Hitchhiker

The limit

Libya

Sometimes, it’s hard to define a limit between challenging yourself and falling into danger…

But chasing extreme sensations remains stronger than any risk…

I am crossing one of the most spectacular borders in the world, “Essallum” (literally Ladder in Arabic), joining Egypt to the Libyan territory.Situated over a mountain, the climbing road was overcrowded with Egyptian military on high alert.

“Halt! Where are you going?!”

“Libyan side Sir”

“Border is closed , go back!!”

“I am Tunisian, I really need to cross to go home”

“I said Go Back!! it’s closed even for Egyptians, You may fly straight instead”

“Yes but…”

“But what?! Can’t afford it?!!”

“I am affraid no Sir…” (fake sad face)

“Empty your pockets!!”

…

“Good evening Sir, we’ve got a Tunisian guy. He seems to be a traveler. He’s requesting to get in.”

“What??!”

“He says he’s going to his country overland. We checked and he just has 150 pounds (25$) cash. What should we do?”

“We have to ask, tell him to wait”

…

30 minutes…

“Ok! you can go! Hope you know what you’re doing…”

Standing in the No-man’s land, with my exit stamped passport, I witnessed one of most memorable scenes of my trip…

I was the only one walking into the Libyan side… alone

From the other direction, hundreds and hundreds of people coming with their huge luggage…

“Where are you going brother?

.. Are you serious?”

“Is it that messed up?”

“Definitely!! Worse than ever! Every gate requires you to pay fines to let you pass. You don’t really look like a local… That sounds worse! You should come back”

“Are there banks working? ATMs?”

“Man, the banking system is down since a week!”

…

“Hello Sir”

“You again?! What do you want?!”

“Is it possible to go back…?”

“SERIOUSLY?!!!!!! You’re already stamped… sorry… no way back”

…

Okay…

I think I’m in deep shit…

No other choice, I Crossed the No-man’s land…

Now, it’s too late to die…

“Where are you from?!”

“Tunisia…”

“What’s the purpose of your entry to Libya?!”

“Ummm… Tourism!” 😃

A hard moment

Mongolia

TODAY WAS THE WORST AND MOST STRESSING DAY OF MY WHOOOLE TRIP!!!

I SCREAMED LIKE A CRAZY FOR MINUTES IN THE MIDDLE OF BEIJING STREETS

I HAD AN ACCIDENT WITH AN ELECTRIC MOTORBIKE

AAAAND aaall of this is nothin compared to all what happened!

I explain: My chinese visa expires on Saturday 19th. My passport was submitted to the Mongolian embassy in Beijing. The visa and passport were to be delivred Friday 18th between 4 and 5pm.

so the plan was to pick up the passport from mongolian embassy then take a night bus to Erlian (the check point town between China and Mongolia) and cross the border Saturday! The last bus to the border is at 5pm30.

So friday 3pm30, I took a taxi to the mongolian embassy. the taxi said he knows the place so everything was alright.

at 4pm30 he dropped me in an intersection saying that the embassy is near and i just have to walk to it. when I reached it at 4pm45, I found out that it was not the embassy but a trading federation between China and mongolia! at that moment, I felt about to faint. Not taking my passport from the embassy means that I will overstay in China till Monday at least. It was impossible to extend the chinese visa of course because it is weekend AND the passport is in the Mongolian embassy.

I started screaming, shouting all around in the middle of the street, stopping people, cars everything.

I went to a taxi driver to ask for help, but he totally ignored me!

Then stopped a guy on an electric motorbike. He accepted to help me. After 2km ride, some guy crossed our way and we feel down under the weigh of us and my huge unstable backpack. A woman came to us. Luckily she was English fluent. I explained her the situation she translated everything to my driver who was no longer willing to help me after the fall. Then, felt compassion from him and he said ok to continue. The woman indicated us the shortest way. But it was 5:05 pm… too late…

I started screaming again and the poor guy calming me and saying “ok ok! ok ok!”we reached the embassy at 5pm20. Everything was closed. I was really devastated. Then I saw a woman walking inside. I called her knocking on the glass window, presenting my receipt. She made a No sign with her head…

I insisted…

Maybe because of the face I was doing, she took her phone and made a call. Then, another guy showed up! The visa guy!!!!!!!!!

