. In less than half a second, a rainbow-colored umbrella was thrown forcefully. It came out, but as if it hit a wall, it bounced back and hung on the landscape tree in front of the door.

 

At this time, the problem we faced evolved from "how to get in the car quickly" to "how to get in the car quickly and successfully pick up the umbrella at the same time." For the first time, I knew that there was a kind of rain in the world that could wet me from the outside to the inside in just one second.

 

Sister Coe is like a raging tropical rain. After landing in Malaysia sixteen years ago, she first opened a massage parlor, which was quite successful for a time. At the same time, she opened a clothing store, but because she was new to the country and was not familiar with the local customs, all the goods she bought were sleeveless clothes, which was painful. She lost the Muslim market; then, she opened a milk tea shop. Due to her previous experience of being deceived because she could not understand the foreign language on the contract, she made up her mind to learn Malay and learned while she was pregnant and opened a shop. Today she had the amazing moment of seamlessly switching between Mandarin, English, Hokkien and Malay.

 

Although we are separated from her by more than ten years, we all see a certain part of ourselves in her - the part that can't rest, can't stop, has too many ideas, loves to try, and of course the part that we have never experienced - The mother of three who reorganizes her family across the ocean, longs for financial independence, and her ignited relationship with her son are all laid out in front of us in a straightforward manner.

 

After meeting several times, I added Sister Coe’s contact information. When I saw her online name was "A Life in a Foreign Country", I burst into tears for a moment. If it were just a stranger, I would probably only regard it as a kind of periodic feeling of middle age, and it would be difficult for me to have any emotions. But now we have known each other for a few days, and she is completely a rich, three-dimensional, and vivid woman, standing in my current life.

 

Women's writing is like using their bodies to intertext. In the end, we can always see the same origin in each other.

December , Thailand, Chiang Mai 

On the last day before leaving Chiang Mai, I played music in the morning and felt the rising energy while drawing lines in my notebook. I wanted to convey this flow, so I found some unused paper bags and ropes, made a super simple picture frame, and gave it to the Myanmar housekeeper sister နန်းမြအုံးပါ in the apartment. She bent over, carrying the child on her back, and took the painting with a smile.

 

Every time I see her, she is smiling. So much so that if I hadn't carefully inquired about whether her salary was sufficient for expenses and got a negative reply, I once thought she was living a good life here without any worries.

 

"Is your salary enough to cover your expenses?"

"Not like clouds," she replied, and laughed.

"I don't quite understand, what does it mean not to be like a cloud?"

"It's not enough to support my children."

So I guess it means there are many clouds in the sky, but there is very little money. The clouds are light, but the money is heavy.

 

She has been in Chiang Mai for just over a year, and I have yet to ask what brought her here.

 

In fact, during the month that Yu and I lived here, she had a lot of trouble. We either broke the access card for no reason or went to the wrong floor and couldn't open the door. Because of the language barrier, we rarely "speak", and translation software is sometimes not that easy to use, but more often than not, laughter can replace language, and we can feel the flow of kindness from the crooked eyes.

 

Sometimes I met her in the corridor. She was sweeping gently with a broom and talking on the phone with her cell phone in her trouser pocket. On the other end was her family who were still in Myanmar.

 

"Where are you going back, and where do you want to go?" Before leaving, she typed this line on the translation software and asked me.

December , Melbourne, Australia

"A Record of a Week of Nomadism in Australia with $300"

Fern & Jacob are my first official hosts. Jacob grew up in Melbourne, Fern is German, and they have a daughter, Saoirse, who is about to be two years old.

What impressed me the most was Fern's Kitchen. When I opened their tea cabinet, I saw many plants and flowers, which were also planted in their garden. We drank chamomile tea in the evening. The items in the home are all second-hand, and may have gone through a lot of time and people. They look dignified, exquisite and durable. We have the same attitude towards nature and environmental issues, so I adapted quickly to life.

Fern told me that the water used at home is rainwater. I think this must be very precious. In order to make full use of the water, the gray water after bathing will be used for irrigation. This means that all the cleaning agents used are organic, and the fruits, vegetables and Food scraps will be composted. They plant many flowers, plants, vegetables, and even fruit trees, etc., roughly practicing the lifestyle of off grid&permaculture principles & design.

I like to just lie here quietly and wait for the sunset. Every sunset, sometimes the intense sunshine leaves with heat, sometimes it is cloudy, the weather is cool, everything is wonderful, the trees, clouds, and those rare birds often pass by, Staying beside me, I lay on the grass and let the ants pass by my body, gently caressing its body away, and continued to sleep on the earth.

21:26

The weather is getting cooler as the sun sets and my feet are starting to get cold, maybe it's time for bed.

They would sing to Saoirse before getting up and eating, What a lovely family.

The next morning, I invited them to practice the Eight Parts of Vajra Kung Fu together.

Fern practiced with Saoirse behind his back, and even hummed along with the BGM in the video. Jacob said that he liked meditation very much, and practicing Qigong was also a kind of meditation.

