Beijingers hitchhike to Berlin

Gu Yue and Liu Chang hitchhiked from Beijing to Berlin last year in order to visit Gu's German girlfriend. The pair caught 88 rides in 13 countries in the more than 100 days they spent on the road and, as they went, made a 16-episode documentary series, To Berlin By Thumb, which is currently airing on the Travel Channel.

"If you really want to do something, the whole world will help you," the pair, both in their thirties, say in series, a message that rings true as they experience hospitality across Central Asia and the Middle East.

Liu acts as the cameraman while Gu is the series' protagonist. Netizens described the journey as the "most romantic hitchhiking trip ever," but Gu said he was inspired by American writer Jack Kerouac‘s On The Road. The film series is possibly China's first ever television road trip documentary.

The series, and trip, began on drizzly day last June at Houhai. In what Gu calls the most difficult part of the journey, they struggled to find a lift out of Beijing into Hebei province.