In May 2003 I embarked upon a journey that would eventually take me through twenty six countries and take nineteen months to complete. This wasn’t going to be any ordinary journey. It was to be a journey of a life time, of self-discovery, a physical as well as a mental challenge.
At times I would be traveling parts of the Silk Road through Iran, Pakistan and China. Other times following the old hippie trail during the 1960’s and 70’s where a steady stream of travelers made their way across Europe to Katmandu in Nepal. The ultimate goal however was to reach Sydney, Australia from Amsterdam without stepping onto an airplane, using only local transportation, either by train or by bus and the occasional ferry in Indonesia.
I was to cover a diversity of terrain—including the deserts of Iran, the Balochistan desert in Pakistan, to the beaches in India, to hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal where undoubtedly is some of the most beautiful and majestic scenery in the world, as well as the highest mountains and deepest gorges in the world. From Katmandu to Lhasa covering the bleak and barren plateau of Tibet. The jungles of Indonesia and the barren deserts of the Outback in Australia.
I was also to witness ancient ruins of great civilisations and empires that had once been, the Achaemenid Empire responsible for the massive and magnificent palace complex of Persepolis of ancient Persia what is now modern day Iran. The majestic monuments and temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The numerous and inexhaustible temples and ruins in India to Buddhist temples in Indonesia.
Even before starting the journey there were foreseeable problems that could seriously hinder my goal in achieving my objective namely to reach Sydney, Australia overland. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office website advised against all travel in Pakistan and Kashmir, also in certain parts of Bosnia & Herzegovina. There was also the problem of reaching mainland China from Tibet. The Maoists in Nepal and the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China.
There were occasions where I would find myself to be in a rather precarious and sometimes even dangerous situations, including a run-in with the Maoists in Nepal, almost being robbed by bogus police in Iran, almost having my cameras stolen in Istanbul. Being chased by bouncers in a Turkish nightclub and even being under suspicion as a CIA operative in a remote village in Pakistan close to the Afghanistan border in the Tribal Areas. Certain situations required diplomacy and negotiating skills and other situations you relied upon pure instinct, an adrenalin rush and a fast pair of legs to get you out of trouble.