In the evening, I gave Fern some things I had made before. At night, I stayed on the sofa and typed on the keyboard. Feeling the rare desire to output, Fern called me out while brushing his teeth, "Listen, there are many birds passing by."

"Maybe they're going home," I said.

Back to the question "Where do you want to go?"

In fact, in our previous nomadic experience, our living place was very uncertain. We might live in a mansion one day, sleep on the grass and use a dry toilet the next day, or climb up to the mountains and sleep in the host's caravan in the middle of the night. , pitching a tent in the dust.

This means that our destination may change at any time, our "home" Can be rebuilt in place at any time.

Based on the above, we hope to continue living for a while in places where we have just established connections, so Australia and Southeast Asia are still relatively certain destinations this year; but we don’t know what will happen in life and what the universe will bring, so , we also want to make some space here for random landing surprises:)

3. What are your specific nomadic plans?

Itinerary 1: Traveling to Southeast Asia: Seeing female immigrants and sexual minority immigrants on the nomadic road

Location: Thailand-Malaysia-Vietnam...

On the nomadic road, we often encounter female immigrants and sexual minority immigrants. For various reasons including themselves, work, family, children's education, intimate relationships, etc., they leave their hometown and place of birth, move to a foreign country, and intersect with us in the same time and space.

As women of socially assigned gender and members of the rainbow group in their self-identity, during our conversations we touched their unique life texture as living individuals, and aroused the perception and resonance of "I am them" in part of ourselves. I don't know. Unconsciously leaving records along the way.

Itinerary 2: A 21st Century Gypsy Queer Character Development Game

Location: Australia...

In Australia, Yu continues to explore the life and mentality of WHVer (working holiday visa holders) in mainland China, as well as the sustainable community in Australia, starting from his identity.

As a member of the WHVer from mainland China who went to Australia, Yu did not want to get involved in the wave but also found it difficult to escape. The complex interweaving of issues also prompted a rethinking of his own identity and a reconstruction of his value.

Regarding budget expenditure:

1. We advocate and practice the use of idle, natural, and recyclable materials to complete works to minimize consumption and pollution, but there are still expenses for purchasing some basic tools - such as the camera we regretted losing during the last journey:)

2. Normally, we will use low-cost methods such as changing accommodation, camping, and sleeping outdoors to solve the accommodation problem and create opportunities for contact with local people and nature. However, there are still some occasions where accommodation fees may be required;

3. Hiking, hitchhiking, and cycling are our preferred modes of travel, but due to the uncertainty of physical strength, environment, and some necessary transportation expenses incurred during long-distance travel, some sponsorship support is still needed.

Total duration: about 3 months

Total budget: about 20,000 RMB

4. If possible, how would you like to interact with the local area?

·Live in a local way as much as possible to reduce the intrusion of outsiders into the environment

·Use skills exchange to get deeper into their lives, such as sharing housework, cooking food, and helping with photography

·Record with multiple media (text, video, sound, handicraft & more media to be expanded)

·Use labor and creation to give back to the place and local people

For example, from a recent nomadic experience:

In Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, I cook together with my Indonesian sister Kollyn who lives at home and learn to cook Malay food——

I also invited my sister to write about herself and her immigration experience in her native language——

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we live with the sisters who immigrated from China, participate in their preparation process of starting a business, and provide support with our photography skills——

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, I invited the housekeeper sister from Myanmar to write about her self-introduction and migration experience in Burmese——

I often go to a vegetarian restaurant near my home. The friendly but shy clerk gave us an extra meal on Buddha Day. She usually surprises us with extra dishes. Before we left, we gave her a painting in return——

We went to the indigenous farmer’s market to buy vegetables. The nomadic local life begins with getting familiar with local planting——

In Chiang Mai, learn weaving from traditional craftsmen——

At the host’s home in Australia, we repair lawns and build houses together——

⋯⋯

5. How do you plan to document the entire trip?

A paper physical publication & a documentary, roughly containing the following contents:

a. We invite nomads and new friends we meet on the nomadic journey to write about themselves in their native language . It usually starts with a self-introduction and then goes to the time, trajectory and experience of their migration. Although the translation process has been added, we still hope to retain the most natural way of expression in the native language. So it will be a multilingual publication , richer depending on how many people of different language backgrounds we meet along the way. We hope to cover as many languages ​​as possible so that readers from different cultural backgrounds can see as many familiar texts as possible to connect with a more diverse group of people.

b. Combined with the conversations that took place on the road, we present them through interviews, photography, and writing thematic texts based on environmental conditions and personal wishes.

c. Creation without graffiti is not worth doing! ——About Us——The self-confession and relational practice of two nomads.

·This part contains our diaries, letters, paintings, and various seemingly nonsensical graffiti... As living individuals living in the world at this moment, we believe that we can truly present the state of the nomads themselves and truly record their emotions, Contradictions and conflicts are necessary . This is responsible for oneself and for the local area. Amidst the instability and changes brought about by nomadism, migration and running around, only by taking good care of your own heart and facing each state head-on can you have more energy to open up to the world and have broader interactions.

