We round a bend on the bumpy road, and I am immediately spellbound. I want to ask the driver to stop the car so I can fall to my knees and bow in honor the beauty before me. My jaw keeps slipping towards my chest with each rock we roll over. My eyes tear up.
“My god. It’s beautiful.” I whisper over the lump in my throat. I can’t make my mouth spit out the words, “Stop, please, stop. We must see this greatness at a standstill.”
I have never before truly understood what compels climbers to summit the world’s biggest mountains, but now I catch a glimmer into their psyche. Staring at the Hindu Kush from the road snaking through Tajikistan’s southern corner, all I want to do is touch these faraway jagged, snowy peaks. Touching them with my eyes is not enough. I want to touch them with my soul.
Having spent a few weeks enjoying off-route parts of Burma and Kyrgyzstan and getting our visas and logistics sorted, it’s time to start walking again… And, man, do we have itchy feet! We are definitely getting antsy to begin our “whatever comes next” phase in Central Asia. Rest is a good thing, but restlessness is an impatient beastie.
This a different kind of post from me. It’s a slightly edited email note I recently wrote to a group of friends in San Francisco asking about our walk. After re-reading it, I decided it could also work here. It’s very much what’s on my mind these days.
Finding a place to sleep has been one of our biggest daily challenges on this stretch of the walk. In our Daily Nest post, we highlight a few of the places we slept during the last eight weeks. This is one night’s surprise.
It’s about 3 p.m., time for us to start thinking about where we will sleep. In Burma, this is never an easy task for the kind of trip we’re doing. We cross our fingers, ask the universe to fix something up for us, and hope a dash of luck and a good amount of patience and preserverance lead us somewhere safe.
Instead of translating each other's posts, we're leaving these in our respective native languages, English (Jenn) and Catalan (Lluís), to capture the essence of what we each feel. There are, however, no words that could fully describe the illusion and hope we carry with us for this adventure.
Happy birthday to me! What a way to start my 44th year! Here we are, early morning on 1/16/16, across the way from Wat Arun, the temple of dawn, an appropriate place for starting a new day, a new trip and a new life.
Today, we begin our long walk home. Geographically, we call Barcelona home. But, home, as they say, is where the heart is, and that’s the home we’re looking for every day. We have maps to guide us through the physical distance, but we know we won’t be walking in a straight line. Life almost never takes us in a straight line, despite our best efforts to make it seem that way. Visa limitations, weather, safety and health issues will likely detour us, and we’ll have no choice but to take them all in stride.
We often talk about this walk as a way to find goodness in the world, which we believe is all around us just waiting to be discovered and appreciated. Perhaps, though, the goodness we’re out to find is already in us, and one of the gifts we’re meant to share with others. Maybe, this trip is about being brave enough to step forward and letting our hearts, smiles and goodness lead us home. We shall see.
On that note, let’s get this party started! Off we go, on our way to the big unknown.
* * * *
Aquí i avui comença la festa!
Ja ha arribat el dia. Després de tant de temps d’haver-ho decidit i d’estar esperant i preparant aquest projecte, avui 16/01/2016 comencem a caminar des del cor de Bangkok cap a la nostra estimada Barcelona. Avui comença ‘oficialment’ la nostra ruta, el viatge, l’aventura, la recerca de la bondat de la gent!
Confiem que serà un viatge molt enriquidor, un viatge molt especial en que pas a pas anirem explorant aquest fascinant món en que vivim, al mateix temps que coneixem la bondat de moltes persones de cultures totalment diferents amb les que ens encantarà relacionar-nos, mirant de comunicar-nos de la manera més bàsica.
Tenim una barreja de nervis, emoció, ganes, motivació… i seguim amb tants interrogants com quilòmetres tenim pel davant. Ja veiem a venir que degut a les durades i restriccions dels visats, monsons, hiverns, estius, salut, situacions geopolítiques i de seguretat, … sembla que no podrem fer un recorregut recte i continuat com ens agradaria. Tenim clar el ‘què’. No tenim ni idea del ‘com’. Però això entenem que forma part de la definició d’aventura.
Una cosa que sí tenim clara és el fet de viure la nostra vida de manera intensa i apassionant.
Esperem que la salut ens acompanyi i amb una justa dosi de bona sort podrem fer realitat aquest somni tan esbojarrat com apassionadament meravellós.
Abans de marxar de casa per capbussar-nos a la nostra aventura volem donar les gràcies a totes aquelles persones que fins avui ens han ajudat d’una manera o altra.
****
Before leaving home and diving into our adventure, we want to thank everyone who has helped us so far, in one way or another. Here’s a special shout out to:
Inevitably, good things are bound to happen, too. That’s what our experience as independent travelers has shown us so far. Our backpacks, and our hearts, are filled with memories of small acts of kindness that made past trips unforgettable. Truth is, we’re actually counting on encountering more good things than bad things, and that’s a big reason why we’re moving forward with this life-changing walk.
Aquests dos últims mesos i durant la planificació d’un viatge d’aquesta envergadura hem compartit les nostres principals preocupacions. Hem parlat de les pors més profundes i d’aquelles altres que també ens preocupen i no deixen de passejar-se per dins els nostres cervells.
Inevitablement, grans i bones coses també ens succeiran. La veritat és que la riquesa i l’experiència acumulada al llarg de molts anys de viatges independents ens mostra la nostra motxilla de vivències molt més plena de coses bones que de mal tràngols. I amb aquesta il·lusió i esperança comptem per seguir endavant amb aquest viatge.
L’esperança i gairebé el convenciment de que grans coses ens esperen, ens fan seguir endavant amb determinació i ens dona forces per endinsar-nos en aquest apassionant viatge-projecte-canvi de vida.
Quins son alguns dels millors escenaris que ens podem trobar?
There is so much to fear about a trip of this magnitude. The sheer amount of uncertainty and what-if, worst-case scenario thinking is maddening. News headlines scream all the terrible things we could face just about everywhere or anywhere we go.
But, like you, we have to filter out the news reports and keep moving through our day-to-day lives, hoping to remain unscathed. We’ll have to do the more or less the same thing when we’re walking.
Even so, now’s the time to ask some of the hardest questions we’ve ever thought about and figure out how to stare fear down.
