After I graduated from college, I spent a few months bumming around China. It was a super fun and confusing (mostly confusing) time in my life, and once I figured out that A) Mandarin was super difficult, B) teaching kids English sucked really hard and C) I could only eat noodles so many hours of the day, this was when I started to write.
And once I heard that somebody made a video of their beard growth while spending a year walking across China...well, let's just say it spoke to me. Because I too grew a beard in China, and spent a good deal of time walking. Granted, this walking usually occurred when I got lost trying to find the subway, but I still feel like me and this dude have some kind of spiritual kinship.