I want to be a writer. I long to be a writer. There’s something within me, within my own undercurrents, that keeps tapping me on the shoulder and whispering write, please, just keep writing, write about that world and that scent and that drum beat and just keep going.

And boy, do I believe in literature. When you read Robyn Davidson’s account of trekking the Australian outback, you slip into her bare feet. She puts you there with her words. Reading is a practice in empathy. Of cultivating empathy.

Not only that, it’s humanizing. It’s easy to dismiss The Arabs. To fear The Homeless. But what about Julia, the woman I met on the bus from Agadir to Taghazout, coastal Morocco? Who explained the bus system to me, who gave me her phone number in case I got lost, and instructions to “call me anytime; I go to nursing school right now, but I will have my phone”? I keep looking into her buttery eyes and see silver hoop earrings dangling from beneath her silky blue hijab, and remember: Julia’s training to be a nurse. She loves to read, as evidence by the copy of Robinson Crusoe tucked under one arm. She’s observant and kind, having seen my disjointed expression and come to my aid.

She’s no longer A Muslim Woman. She’s Julia. She’s a human, like me. I know her. I am her.

As I cycle through places, some more remote than others—the Pamir Highway through Tajikistan, the expansive Great Dala Steppe in Kazakhstan, regions of central Myanmar—I will take notes on the people I meet and interact with that celebrate their individual humanity, so as to relieve the burden of the group label we shove each other into, in our frantic efforts to understand.

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This cycle tour will include:

—following highland trails in the UK.
—crossing the Caspian Sea via ferry
—following Silk Road routes through Asia Minor and Central Asia.
—following the Hippie Trail through parts of India.
—cycling the Mao Song Loop in Northern Thailand.
—cycling the Ho Chi Minh highway from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Check out the (very fluid) route.

Check out my previous adventures.

Please contact me with questions or comments.

Peace and Blessings,
Josie