Messenger Pan Nabai

By Zi Li

Messenger Pan Nabai

By Zi Li

Seasoned traveler Pan Nabai drove across the Eurasia immensity to play his role as the “G20 Hangzhou messenger”， bringing the “Hangzhou temperature” to 30 countries.

沙發客展示杭州西湖書簽。Two couchsurfers show off West Lake bookmarkers.

It is the dream of many people to travel around the world. A round-the-world tour is also the dream of Pan Nabai. The only difference between these armchair dreamers and Pan is， for the 31-year-old， the dream is woven into his everyday life. He has traveled in more than 100 countries over the past few years.

Born in Hangzhou， Pan Nabai spent several years studying in the UK. Back in China， he quit his nine-tofive office job to pursue freedom， running his online shop and enjoying couchsurfng. The part-time host of TV travel programs and hotel test sleeper spends most of his time traveling， and in his most recent Eurasian expedition he played a new role as a “Hangzhou envoy”.

“I should say the opportunity came as a windfall，” Pan answered with a big smile， when asked what it was that connected him with G20.

Encouraged by his friends， Pan Nabai signed up for the Hangzhou Ambassador qualifcation trials organized by Hangzhou Overseas Chinese Federation and a student community in Hangzhou. Pan's G20 Eurasia plan， based on his traveling experiences in many of the G20 member countries， impressed the jury.

On July 13， 2016， Pan Nabai set off from Kashgar in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on his Eurasian adventure to share the“Hangzhou elements” with the Eurasian audience.

“Before I can afford to see more about the world， at least I can bring the world closer to me.” To build more connectivity with the unknown world， Pan Nabai registered with Couchsurfng.com to invite foreigners to stay in his place in Hangzhou. Over the past seven years， Pan's couch has served more than 600 couchsurfers from over 100 countries. Seeing the ever-increasing demand， Pan turned his workshop into a space that can sleep more than 20 people. One of his guests is a man from Poland， who stayed in Pan's place several times and fell so in love with Hangzhou that he rented a place for himself and settle down in the city.

During his Eurasian tour， Pan Nabai enjoyed an exciting reunion with his former guests from Paris. When in Paris， Pan Nabai had a good time with Remi， who is from China's Chaoshan， and his four friends. Five years ago， the gang stayed in Pan's place when traveling in Hangzhou.

“Hangzhou is continuously drawing its new legion of fans globally，” Pan Nabai shared. “Surprisingly， many people in France， the UK， Italy and many other smaller countries know about the city and the 2016 G20 summit，” Pan recalled with noticeable pride.

“The local cuisine and scenic wonders aside， foreigners are particularly interested in the Hangzhou lifestyle， as I noticed when talking to my couchsurfng friends in Iran，” Pan Nabai explained.

“Many people I talked to told me that it is hard for them to imagine how China's e-business innovation is reaching the everyday life of the majority of such a huge population. It is not easy for people in many countries where credit card remains a dominant payment solution to envision a life that is made so easy by a mobile phone and the almighty Alipay.”

“A guy in German shared with me his ‘no cash' life of a day he spent in Hangzhou and told me how he was impressed with the city's ‘e-lifestyle'”.

In fact， statistics show the magic of Alipay is benefting all aspects of the life of a growing number of foreign residents in China and Alipay is the favorite payment solution among the country's expats community.

（Photos by Zhong Bin）