STREET TALK

When it comes to traveling， there’s no shame in being an ass. For thousands of years， donkeys have served as our load-bearing companions， but these days， there’s a new Eeyore on the scene: the Chinese 驢友(l(y6u)， literally “donkey friend.”Originally coined on a Sina traveling forum， 驢友 is a pun on the homonym 旅游 (l)y5u， travel)， and can refer either to hardy travel geeks of the Lonely Planet variety， or simply to travel companions. For instance， you might introduce a travel-loving friend by saying，“Old Wang is a hardcore traveler”(老王可是一個地道的驢友 L2o W1ng k0 sh# y! g- d#dao de l(y6u) It can also be used in reference to travel companions: “On the road， we can meet a lot of fellow travelers!” (一路上，我們能結識不少驢友呢！Y!l sh3ng， w6men n9ng ji9sh! bsh2o l(y6u ne!)驢 has also spawned a number of related terms. 驢圈 (l(qu`n) refers to a group of budget travelers， which includes a hierarchy of donkeys: there’s the veteran “leader donkey” (掌門驢 zh2ngm9nl(); the route-savvy “way-directing donkey”(識途驢 sh!t%l(); the loquacious“donkey mouth” (驢嘴 l(zu@); and finally the “color donkey” (色驢 s-l() who， far from hiking in a rainbow suit， is simply a great travel photographer. - hu yIjun (胡逸君)