Weit: The Story of a Journey Around the World (2017) - full transcript
Two young Germans spend three and a half years traveling around the world just by hitchhiking, bus, train and ship. They travel almost 100,000 kilometers through Europe, Asia, North and Central America.
Sure, I know an elephant.
I can describe it.
I've seen them often.
On pictures, as cartoons, in the zoo.
I know exactly what an elephant is.
And yet, I don't.
This becomes clear to me
at the exact moment I touch
a real elephant for the first time.
I stand there and
forget everything I thought I knew.
And that...
that's the way the world is.
The fantasy goes
and experience comes.
- Should I take that bag?
- Yes, thank you.
Far.
The story of a journey around the world
Little Hans went alone
out into the wide world.
Staff and hat suit him well,
he was in good spirits.
But his mother cries so much,
for she no longer has little Hans.
Look! the child changes his mind
and returns home quickly.
Damian is taking us
to the Bulgarian border.
Hello! Hola!
And he can't understand us,
nor we him, but we're singing.
Very good! Very good!
First year
Our feet touch ground
We leave the Black Forest
and venture out into the world.
With backpacks and only
that which we truly need.
We want to go so far East
that we return home from the West.
Without flying even once.
No problem.
We want to meet people
and hear their stories.
We want to see
how people live out there.
We want to feel nature and its expanse.
And require only little.
Travel with little money.
Thank you!
Onions!
Make yourselves
a salad on the road!
Thank you very much!
And these have calcium!
One, two, three - Moscow!
We hitchhike from our home in Freiburg
to Moscow over the Balkans.
It's spring. We leave Europe
and don't know when we'll come back.
We want to go to Kazakhstan,
travel through Central Asia,
cross the Caspian Sea to Georgia.
Continue on into Iran
and reach India by land before winter.
Will you ask?
Two, yes!
You have a lot of baggage!
It's not a problem!
- We'll take it with us.
- Are you from Kazakhstan?
Yes, I am.
You are our hero!
You are the heroes.
We only speak a little Russian.
Victor is driving 4 500km
from Belarus to Kazakhstan.
We just tried to ask him
how many kilometers
he's driven altogether in his life.
Our guess is one million.
Probably not quite.
- No, not quite.
- 500 000?
One million would be...
120 000 per year!
In one year?
120 000 per year.
- And since when?
- Since the 80s.
Three million kilometers.
You've basically driven
around the world 70 times!
Victor, you're the hero!
We hitchhike a lot
in our first weeks of travel.
We usually find a spot in the evening,
not far from the road.
Good, good.
Andrej takes us along in Kazakhstan.
He has to bring apples to Astana.
That's almost another 900km.
Andrej wants to drive through the night.
He offers that we can sleep on his bed.
Hello!
But first the size of the
ninth-largest country in the world
becomes apparent in its endlessness.
For many hours, we see the same thing:
Kazakh steppe.
It's four in the morning.
It wasn't dark that long.
Just a few hours. We slept a little.
We're driving on and on,
and have actually gotten lost.
- Nobody knows where we are.
- Nobody knows where we are.
It turns out that we have gone 400km
in the wrong direction.
Even though you can
only go straight ahead.
Andrej took a wrong exit
at a construction site
in the middle of the night.
His GPS isn't working.
Luckily, we have a map.
Andrej wants to keep driving
for another whole day
to make up for lost time.
All of us are really tired,
especially our driver.
He keeps nodding off. We tried to
get him to take a break, but he won't.
It's fine, I've got my own.
Getting out is no alternative either.
We hardly have any water left.
We try to keep Andrej awake.
We can finally convince Andrej
to sleep for a while.
He sleeps for 3 hours
after driving for 40.
Afterward, we cook for him
and make coffee.
We'll reach Astana around midnight.
14 days later,
we're in the middle of Kyrgyzstan.
We have hitchhiked 8000km
and are on the way to Tajikistan.
We actually didn't plan on going there.
But we get in the car of two Tajiks
and get curious.
Tajikistan is number 1
for water and fish!
They tell us about their country
and it sounds like a promising secret
that we now want to discover.
But when attempting to apply for a visa
we are quickly witnesses to the fact
that the Soviet Union lives on
in Central Asian bureaucracy.
We have to go to embassies
in three cities
until we have the necessary documents.
Pamir Highway
Border to Tajikistan
The second-highest
highway in the world begins here.
It leads deep into Tajikistan
and into the Pamir mountains.
We're told hitchhiking is possible
in the morning or evening
because it's the only time
when cars come by.
It's noon now, so we'll definitely
have to wait six hours.
But the customs officers told us
that there were no cars
at all in two days.
- Where are you from?
- Germany.
Do you want to go to Tajikistan?
Yes, to Murghab, Khorogh...
We wait for seven hours.
Then a car comes.
Thank you, Mischa!
Let's go!
I think we've never been
this happy to get a ride!
Mischa has to deliver coal today
to Murghab on a Pamir mountain plateau.
