Saddling up for adventure

To overcome long hours of boredom, Yue started posting videos on Douyin, a popular Chinese short-video platform. Soon, videos of the pair went viral online. Now he has won more than 10,000 followers.

"I never expected that I would be known by the public," says Yue, adding that after graduating from Chongqing Technology and Business University in 2016, he worked and started a business in the city but didn't feel fulfilled. His primary goal was to simply steel himself through a tough journey, for he used to be sluggish and lacked perseverance.

Yue says he usually started off at 9:30 am and rode eight to 10 hours per day. But sometimes it took longer to reach an inhabited place where he could pitch a tent for the night and where there was grass on which Hotpot could graze.

Most nights were spent in the wild－except for a few occasions on which they stayed overnight on a farm or at an inn.

Yue says he enjoyed the hardships, learning to make it through rain or snow.

Once, to help Hotpot recover from a sore on his back, Yue himself carried the luggage, which weighed more than 20 kilograms, and led the horse for more than 1,500 km－nearly 40 km per day. He suffered nerve damage in his inner thighs and feet in the process.

"Hotpot has a free spirit, and so do I," Yue says.

After a more than one month's reunion with his family for the Chinese Lunar New Year at home, on March 8, the relentless young man set off again with his loyal friend, Hotpot, on a planned journey of more than 2,500 km from Yunyang county in Chongqing to Shangri-La, Yunnan.