Internet 楠茜在以明信片的形式出售海外旅行记录

Sending postcards back home while traveling abroad is usually merely an afterthought to exploring the sights and sounds of your new destination. For Ou Nanxi, however, it`s a living.

你出国旅行时，通常只是会把自己在新地方的所见所闻写在明信片上然后寄回国，而对于欧楠茜（音译）来说，这可是生财之道。

Since posting an advertisement on taobao.com, one of China`s major e-commerce platforms, on January 18 pitching the chronicles of her travels abroad – in the form of postcards – to interested buyers for 20 yuan ($3) a pop, Ou, a 25-year-old employee of an Internet company in Haikou, Hainan Province, has scored 147 takers. Setting out over this past Spring Festival holiday to Vietnam, she found herself sharing her travel dreams with people from all over China.

欧楠茜今年25岁，在海南省海口市一家网络公司工作。自从1月18日，楠茜在淘宝网上登出广告，以明信片的形式出售海外旅行记录以来，每张明信片卖20元（合3美元），已经吸引了147位买家。春节期间，楠茜踏上了前往越南的旅途，她发现，许多中国人跟她一样都怀有旅行的梦想。

Romantic flying dart

掷飞镖

Ou`s story began with nothing more complicated than a desire to see the world and a single flying dart – her preferred method for choosing her destination.

楠茜的故事开始时很简单，她只想环游世界。她喜欢用掷飞镖的办法决定旅行的目的地。

"Using a dart to choose where I want to go is such a romantic idea," Ou said. "I like the feeling of spontaneity and possibility from being on the road."

楠茜说：“通过掷飞镖决定去哪儿，这个方法太浪漫了。我喜欢在旅途中获得这种自发探索未知世界的感觉。”

Dedicated

实践梦想

Ou`s touch down in Vietnam on January 26 was the first time she`d stepped foot out of China. She said that in the past while traveling around China, she has maintained a habit of sending postcards to herself, but that she`d quickly lose them while moving residences.

1月26日，楠茜抵达越南，这是她第一次走出国门。她说，以前在国内旅游的时候，她一直有寄明信片的习惯，但是搬家之后那些明信片就都丢了。

"But I found that my friends always kept the ones I sent to them," she said. "I know they`re more than just pieces of paper – they`re documents of a very special place, time and relationship in your life."

“可是我发现，朋友们总是珍藏着我寄给他们的明信片。我知道，它们不仅仅是一张张小纸片，它们记录了你生命中出现过的特别的地点、时间和关系。”

Making her way through Vietnam, she made sure to seek out a post office in every city she visited and allotted enough quiet time to compose a kind message to every postcard seeker she was in contact with.

在越南旅行时，每到一个城市她就一定要找到邮局，花一定的时间静静地给买家写温馨的明信片。

"Most people asked me to address the postcards to their loved ones," she said.

她说：“大部分明信片都是寄给恋人的。”

Due to serendipitous timing, most of Ou`s postcards arrived around Valentine`s Day.

因为时间巧合，楠茜的明信片大都在情人节前后寄到。

"For girls this was an absolutely priceless present," she said.

她说：“对女孩们来说，这真是一件珍贵的礼物。”

One man in Zhuzhou, Hunan Province asked Ou to send a postcard to his son, who is still too young to read.

湖南株洲的一位父亲希望楠茜给自己那个太小还不识字的儿子寄张明信片。

Another contact asked Ou to write a letter of appreciation for his wife, with whom the man had recently been arguing, with the words "Thank you for sticking with me through all the hardships without any complaints" on it. This postcard in particular, Ou said, helped her realize the gravity of her task.

还有位买家让楠茜给刚和自己拌过嘴的妻子写封感谢信。上面附有“谢谢你能一直毫无怨言地与我风雨同舟、不离不弃”的话语。楠茜说，正是这张明信片让她意识到，自己这项任务有多么重要。

A valuable path

有价值的旅行

Ou`s travels weren`t without her share of difficulties, though. In 2008 she was diagnosed with Sjgren`s syndrome. Enduring a strong flare-up at one point during the trip, Ou said she was lucky enough to stumble upon a US medical school student, who helped Ou recover through her pain and discomfort and was in turn inspired by Ou`s resolve to seek adventure despite her disability.

不过，楠茜旅行中也并非是一帆风顺的。2008年，她被确诊为肖格伦综合症（一种自身免疫性疾病，症状包括口、眼等器官干燥）。旅行中，病情突然发作，但是楠茜说她很幸运，碰到了一个学医的美国学生，通过他的帮助，楠茜摆脱了疼痛和不适，恢复了健康。反过来，楠茜带病渴望探险的意志力也鼓舞了他。

Ou said her journey was so exciting that she can`t wait to hit the road again.

楠茜说，旅行让人兴奋，她又迫不及待准备动身了。

"I`m not done selling dreams – I`m thinking about India for my next destination," she said.

她说：“我还会继续出售梦想——我正在考虑把印度作为我的下一个目的地。”