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Iran, Pakistan, India...
- Not China?
- China too.
China's that way!
But the customs officers warned him.
A river flooded the road further up.
Oh, shit!
It's really shaking around.
Mischa wants to
try again tomorrow morning
when there's less water in the river.
We were optimistic when we woke up.
The water even sank
by at least half a meter.
We still can't get out though.
Now the truck
won't even start.
We're stuck here.
For now.
The ax is broke.
Mischa is getting picked up
by customs later.
Another truck takes us along
the same day.
Then we're in the middle
of the Pamir mountains.
It's incredibly beautiful.
We get out shortly before Murghab
in the middle of the night.
Waking up the next morning,
we can't believe we're here.
I immediately ask myself
how and off what you can live here.
At a height of 3 600m.
We're on the moon!
It's summer in Murghab.
You can tell because the snow melts.
Husseinby explains this to us
and takes us to his home.
- Amazing!
- The ceiling is incredible.
Son or daughter?
Daughter!
Three sons and one daughter?
You're the nestling!
The angels fly like this,
the stone falls like this.
Bumpety bump, rider,
If he falls, then he cries out
Should he fall into the ditch,
Then the ravens will eat him.
Should he fall into the swamp,
Then the rider goes... Splash!
Thank you!
They have up to -40°C in the winter.
Husseinby tells us that the inside
of the closet sometimes freezes up.
We haven't seen trees for 300km.
Which means that
there is no wood up here.
Huseeinby says they burn
dried animal dung.
They couldn't live here
without yaks and sheep.
Sheep liver and sheep heart.
To us, the couple of thousand people
up here are astounding.
In their very special home.
We want to go
to the mountains for a few days.
Husseinby helps us find a donkey
that we can borrow.
We'll come back in five days!
Thank you!
Bye!
Have a good trip!
It's snowing.
Suddenly, the snow isn't melting.
In the middle of June.
I couldn't have imagined
that it would be this bad.
This really sucks.
Now we're getting snowed in in our tent.
This is unbelievable.
I think we won't be able to sleep
because we have to
knock off snow every five minutes.
Luckily, we find a hut for the night.
It's Patrick's 30th birthday.
We bring back the donkey
and want to continue on
to south Tajikistan.
Chinese truckers take us with them
for 500km from Murghab.
Then we go with Rakim,
who doesn't actually have any space.
After that, with Mohammad.
And now?
Now Maradonna stopped for us.
At least, that's what he calls himself.
Maradonna's in luck: there's no
quality control for cars in Tajikistan.
All good!
I'm a bit scared of the door.
I've got you.
Look, now he touches the wires together.
Is it working?
- Should I help?
- No!
We only drive 8km with Maradonna.
Still, we will always remember him.
That's what's great about hitchhiking.
You have no expectations and
every time you meet someone new,
and a new story
you could never have planned.
For five days we ride along
the Tajik-Afghani border.
For five days we admire Afghanistan
from across the river.
Kazakhstan Desert
2000km from the Caspian Sea
For the first time,
not flying becomes very hard.
We did not get a visa for Turkmenistan
and have to make a big detour.
We travel to Kazakhstan again
and then 2000km through the desert
to the Caspian Sea.
I saw him yesterday, too.
Where do you want to go?
On a boat to Baku.
- And then?
- Georgia!
- And then?
- Iran!
- And then?
- Pakistan!
- And then?
- India!
- And then?
- Nepal!
- And then?
- China!
- And then?
- Mongolia, probably...
Who's paying for all this?
We sleep in a tent and hitchhike.
Gas cooker, noodles
with tomato sauce every day.
That's all we need!
Well then, good luck!
Thanks, you too!
Can you take the bag?
Some people don't
understand what we're doing.
They're worried about leaving us
all alone in the wilderness.
But it's precisely what we want.
To be outside.
Because of moments like this.
Absolute silence in the desert.
You hear nothing.
It's an unbelievable feeling.
15 of these construction machines
have to go to Azerbaijan.
They're driving in a column
and we're allowed to come along.
Good sound?
The trucks also have
to cross the Caspian Sea.
But not for a week.
Until then, we wait
for the ship at the harbor.
The truckers are staying in a hotel
and left us the key to a truck.
We've been traveling
for half a year now.
Across land and sea.
Now to the Caucasus,
Iran,
and then India won't be far.
Hello!
This will become one of
our favorite countries: Georgia.
To us, this is a fairy-tale place.
A country that puts us under its spell.
And then there's the music.
It can't be overheard, overlooked
and inseparable from
the Georgians' everyday lives.
At the beginning
of our travels, Gwen said:
This isn't actually a journey.
It's rather a chapter of our lives
during which we are traveling.
I now understand what she means.
Living in a tent
has quickly become ordinary to us.
It's simply a part of it now.
We usually don't know in the morning
where we will be spending the night.
We love this freedom,
but it takes a lot of energy.
We'll need a break soon.
