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Looking like someone out of the Flintstones, 38-year-old Liu Lingchao is the human equivalent of a real-life human snail, carrying his 132 pound (60 kilogram) house, made of bamboo poles and plastic sheets, on his back as he travels throughout China. A veritable travelling salesmen, he earns money for food and supplies by collecting plastic bottles and metal cans along his route that he sells when he passes through a new Chinese city along his way.
Lingchao has thus far gone through three such portable shelters. The one he carries around now measures 5-feet wide (1.5 meters) and stands 7.2 feet (2.2 meters) high. Inside the shelter, he has a padded horizontal bar that rests upon his shoulders while carrying the home on his back. As far as the comforts of home, his waterproof “snail shell” includes portable bedding, shelves for storage, a portable stove for cooking and heat, and promises a wonderful view that he chooses each time he sets his shelter on the ground. So far he has traveled 250 miles with his mobile home on his back.
According to Mr. Lingchao:
“I can move anywhere I want to go. It’s an easy decision. It saves me a lot of money on the journey. I feel free, I can go wherever I want to go, and I live on my own.”
