An Extraordinarily Special Trip to China

[semrich]

I’m not sure if I’ve picked the correct thread to post this, but I’m taking a guess at it because it is a story concerning a new friend, Julian Wong and relates to a lexicon terms I find throughout a wide variety of threads I encounter amongst the multitude of forums at RFF, I thought it would be okay to go ahead and post this here.

I first met Julian 3 weeks ago, (he is a family friend of a friend who was visiting us), when he arrived on his way through Istanbul. His story is about, travel, people, places, losses and hardships. It is a documentary, with photos, videos, a blog, bicycle, bags and a camera. We met as he rolled in on his bicycle, following some landmarks and directions I gave him, after he called using a borrowed cell phone, an amazing feat considering the vast urban sprawl of the convoluted streets of Istanbul, a city spread across 2 continents.

He has been on the road for a year, cycled from California to Florida, flew to Norway, cycled to Istanbul, and will continue to China. His blog, “Last Trip With Baba”, documents his pilgrimage to return his fathers ashes to China, the “About” page and video explains it well, and can be found here: http://pilgrimsandashes.com/contact/about/

I’ve had the pleasure of spending time walking with Julian all over Istanbul, while waiting for new wheels to arrive for “Gabby”, short for “Gabriela” his bicycle, necessary parts before his heading out on the next long stretch of road to China.

 

[shadowfox]

A-mazing!!
Is he going to retrace the Silk Road?

 

[semrich]

Will, at the moment he will travel through Turkey to Konya then further north, but stopping to see Urfa and Adiyaman, then follow the Eurasian Steppe Route to, Georgia, Azerbaijan, across the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Fantastic! It's a sign of how much China has developed in the past 3 decades that its people can now dream of and do things like this.

By chance, a few days ago I met a Taiwanese man cycling around the world. He's currently crossing Canada after finishing Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US...it sure makes one pause and dream, doesn't it.

 

[cmartinc]

Great find!

It is interesting to read his experience of Sweden, my homecountry. Jellous of his epic journey

 

[semrich]

Colin, thanks for commenting. During the time I've been walking around Istanbul with Julian, he mentioned how closed some areas are in China and how difficult it is for independent travel by bicycle.

Julian also wondered, because of his familiarity with all of the time and travel planning involved, if the Taiwanese man you spoke with mentioned what inspired him to undergo his trip?

Martin, Julian said he enjoyed Sweden, even though he originally hadn't intended to fly to Scandinavia, but decided he would have a go at discovering more about his Swedish roots. He did mention that while there he pedaled to Gorankropp's home town Eskilstuna and camped out a night, and that while the bike paths are excellent, their serpentine routing made it difficult to pedal straight through the country.