We meet Goran in the Caucasus.
He's been traveling for 30 years.
22 of which with a camel.
He is currently stuck at the border.
He's been waiting for a visa
for his many animals for months.
When we ask Goran where he feels home,
he responds that he was once French.
Now he's a citizen of the world.
His home is everywhere.
Tiflis
Capital of Georgia
We find a comfortable room
in the heart of Tiflis.
Even here, Georgia is a green paradise.
And so we stay for a few weeks.
It feels good to
stop moving for a while.
To wash, sort things out, trade,
give things away, repair things.
It's nice to live
in such an uncluttered way.
To concentrate fully
on the few things you have.
- Should I put them back together?
- Yeah, go ahead.
- It goes in like this, right?
- You have to put the cable back in.
It's autumn now.
We want to continue south.
Iran isn't far now.
Of course, Georgia
bids us farewell musically.
Goodbye!
That's Iran, right?
That's the border, see?
I'm really excited now.
With no money?
Iran.
We'd heard about
the death penalty for homosexuality,
whippings for alcohol consumption
and that you're not allowed to dance.
And yet, we were told
wonderful things, too.
About the people and the exceptional
hospitality in this country.
Teheran
Capital of Iran
We almost always couchsurf in cities.
People that enjoy
the company of travelers
invite you over an internet platform
and you can sleep on a couch,
bed or on the floor.
We immediately receive 15 invitations
upon our inquiry in Teheran.
One of them is from Amir.
He is not doing great right now.
He'd like to study in Germany
and got mail from the embassy yesterday.
Because rejection presents
a hindrance in the planning
of your further
academic and career paths,
the main reasons for rejection
will be listed in the following:
Amir can't come to Germany.
He won't get a visa.
Despite the University of Tübingen
even offering him a scholarship
in neuroscience.
Now for the reasons:
Due to serious concerns about your stay
your application must be rejected.
The semester has already begun.
Without Amir.
If he's not allowed to go to Germany,
he can at least accompany us for a bit.
Amir has never
traveled in his home country.
Thank you!
We stay at Ali's in Isfahan.
He likes having guests, too.
He invites anyone he can find.
Today it's a Norwegian, a Slovak,
a Belgian, a Swiss,
two Iranians und us from Germany.
There are nine of us.
From there, we hitchhike to the desert.
We meet David, a French guy
we met in Teheran
and borrow old motorcycles.
The only problem:
none of us can ride a motorcycle.
After a week in the desert
we say goodbye to David and Amir.
Amir will get an Italian visa
six months later
and sleep on our couch
in Freiburg four years later.
We've been procrastinating
on making a decision for weeks:
Should our path lead through Pakistan?
Getting to India without an airplane
doesn't seem to leave an alternative.
Gorgan
Northern Iran
Iran presents us with non-stop culture.
It's Muharram, the most sacred
festival of the Shia.
This time, Madjid has invited us.
Because he needs help on the fields
and because he is simply bored.
His mother isn't very pleased
that he had brought guests again.
Two people from France
left only yesterday.
We think about leaving,
but try our luck with a gift first.
Black Forest cherry cake!
We're allowed to work
for food and lodging at Madjid's.
We will be doing volunteer work
often on this journey.
It's a wonderful give-and-take.
You contribute and can
take part in others' lives in exchange.
After two weeks, we're almost
part of the family and glad
that we stayed after all.
Before we leave, Madjid's mother
has one more request.
Come! Come!
With a stature like Gwen's.
Iran.
The 4 weeks we wanted
to stay turned into 10.
We've rarely been
this close to another culture.
We're practically being pulled into
their home for dinner!
It seems that Iran was
just as interested in us
as we were in it.
All in all, we did not
experience the strictness
we were expecting.
This looks amazing!
We waited for a visa for a long time.
Now we have it.
This helps us with making a decision.
We're going to Pakistan.
Our last morning in Iran.
The last kilometers before the border.
Our thoughts went back and forth often.
We were afraid and curious
at the same time.
Now, my heart pounds with excitement.
Because I will be able to see
what it's really like.
The fantasy leaves
as experience takes its place.
Okay, this is a lot more
relaxed than I imagined.
There are three of us now.
Patrick from Ireland
hitchhiked to Iran as well
and wants to reach India by land.
We decided to travel together.
Hitchhiking is out of the question now.
We have to cross 1000km
through the province of Balochistan.
Pakistan can be quite dangerous here.
For this reason,
foreigners are escorted.
A taxi and armed escort are organized.
Those trucks are insane!
They like like circus wagons!
Balochistan is as large as Germany.
Tribes and radical Islamic Taliban
lay siege to this desert
and fight the Pakistani military.
With harsh methods.
Bus transport is regularly
hit with bomb attacks.
In the past, tourists
have been kidnapped as well.
We drive from checkpoint to checkpoint
to enter our names in a book.
It's reassuring to see that we're
not the only travelers passing through.
There are loads here!