He was about to leave but thy called him back in the last moment

He signed some papers, stamped some. and gave me my passport!! That stupid green booklet!!

and I felt I could no longer stand up of happiness.

My driver deserved a looong hug. Took his phone number to thank him some day properly for all what he did.

At that time, the last bus to the border should have already left. I wasnt worried at all. After all my passport is with me now and I can find a way out.

But I decided to go to the bus station and just check again wether there is anorher way or bus or not.

When I arrived there, I found out that the last bus was still there!!! It seems that in China, for long distance. night buses, they leave usually later than sheduled hoping to get a one more passenger on board. So I catched it!I still can’t believe all what happened today…

Two against the snow storm… Kyoto – Fukuoka

Japan

Friday 7th February, 10 am, after a long 17 hours sleep, I woke up a bit dizzy;
A mixed feeling between happiness towards my hitchhiking performance so far and some stress because I had to be in 48 hours at the departing port south of Japan.
My host Mikako, suggested to join me for a walk around the town. Although it was very cold, the beauty of this traditional city takes you away.

2014-03-04-13-32-00_deco

At 5 pm, and after a last warm cup of tea at Mikako’s place, I took my backpack and headed to the expressway.

Katsuragawa PA seemed to be the most convenient place to start from. Once again, I got confused and went first in the opposite direction. An error that costed a one hour walk till reaching the other side of the road (don’t even think about crossing the expressway lol).
So, finally, I started thumbing up at around 7 pm. And it took me 45 minutes  till an old man came and gave me a hot coffee. I showed him my destination panel, but he could offer only a part of the way, which was good enough!

2014-03-03-02-01-20_deco

During the 1 hour and half ride and its 100 km, I got to know the driver by a very funny and special way. As he didn’t speak English at all, he was calling his daughter who was living in Germany by Skype. And she was translating all the conversation to both sides and taking part in the talk!

By 22 pm, I was left at Miki Service Area, Hyogo prefecture. It was snowing to the point I couldn’t stand up in the middle of the way to try to catch some car. Seeing this situation, I decided to go inside and wait till the snow stops.
One hour, two hours, four hours and the snowfalls turned to be above normal. At 4 am, all cars and trucks were parked and no one seemed willing to move. I decided to go and ask drivers one by one. And then I understood the critical situation I was in, the expressway was closed due to snow, and alert covered all the region.

2014-03-03-02-05-59_deco

In spite of the situation, I decided to remain hopeful and started socializing with local truck drivers. It was so funny to see their reaction when I was talking about the way I was travelling. I shared with one of hem a very nice talk, to the point I gave him a piece of ‘Baklewa’, a Tunisian traditional sweet. And here is his reaction x)

2014-03-03-02-02-29_deco

Then, my new friend, aware of my situation, decided to help me. After few minutes of search, he came back with a man called Kazu, THE guy who saved my life!

At 5 am, I was on the way again. The snowfalls didn’t disturbed my driver at all for a simple reason, he was a military!
Kazu took few days off to go back to his hometown and see his family. Even with the bad weather, he was totally willing to make it till Fukuoka, which was my destination too!!

2014-03-03-02-03-31_deco

We had to leave the express way at about 9 am because of the repetitive warnings and we ended up riding on local roads and crossing some small villages and towns.

2014-03-03-02-04-04_deco

16 hours spent in the little funny car, we reached Fukuoka Saturday night at 9 pm.
There, It took me an hour to reach the house of my host by metro. Sam received me in her cute place for one night. Although it was too short, we shared a funny talk about her trip to Tunisia and my trip across Japan.

2014-03-03-02-07-40_deco

Sunday 9th February, 11 am, I catch’d the Hakata-Busan ferry. The 6 hours trip marked the end of the rising sun and the beginning of the little morning… South Korea… Here I am!

