Take this guy for example, I was behind him in a taxi as I left Kolkata's train station. Fascinated by the giant fish he was carrying on the back of his bike, I snapped a picture of him as we sat at a traffic light. Who is this guy? What is his life like? And, seriously, what is the deal with these fish?
Other individuals, due to paths intersecting and running in parallel for a time, one has the opportunity to learn more about. While in Cherrapunjee, I met a fascinating Dutch woman that I wanted to write this blog post about. I first saw Bernadette, as she crested the hill into the resort on her mountain bike. Given that I knew the condition of the road, and the topography, I was astonished to see a mid-50 year old woman riding up on a mountain bike, loaded to the brim with panniers (bags that attach to a bike).
Over the next two days I got a chance to learn more about Bernadette and her amazing travels. On THIS trip, she is on a four month solo trip across Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. The trip before, for two YEARS, took her through all of the "stans" (Pakistan, Kyrz, Iran etc) and across Mongolia, and China... Um.... are you serious. Listening to her philosophy of life while around the campfire was really quite moving. Not only her descriptions of her journeys were fascinating, such as how she'd stay in a guest house usually about one night a month, as most nights she'd be invited to stay in a families home, who would call their family in the next town to arrange a place to stay and so on, but also the descriptions of the pragmatic side of international life on a bicycle, such as how she created a fake passport for me bike, complete with a photo, of her, a photo of the bike, it's serial number, AND official looking stamps. At first I thought this was hilarious and ridiculous, until she explained creating it was necessary. Putting the bike on a train across China, and expecting to get the bike back from the Chinese rail officials, one NEEDS something that looks official. The majority of my questions, of which there were many for those who know my father and the tree I haven't fallen far from, dealt with these practical issues: how do you navigate (assuming she had a fancy bike-GPS)..."whatever local maps I can get" (at which part she would start laughing and launch into a story of how abysmal the maps are, but loves the feeling of them in her hands, then into how she'll stop at every intersection to clarify she's going in the right direction (not a problem in Tajikistan, she informed me as there's only one real road). Of course, the obvious questions: what do you do when you're not biking: "working as a social worker in order to save money for the next cycle trip"....and so on and so on.
What will stay with me? Her description of how friendly the people are everywhere that she meets (except maybe those Chinese rail officials). Remembering the small bits of frustration I'd dealt with on this 10 day trip (such as the 24 hour stop on the train) I couldn't imagine having such a positive attitude about all the infinite trials and tribulations she must go through on a daily basis, trying to navigate mega-cities, rural areas where no one for a thousand miles speaks English, much less Dutch...
But no, for Bernadette, it was and is, with a smile, about the beauty of humanity, and the desire to make the most of everyday, whatever came down the road...
Link to her website
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