From Poland, Estonia...
Someone passes through
about once a week.
There's no getting around this.
I've been waiting for it.
'Til the first guy
makes me hold one of these.
It goes on like this for two whole days.
We always follow the same process.
You get the colorful schoolbook
at the checkpoint,
sit on the camping chair,
have a cup of tea,
take pictures,
and get back in the car.
Quetta
Capital of Balochistan
We arrive in Quetta the next day.
Even here, somebody
invited us via couchsurfing.
But the police have different plans.
They want to play it safe
and let us sleep in the police station
before we can take the train
to Karachi the next day.
It is a bit scary, right?
We have mixed feelings.
There's supposed to be
a nice market in Quetta.
We would like to experience
everyday life here, too.
But we're also happy
to have a safe place to stay.
Above all else, the cold
will make this night uncomfortable.
We had -14°C last night!
Now I think it's around...
- 5° or so.
It doesn't take long
before it gets warm.
Balochistan is
especially beautiful here.
The people in this part of the world
have an amazing aura.
We reach Karachi on New Year's Eve.
It sounds just like fireworks,
but you see nothing in the sky!
Cause everybody's just shooting.
Six months ago, we stayed with
the Pakistani Faisal in Moldova.
He said back then:
When you arrive in my
hometown Karachi, don't worry.
My friends will take care of you.
Faisal kept his word.
Khalid, a good friend of his,
picked us up from the train station.
and is now showing us around
his city for several days.
The news at home reduce
Pakistan to terror and violence.
Now that we're here, we can see
that this country is a lot more
than this one-sided image.
We had actually promised ourselves
not to hitchhike.
We're far too curious not to.
Khalid waved down one
of the colorful trucks for us.
We hitchhike for
four days and three nights
until we're at
the Indian border in Lahore.
What we remember
especially well are the Sufis.
They meet every Thursday
for their religious rituals.
After ten months and 30 000km
without flying once
we have realized a dream of ours.
We traveled to India by land.
Varanasi
India
Colorful, shrill,
magical, loud,
terribly ugly
and simultaneously beautiful.
India has everything.
We've been here a few weeks now.
It is undoubtedly fascinating.
But to be honest,
we're struggling with it.
It's rarely as quiet
as this morning on the Ganges.
Our way of traveling
doesn't seem suitable for India.
Hitchhiking takes more of
a toll on your endurance and nerves
than any other country we've been to.
This really sucks.
We'll have to walk.
We're getting nowhere. Let's walk.
There's too much going on.
After hitchhiking 1000km
through India, we give up.
We hardly slept in
our tent for ten weeks.
We rarely find space for
our 2 square meter private sphere.
The longer we stay,
the more we miss the quiet.
Carrying things has
a long tradition in Nepal.
Whoever thinks this
is an obsolescent model
only applicable to areas
that are difficult to access
should think again.
In the capital Kathmandu
there are the so-called porters.
The style is traditional,
the merchandise moves with the times.
Gopal carries refrigerators across town.
He too carries up to 90kg.
We hike for 200km in the Himalayas.
It's so cute!
Look!
Look, Patrick!
Cute!
It must be just a few hours old.
You can still see the umbilical cord.
What do you think the temperature is?
Close to 0, I think.
Today, we're having gruel
with Himalayan yak cheese.
it really doesn't look
like it would taste good,
but it really is.
Especially up here, when it's so cold
and we haven't done anything
but walk all day.
It's getting really difficult now.
5 400m.
I often play a mental game
during this trip.
I think about what we did
exactly one year ago.
A year ago, we were in Ukraine.
Gwen made steamed dumplings
for twenty people at a small festival.
And I ask myself
where we will be in one year.
There's no way for me to know.
One year from today, our child
will be born in Mexico.
Second year
Traveling is now our new home
There was no way to get further East
from Nepal and India.
Either the borders are closed
or the visa too expensive.
Luckily, we're permitted to
enter Pakistan a second time.
From there, we go to China
via the Karakoram Highway,
the highest motorway in the world.
It's almost summer
and we want to reach
Mongolia and Siberia
before the first snowfall.
The Karakoram has the highest number
of high peaks in the world.
Over 60 are higher than 7 000m.
It was predicted that Pakistan
would have a bright future here.
Then came the 11th of September in 2001
and tourism collapsed in on itself.
Today, the hotels are abandoned.
We meet Kualam.
He too profited from tourism
for a long time.
Nowadays he rarely opens his shop.
You can really tell
that nobody's bought
postcards in a long time.
Kualam tells us that Pakistan could be
where Nepal is today with its
hiking and mountain tourism.
Pakistan and its people have potential,
but this country is anything but lucky.
For this reason we're amazed
how relaxed people are toward us.
Look at how they
transport the cars across!
Wow, unbelievable!
In the middle of the mountains,
a lake blocks the road.
A mudslide has backed up a river here.
That's why the Karakoram Highway
is far below sea level.
It's been this way for three years.