2014-03-03-02-09-16_deco

and Let this great adventure begin! Tokyo – Kyoto

Japan

February 5th, 3pm, After a whole night of packing, my backpack was finally ready with its 85L !
The trip officially started and I left my house in Tokyo heading to the expressway.
As hitchhiking isn’t common in Japan, I had to reach the entry of the Expressway in order to catch some car. Regarding that standing in the middle of a Highway is forbidden here, I had to start thumbing up from a Service Area (SA). These places are usually crowded and Japanese drivers always stop by whether to check the weather news or just to have a break.
At 5pm I reached the Kohoku Parking Area in Yokohama, not that much traffic but enough to got picked up after 1 hour.
My driver although offered me a ride only till the next Service Area (20 km) but he was very nice. He was a banker and after dropping me offered me some nuts and… 10’000 Yens !!!! Yeah, seems he liked the way I was travelling and wanted to encourage ! 😀

2014-02-14-03-20-59_deco[1]

Arrived at Ebina SA at 7pm, I had to wait only for 20 minutes till a guy stopped and invited me in. He was a hardware engineer going home. We shared a 130 km ride till Shizuoka.

2014-02-14-03-22-00_deco[1]

Then at around 9pm30, from the Parking area I was in, an old Japanese driver came to me and asked to join him and his friend. He was a truck driver but his friend was driving a nice BMW. And I found out that the other guy was a businessman from Lebanon !! He was in Japan for buying cars in order to sell them in his home country and he was so surprised to meet me !
The 190km till Nagoya were so nice since we were having a conversation in Arabic about the political and social situation of our countries!!
Although the Lebanese guy invited me to spend the night at the office of his company and have rest to pursue my way in the morning, I insisted to be left in a Parking so that I can reach my destination Kyoto as soon as possible.

2014-02-14-03-22-48_deco[1]

One hour and half passed, and I was still sitting in the large parking were most of drivers seemed sleeping inside their trucks. At that moment I was freezing and decided to write “Kyoto” in big letters so that it catches more the attention of drivers, and it worked !!
An old Japanese stopped his truck and said “Kyoto ?”, I felt so happy, one, because I was finally going to escape from cold and second, because I will reach destination early in the morning.

2014-02-14-03-23-33_deco[1]

I arrived in Kyoto at 3am30 after 130km and was left in Otsu SA. It was so freaking cold and had no other choice than sitting down and waiting for morning inside.
At 8am I decided to take metro and sightsee around the city. But, there was a problem, there was no way out of the Service Area and I couldn’t just cross the expressway to reach the metro station from the other side. So my only option was… Hitchhiking again !!
And it took me only 5 minutes until a family invited me to join them for their one day trip in Kyoto. They were from Gifu.
although I was extremely tired since I didn’t had sleep during 3 days, I really had good time with them sightseeing around the downtown.

2014-02-14-03-26-10_deco[1]

at 5pm, I headed to the house of my host in Kyoto and what a nice sleep I had… 12 hours in a row!! But the rest wasn’t for longer time… it was already Friday… meaning 2 days left to leave the country before my visa expires…

D-day approaching

Japan

As the grand trip was approaching, preparations were made every day so that I can be fully equipped and well prepared.
My visa for China is still processing, so I dont have any clear plan for the itinerary. But the grand lines were to make it across Japan, South Korea, Russia, etc
As for the backpack, I opted for the Berghaus 70+15L. Although many backpackers advice to don’t carry larger than a 65L, I took 85 for the simple reason that I am 1m90 height!!
For the clothing, since I am from a pretty warm country comparing to those I am going to visit, I had to buy some anti-wind super mega warming jacket hahaha.
I never had to deal with snow in my life, so I have to expect the worse!
Also, I chose to equip myself with cotton better than merinos or synthetic because of its warming characteristics which were more important for me than its weight.
In the following you can find a detailed description of what I am carrying:
– Photography equipment: Dslr camera + 2 lenses (18-55 & 55-250) + tripod
– Sleeping bag (6ºC)
– Walk shoes
– Extreme condition boots
– Smartphone
– External USB battery
– Laptop
– Wind glasses + gloves
– Russian winter hat
– Thermos
– First aid kit + medicine
– Ultra light jacket
– Body warming t-shirts
– Tunisian traditional cereals (for emergency use)
– Tunisian flag
– 1 Swimming shorts + 1 Jean
– Headlamp
– 25L daypack
– Security lockers
– Emergency alarm and lighter2014-02-14-02-47-01_deco