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From Berne to Beijing. By Bike. Some called us insane. Some envied us. Many didn't. Whichever opinion one might have: it's fine with us. The only thing we know right now: we will be gone for a while.
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366 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes later, we are in Beijing!
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The idea was probably sparked off sometime in 2006 during a backpacking holiday in the south west of China. The flight back from Hong Kong to Switzerland led us quite accurately along the route we have now chosen to take from the other side: passing by the Tibetan Plateau on its northern side, over Central Asia into Iran, Turkey and up towards Western Europe over the Balkans. From far up these regions look fascinating, mountains seem not be too high, deserts not too vast, politics are invisible. But also invisible or rather inappreciable are the people, the cultures, the languages, the smell, the food. And those are the aspects that make a journey most interesting after all, no matter where you go. If one really wants to get in touch with them, one has to go slow, on a bicycle or afoot. The latter is possible, but difficult to combine with a life where other goals are present, may their nature be professional or private. The former is what we chose for our journey, cycling seems to happen at the right pace in order to experience what we are looking for. We expect the distance that we back then covered by plane in just a couple of hours to keep us on the bikes for around one year.
Besides the expected physical and mental intensity of such an adventure, it is also ecologically justifiable. Just to get it straight: we are no fundamentalists; we are trying to be 'sensibly green'. On this trip, we will burn a few litres of petrol with our camping stove, besides that the journey is going to be significantly less polluting than living one year at home. And of course also significantly less comfortable! We expect this to be a worthwhile experience though, and are aware that we will not always think so once it hits the fan.
In a bit more detail: the plan is to cycle within roughly one year from our home in the heart of Berne to Beijing. We are fascinated by the route that many call the Silk Road, which in fact was a system of ancient trading routes between the Far East and Europe. It is said by some that its founder was Marco Polo who supposeldy travelled in 1252 from Venice toward todays Istanbul, and later on further to China from where he returned with textiles more noble than what had been known until then: Silk.
Our ambition is not to write history, but to experience a long journey at slow pace. In order to get to know areas of this planet that you can hardly find in any travel agent's brochures. To feel the ups and downs of these places, to sense our limits. And for sure we will get to know ourselves better too. Sounds all quite romantic, doesn't it? Of course! But don't worry, we know very well that it will hurt too, probably more than once as we go on...
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