The Chinese government has offered
to drain the lake,
but we're told several times that the US
forbade the Pakistani government
to permit this.
Apparently, this is to hinder
Chinese access to the Arabian Sea.
We will often be asked the question:
how was Pakistan? Dangerous?
Did you just get lucky?
I would say that we
simply didn't get unlucky.
There's a big difference.
It's a shame that this country is
reduced to a few extremists.
One could also talk about the other
200 million people that live here.
Or that Pakistan is the 4th biggest
manufacturer of cotton.
Or that 75% of all soccer balls
are manufactured here.
It's a shame how one-sided
the effects of globalization can be.
Even Pakistan's export goods
travel the world faster
than the message of how friendly
and helpful the people here can be.
We meet Karim.
He led tourists through
the mountains before 9/11.
Karim tells us that a snow leopard
killed twenty of his goats last week.
I sometimes let things
not nearly as bad ruin my mood.
Karim is still beaming.
As we're about to continue on,
he gives us
two gemstones he found in the mountains.
And then our time in Pakistan ends.
We traveled through
the country for over a month.
It was wonderful to have been here.
We made it! We reached China
without an airplane
via India.
Now I can take off my headscarf again.
We now have thirty days
to reach Mongolia.
That means hitchhiking
5000km in thirty days.
Let's see if that's possible.
Karakul Lake
West China
Thank you!
Hitchhiking really, really sucks today.
Because...
first of all, there are no cars.
Secondly, when one does come by,
it won't stop.
It's so cold!
Minus 70 degrees.
Minus 70 degrees!
Today really sucks.
Fuck this.
We wisely foresaw a scenario like this
and had a friend in Germany,
who speaks very good Chinese,
write this text for us.
It pretty much summarizes
everything we're doing.
Our names,
that we've been to
over twenty countries,
that we're traveling around
the world without flying.
This will be a difficult thirty days.
My name is Pa-de-ricke, by the way.
We're Pa-de-ricke and Gu-wen.
We're in Mongolia.
In a country that has
fascinated us for a long time.
The modest and mindful life,
the connectedness to nature.
Here they say: who owns a lot,
has a lot of baggage, too.
And yet, we ask ourselves
a question as we reach the grasslands:
Are the nomads still traveling?
Or have the people moved from
the countryside to the cities here, too?
Hello.
Hello.
What's your name?
My name is...
And your wife?
Tough one.
Do you live here in the winter, too?
In January and February?
Yes, we live here
or in the house over there.
So they don't travel around anymore?
The yurt's always been here.
- For sixty years.
- Yes.
And...
in the winter they move into the house,
in the summer they live in the yurt.
There are almost no yurt visits
without at least small delicacies.
We want to return the favor
and cook dinner.
You still need a fork.
But vegetarian layer polenta
is not received well here.
After two spoonfuls
they give it all back.
We quickly learn
that they prefer meat in Mongolia.
We get in Mendee's car
while hitchhiking.
He studied in Dresden
and moved back to Mongolia.
He spontaneously takes us home with him.
His wife mentions as an aside
that Mendee is a shaman.
Mendee will perform a ritual at the
holy Mother Mountain in four days.
He invites us to join him.
However, he doesn't have any space
in his car to take us.
We decide to follow him.
For over 1000km to the Mother Mountain.
But that's not so easy.
Out in the country,
Mongolian streets often look like this.
If you're unlucky, you'll be here
and you'll see another road
half a kilometer away
where people are driving by.
So you walk over,
only to see them pass you
on the other side.
Thank you!
We get to a point where
hitchhiking is difficult to impossible.
Mother Mountain
Gobi Altai Province
After four days,
we see Mendee and his family again.
As we observe Mendee,
we can see the balancing act that's
being attempted in Mongolia today.
We arrived with the 4-wheel drive Jeep,
sacrificed milk from the carton,
and now call upon
the ghosts of the past.
Mendee seems to find this balance.
We can feel how important
the ritual is to him.
Out of respect for their traditions
we shut the camera off
as the ghosts come.
Mendee channels the ghost
of an old woman
who is supposed to have lived
by the mountain 300 years ago.
It was she who asked him here.
She can now see her old home
through the eyes of the shaman.
We're in Ulaanbaatar one week later.
No road in the country
doesn't intersect with the capital.
Twenty years ago, a fourth
of the population lived here.
Nowadays, half the population lives
in Ulaanbaatar and its suburbs.
Many brought their yurts
and hopes for a better life.
Siberia
Russia
Hello!
We're in Irkutsk.
At the partner school
of Gwen's old Waldorf school.
The teacher, Elena, was in Freiburg
on a school trip a few years ago
and visited Gwen's parents.
Now we can stay with her
and talk about our plans to her class.
After Irkutsk we want to keep going,
probably to Yakutsk,
after that to Vladivostok,
and then take a ship to Canada.
Through giant Siberia,
and then to Canada.
Yes, that was the idea.
