With China behind me I headed forward toward the Gobi desert and to the border with Mongolia. Except for crossing cold rivers, being waste deep in fresh water, this part of my route is what every cyclist would dream about. Mongolian food was a real luxury for my calorie needs and taste. Lamb with homemade noodles and potatoes, dumpling soup with a sip of Mongolian tea milk and fermented mare milk.
The worst remain of the Stalinist era from the early thirties of the 20th century is Vodka. The quantities of consumption are enormous and stories connected to it as well: from helping a drunken nomad who fell off a horse on the way home, to an angry wife and her stick beaten drunk husband.
I could not reach a compromise for my visa at the Russian embassy, so I turned toward South Korea, which was not part of the initial plan. Street parades, traditional dresses, martial arts displays and excellent food draw in thousands of tourists each year, from all over the world. The temperatures are twice those of Mongolia (a bit above 20C), with great cycling paths and days without a single drop of rain. On the northern most part of the country I shook hands with the "Korean people army" of North Korea. The situation is still tense and the countries are officially still at war. I visited the largest Korean fish market in the 11 million souls counting capital Seoul, also saw the palaces of Gyeongbokgung and Gieonghuigung, Insandong, N'Seoul tower and the Olympic park, where a Yugoslavian flag still waves. It was the last time that Yugoslavia participated at the summer Olympics before the breakup!
Next stop was Osaka, the former capital of Japan and at the time also the most important port. Today it is one of the ultramodern Japanese cities. Sushi, ramen and sake were the delicacies kind host Kimi acquainted me to the very first day. I was dreaming of a real Japanese sushi for years and not a single one of the dozen varieties disappointed me. To the delight of the chef they also served me with the rare and deadly 'fugu', the so called Blowfish, which may be prepared only by chefs with special licence. The heavy traffic of the Japanese roads is not suitable for cycling, even if all the drivers are very considerate. But visiting all the places I’ve stopped at on the way to Tokyo, made all the hustle worth it. The Buddhist centre of Kyoto and Nara with the mysterious Geishas, the hypermodern factory of Toyota and the highest peak Mt. Fuji, the botanical gardens of Yokohama, the food that even dead mouths would eat and quiet, shy and friendly people of Japan placed this country among my favourites.
But I had to continue, again, to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, United Arabian Emirates, Oman and further on to Botswana and to the south of Africa. On the way I visited Philippines and discovered it’s a place where I would love to live, so I had a little vacation there. I especially loved the island of Palawan, the green jewel of the Philippines, an oasis in the middle of the ocean and 600 km long island, surrounded by small islands and coral reefs, with white and black sand beaches, high mountains and rice fields. But all things good come to an end.
In Nepal I had an accident. It happened in December 2009, when I slipped while dismounting my bicycle after a trip around Annapurna. I fell a few meters deep in a crevice. I had several fractures and a dislocated shoulder and ankle. It took me three months to recover and press on.
But one of the biggest surprises I had was the hospitality of the Pakistanis. In Pakistan and Iran I had perfect security. They’ve organized military escorts through both countries and I’ve slept in jails and police stations. They said outside was too dangerous. Otherwise, I’ve slept just about everywhere – with natives, at 5 star hotels, in public facilities, on boats, in restaurants, kitchens, but most off all I preferred setting up a tent in a remote and quiet place.
My path took me, thus, through the entire African continent, where I was freezing! The continent left a bad taste in my mouth, for in many countries you witness double standards. There are millions of people living on the edge of starvation, and you can only sympathise with them, while on the other side you cannot but notice (what Tomo Križnar has also always been telling us) that so many people are lazy! The villages cared for by the “white people” are the ones that disappointed me the most. When you enter such a village, which has been given water pumps and generators (which simply broke down during their life time) people simply don’t want to work. They only wait with stretched out hands saying: » Give me money, give me T- shirt, give me candy!« They are becoming indifferent and incompetent. People are used of getting things because they are poor and as long as this keeps on, nothing will change. Still, it’s a place I’d love to visit again and cycle through the rest of the continent.
After Africa I crossed the middle east and eastern Europe, to return home to Slovenia (Breg pri Polzeli) over the Balkans. I must say, everybody was waiting for me impatiently back home.
If I draw a line, I have to say that I had god weather along the way. I also had no trouble with cuisine. I tried everything there way to try. I liked the tail of the kangaroo; I’ve tried dogs, cats and a drink with a toad. I’ve tried many a things, but learned to cherish simple things we take for granted (like a bar of chocolate or a drink of cold water). So many things have happened to me, I will never forget and the trip itself filled me up with lifetimes of impressions, reminding me, how beautiful our world really is.
After five years, three months and a day, I’ve cycled across 91 countries, for 118.348 kilometres and fulfilled my lifelong dream – on a bicycle.