Of course, we hope and expect that the actual form will not be limited to this.

All actions are conversations. Dialogue between us and local residents, nomads and nomads, us and us, nature and people, reality and illusion... the dialogue is more than language. It is the never-ending interlacing and transmission, shuttle and stay of information, and the information is love. There are moments when we lose words but still let the love flow.

[If you have emotions, draw them; if you have dialogues, write them down]

[On the plane, I saw the scene of healing and tinnitus happening at the same time:]

[Yu’s birthday, picture letter from Joe:]

[What is the distance between nomadism and wandering? The diary records interesting and incredible things:]

"Two Days Staying at King's Park Park"

twelve o'clock in the morning

"I suggest that we each choose a road to meet on the top of the mountain." However, such a suggestion is not very convincing in a strange and secluded place late at night.

We climbed up a staircase with no end in sight. The steps were very steep. After a few days of walking and old illnesses, my waist and knees were no longer strong. Although I almost guessed that this staircase was difficult, it seemed that both I personally have no intention of giving in. But Joe, who was holding my suitcase for me, walked up about 50 steps and was so tired that he couldn’t help but stop and deliberately wanted to change the route. And I was so sleepy that I slumped down on the steps, probably because I had already walked a lot of steps and didn’t want to have to do it again, and I couldn’t decide whether another route would be flatter and more suitable.

The two of us just looked at each other, trying to soften each other with our only eyes, but our stubbornness prevented us from coming to a conclusion.

I felt funny and tried to break out of the deadlock. Joe struggled to pull me up and get some rest. Just before I decided to speak, I vaguely saw someone coming down the stairs, and I planned to ask him about the situation of the stairs first.

…………

At five o'clock in the morning, the number of people slowly started to increase, so I had to actively transition back in my sleep. Gradually, I could hear greetings everywhere. I asked where the toilet was, and learned that I still had to climb half of the stairs to the center of the park. The uncles and aunts were very enthusiastic and gave us guidance as we walked on the road. At first, one of the aunts waved to us and said "morning" with a smile. We found that they all seemed to say hi enthusiastically, so we also began to relax, smiling and nodding when meeting people, or "In the morning", I wandered in the park and felt the human touch of Hong Kong. This may be an unexpected experience.

…………

At 11:34 pm we were locked in the public toilet.

The closing time of the public toilet was 11:30 pm, and the cleaning lady locked the door without checking the door again. We were at an impasse. The toilet was warm and not subject to the wind, but the feeling of being locked made me full of discomfort and tried to escape.

Joe opened his mobile phone to search for cracking methods, took out a paper clip and followed the steps in the tutorial to break it into the desired shape. After struggling for more than ten minutes with no conclusion, he felt like he wanted to give up but was unwilling to give up. I endured the fatigue and squeezed The thumb and index finger, which were red from pressure, repeatedly twisted at subtle angles - "Pop!"

The lock opened in just a moment.

【Extra】

Some of our conversations when we saw the Nomads planning to recruit:

*Yu: -Because I don’t think it’s for making money in a nomadic way (like some self-media that consumes local and themed content). I feel that I am a nomad myself, the result of my self-perception, my Hakka family background, and my own growing environment. The purpose is to use Nomad Collision and Link Reality, which is indeed okay if that's called responsible. The focus of my nomadic life is to be close to nature (real, not to check in) Plants (locally grown and eaten) Food (this will be reflected in the plants) People (this is also a very important part, what kind of people do you know locally) It largely determines what you learn about the local area).

*Joe: Yes. I think this is very important. Whether you want to use this identity to make money, or whether you want to create with different places and people during the nomadic process, will largely affect every daily choice and shape this place. For example, what kind of restaurant you eat at, what kind of people you interact with, what may seem like small daily details are actually the fluttering of a butterfly's wings.

*Yu: -Another point is that nomadicism is also a part of spiritual practice for me, (ie Tang Sanzang, and many similar people were originally traveling... This has existed since ancient times.

-Maybe more of the mission is to connect the world and resonate information through nomadism.

-The message is love.

*Joe: Those forces that block the flow of information-love are the ones we despise and want to pierce and break. The output of more languages ​​is a practical solution, and of course there are also parts beyond languages ​​that can cross high walls.

*Yu: Not everyone can successfully find their identity, sense of belonging and life direction. I just walk step by step on this road. The confusion I carry is as heavy as my luggage, and I often fall into a trap. Big root. The nomadic wandering of wandering and belonging seems to be endless on the surface of the earth, and such a weak but solid process is like hiking. You must constantly feel the contact between your heart and the world during the process, not for meaning. , but no longer clinging to meaning. At the same time, you will know that the way you respect nomadism must also respect nature.

Thank you for reading this plan and accompanying us to experience the nomadic time in the past again. If some of the clips resonate with you in the slightest, we would really appreciate it!

Here, Yu and Joe also sincerely make a request: Yuzhoushan needs your support!

This is precious to us and we are about to take your love with us and keep walking. Between the mountains, after the rain, a rainbow appears in the universe.