Until life came up with a new plan.
So there will be three of us soon.
And we'll keep traveling as three.
Going home now isn't an option for us.
This trip has become too integral
a part of our everyday lives by now.
Canceling everything would be
a bigger change than to continue on.
As long as all three of us
are doing well,
our path will continue around the world.
From today on, a lot will change.
- Let's go there.
- Huh?
Let's go there.
Where is this?
The ultrasound is here.
This is Marina. She works
as a translator in the Waldorf school
and offered to help
when we go to the doctor.
The only problem
is that it's in Russian,
if you go into a different country,
there's no problem.
Until then, we'll translate it.
It's good to have Marina
with us during this time.
We'll visit her frequently
in Irkutsk during the following weeks.
We feel drawn to the countryside.
Istok
Siberia
In Istok, an institution
for people with disabilities,
we once again work for room and board.
For two months,
we move into a small room
and work.
I'm a driver.
Hello, hello!
The institution can only
barely stay afloat.
It gets hardly any
support from the state,
they're always short on personnel.
And so there is a lot to do.
It feels good to really be needed again.
Look, what a dragon!
I learn vocabulary every day
during my lunch break.
Natschinaitsa - to begin.
Konschaitsa - to end.
Prodavat - to sell.
Bireminja - pregnant.
What is the temperature
usually during the winter?
Normally around 18°C to 20°C.
Minus 20?
Of course not plus!
- What about the chickens?
- They're used to it.
Siberian chickens!
Minus 40°C. No problem!
The chickens hardly ever
go outside in the winter.
And the cat's don't either?
- Sure, the cats love it.
- They do?
- But why?
- They're Siberian cats!
It snowed a lot, didn't it?
- Cold?
- No, no... a little bit.
You're so funny.
Are you going back to the city?
I don't know yet.
We're here in the wonderful
woodworking shop with Aljoscha.
Hello!
We're making birdhouses.
Come on, again!
Again!
Good.
We're making toys.
Elephants - what else?
Ducks...
We make different animals.
Rainbows as well. How is this called?
You can even learn Russian. It's great.
Unfortunately,
our Russian visa is expiring
so it's time to move on.
We decided that our child
should be born in Mexico.
So we have to get
across the Pacific somehow, soon.
After a long search, we book
a cabin on a freighter.
From Japan to Mexico.
We say goodbye to Istok,
Irkutsk,
and to Marina.
OK Marina, please come visit us!
In Mexico, or anywhere else.
At the North Pole!
Hey, he's stopping!
Run, run, run!
They're going to Mongolia!
Awesome!
We have to be at the harbor
in Tokyo in three weeks.
The freighter will start from there.
So we're traveling back to Mongolia,
to China again,
take the ferry to South Korea
and go to Japan from there.
Japan
1000km before Tokyo
- Patrick, could you help?
- Sure.
We're finally standing
where we're allowed to stand!
We come from Germany.
We're traveling around the world.
We are curious.
We're traveling without an airplane.
It was fun - thank you!
We suddenly see Mt. Fuji
shortly before Tokyo.
I can hardly believe it,
it looks so incredible.
One last guardian of nature.
Shortly before the largest metropolis
in the world swallows us.
Welcome to the
largest city in the world.
This thing is a monster.
It's hard to imagine
that this was built by humans.
We made it!
Nice!
How cool!
Awesome.
How far is far?
Can you even feel where you are?
If you see nothing but water
for so many days?
The horizon always
seems to be the same.
Sure, we could've flown, too.
But could we really have done that?
Can you take almost two years
from home to Japan,
only to fly over the largest ocean
on Earth in twelve hours?
It wouldn't have worked.
On this journey, we were able
to feel things change slowly.
Faces, the countryside, food.
Even the climate.
We want to feel
how far the world is out here.
This is the key moment
where we
crossed the International Date Line
a few minutes ago.
And with that
East
becomes West.
We arrived on the other side,
so to speak.
165,2 tons of Diesel per day.
Surely that can't be right?
180,000 liters of Diesel, every day.
I'll think about this number
often when I'm home
when buying coffee, chocolate or bananas
that came over the sea on a freighter.
I think we felt the path after all.
Perhaps not its distance,
but the passage of time
let us feel its vastness.
And the climate.
It got a little warmer every day.
After 14 days, we see land again.
A new continent.
Here in Mexico,
a new life will begin for us.
Third year
Journey, show yourself!
- Weisser.
- Hi Grandma, it's Gwen!
What! You, calling from Mexico!
Yes!
I can't believe you're calling!
How are you, Gwen?
I'm doing really well, Grandma.
I'm quite round already.
- How's the baby?
- It's kicking.
How will you be doing this?
We got ourselves
a big Christmas present.
We bought an old bus.
We're going to travel with that
and we'll have a little home.
You can fit a bed in
and a closet, and...
- I see!
- And children's items.
We'll just see how it works,
we simply don't know.
We have to try and if it's too much,
we can always go back home.
- All the best to you!
- Thank you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
- Thanks, you too!
- Merry Christmas!
All the best for the new,
eventful year!
It certainly will be.
Now everything's changed,
now we can pick up hitchhikers.
- This is our first hitchhiker.
- Hello!
We come from Germany.
From Germany?
That's far away!
Indeed, that's far!
You think you're making
everything easier and better,
buy a car
and everything gets worse.
We've been to seven mechanics
in four days.
This is ridiculous.
Nobody knows
what's going on.
4 days earlier
Somewhere in Mexico
It's not doing anything.
The motor just shuts off.
Mechanic number...
four, I think.
And who could help?
I only understood half of what you're
saying, but we'll check everything.
What? - If we're lucky, we can
get out of here this afternoon.
If we're unlucky, it could be tomorrow,
or the day after. Or the day after that.
Day three, we're still here.
Mechanic number five.
He says it's one of
the distribution cables.
It's not the spark plug.
We'll just change it.
I'd say he's very competent, though.
Mechanic number six.
He says it's this.
But apparently, it isn't.
- Is the battery the problem?
- Yes.
This is one of the hardest
moments of the journey.
If we can't get
our VW-bus Carlos fixed up again,
it will probably mean
that we have to go home.
We meet Ivan by chance at a gas station.
He specializes in VWs.
The motor sounds good.
He and his son completely
overhaul the Bulli motor
and get us back on track.
What would you like?
What else?
Magical weeks are to follow,
during which we get to know and love
our child's future country of birth.
The 35th week begins today.
We find two wonderful midwives
and rent a small house
in which we are now settling in.
For our first weeks as three.
South Mexico
5 months later
The 3rd summer of this journey
is slowly coming to an end.
It was an exciting summer.
We've been parents since May.
We got many visitors from Germany.
It was like the journey
was on summer vacation.
A break that gave us time
to get to know each other
as a small family.
After almost nine months
we are leaving
our beloved Mexico.
We're going to Guatemala.
With Carlos
and Bruno, of course.
Bruno will get his first stamp
in his little Mexican passport.
I think that's pretty cool!
It's the Day of the Dead.
In Central America, this day has little
to do with a sad visit to a graveyard.
It's a colorful celebration.
Sumpango is no exception.
It's a village in Guatemala
that has passed on the tradition
of creating giant, paper dragons.
It takes months to make the dragons.
The designs are created in groups.
It takes months to make the decoration,
to glue all the small parts on
and to put everything together.
It's amazing! It's that super-thin
tissue paper.
They make Christmas flowers
out of that in Germany.
You kind of feel for them
because you can see how much work it is
and every time they want to set one up
it's an exciting moment,
because over there they
tried one three times.
I don't know if they'll still manage.
Guatemala
Atitlan lake
We're on our way to Jaibalito.
It's a small Guatemalan village
by the beautiful volcano lake
that can only be reached by boat.
Although it doesn't look like it
in the morning, it's the rainy season.
It rains cats and dogs every night.
We're happy to share a house
with other travelers.
Luciano is almost always with us.
He's from the village.
Want to look?
This is Bruno
and that's me.
This is the story of
these little animals,
who leave their home for a journey.
Do you like it?
Did you like it lot?
There is one disadvantage
to the Guatemalan house.
We're not the only ones
looking for a dry place.
- Do you have it now?
- Yeah.
Fucking scorpions.
This is the seventh scorpion
we've found in this room.
In under four weeks.
This is nothing new for Luciano.
He just laughs when I ask him how many
scorpions he's seen in his life.
The next day, he gives us foreigners
a Guatemalan education.
- What is it?
- A black widow.
Is it really a black widow?
- This one's deadly, right?
- Yes.
That's what he said.
We travel through Central America
during the next months.
Driving from country to country.
We look for projects we can help with.
We trade our ability to make films
as often as possible for room and board.
In between we travel as a family -
calmly and comfortably.
We don't immerse ourselves as deeply
in cultures as in the first two years.
We're more focused on ourselves
and we can also tell
that it's time to go home soon.
We haven't been
to Europe in three years.
Does he have his upper teeth yet?
Mine doesn't.
- He has six.
- Six?
Four upper and two lower.
They're going to marry one day!
It's weird, like selling an apartment.
Paint the walls before the handover.
It's pretty sad, that's true.
It was our home for a year.
We went from our tent to Carlos.
It was Bruno's first room.
His window
to a world he was passing through.
Miri and Wolf from Hamburg
are Carlos' new owners.
Off you go!
Now it comes to an end.
Our time in Central America.
Incredible.
We'll always remember it
as Bruno's first home.
The Atlantic
14 days to Europe
We're on a cruise ship.
It was our only option
of getting back to Europe
without an airplane.
The ship is coming from the Caribbean
and is going to Spain
for the summer season.
The cabins are surprisingly inexpensive.
The trip isn't of particular interest
for anyone looking for a dream cruise.
There are hardly any stops,
the sea is rough
and repairs are being done.
The entire personnel is working anyway.
It's completely surreal.
There are 110 cooks for 90 passengers.
Europe.
After three years.
In an hour we'll
set foot on Europe again
and then we will have
traveled around the world by land.
Five people are walking
along the road there.
Mom!
They're waving!
Fourth year
Home is where memories hide
behind every corner
North Spain
Pyrenees
It's so pretty, it looks
a little like the Black Forest.
And you can hear a cuckoo.
- Can you hear?
- Yeah.
At the beginning of our journey
we envisioned walking home
as soon as we were back in Europe.
Now the time has come.
We hike home from Barcelona.
We take the bus over
a part of the Pyrenees,
then walk through South France,
the Swiss Jura,
back to the Black Forest.
South France
900 kilometers left
It's pretty tight in the tent
when it's raining.
- It's tight anyway.
- It's tight anyway.
Bruno's having fun, though.
You don't mind, do you?
Shortly before Switzerland
600 kilometers left
Admittedly, our way home
isn't always easy.
We occasionally really reach our limits.
And yet, we know why we're
doing this to our knees and feet.
To be outside again.
Close to nature.
We already saw a fox
and four wild boars today.
And a snake.
Yumyumyum! Oh, that was a big one!
Walking the remaining part is wonderful.
To be slow.
To return home unhurriedly.
Very good. Want to add it?
Good job, Bruno! Very good.
Swiss Jura
100 kilometers left
I think this is
the last hill.
Another 350 meters uphill.
And then we actually should
be able to see Alsace
and Germany.
You can see the Black Forest
for the first time now.
Look Bruno. That's our home.
Five meters left.
4, 3, 2, 1 - Bruno's asleep.
Federal Republic of Germany
We've gone so far East
that we came back from the West.
We traded our fantasies for experience.
We saw how colorful
and diverse the world is.
We witnessed how much good
it has to offer.
And that there are
wonderful people out there.
No matter where.
What remains with you in the end
is the experience.
The experience
that it is worth it to trust.
Translation:
Jefferson Jung
Subtitles:
alias film & sprachtransfer
I can describe it.
I've seen them often.
On pictures, as cartoons, in the zoo.
I know exactly what an elephant is.
And yet, I don't.
This becomes clear to me
at the exact moment I touch
a real elephant for the first time.
I stand there and
forget everything I thought I knew.
And that...
that's the way the world is.
The fantasy goes
and experience comes.
- Should I take that bag?
- Yes, thank you.
Far.
The story of a journey around the world
Little Hans went alone
out into the wide world.
Staff and hat suit him well,
he was in good spirits.
But his mother cries so much,
for she no longer has little Hans.
Look! the child changes his mind
and returns home quickly.
Damian is taking us
to the Bulgarian border.
Hello! Hola!
And he can't understand us,
nor we him, but we're singing.
Very good! Very good!
First year
Our feet touch ground
We leave the Black Forest
and venture out into the world.
With backpacks and only
that which we truly need.
We want to go so far East
that we return home from the West.
Without flying even once.
No problem.
We want to meet people
and hear their stories.
We want to see
how people live out there.
We want to feel nature and its expanse.
And require only little.
Travel with little money.
Thank you!
Onions!
Make yourselves
a salad on the road!
Thank you very much!
And these have calcium!
One, two, three - Moscow!
We hitchhike from our home in Freiburg
to Moscow over the Balkans.
It's spring. We leave Europe
and don't know when we'll come back.
We want to go to Kazakhstan,
travel through Central Asia,
cross the Caspian Sea to Georgia.
Continue on into Iran
and reach India by land before winter.
Will you ask?
Two, yes!
You have a lot of baggage!
It's not a problem!
- We'll take it with us.
- Are you from Kazakhstan?
Yes, I am.
You are our hero!
You are the heroes.
We only speak a little Russian.
Victor is driving 4 500km
from Belarus to Kazakhstan.
We just tried to ask him
how many kilometers
he's driven altogether in his life.
Our guess is one million.
Probably not quite.
- No, not quite.
- 500 000?
One million would be...
120 000 per year!
In one year?
120 000 per year.
- And since when?
- Since the 80s.
Three million kilometers.
You've basically driven
around the world 70 times!
Victor, you're the hero!
We hitchhike a lot
in our first weeks of travel.
We usually find a spot in the evening,
not far from the road.
Good, good.
Andrej takes us along in Kazakhstan.
He has to bring apples to Astana.
That's almost another 900km.
Andrej wants to drive through the night.
He offers that we can sleep on his bed.
Hello!
But first the size of the
ninth-largest country in the world
becomes apparent in its endlessness.
For many hours, we see the same thing:
Kazakh steppe.
It's four in the morning.
It wasn't dark that long.
Just a few hours. We slept a little.
We're driving on and on,
and have actually gotten lost.
- Nobody knows where we are.
- Nobody knows where we are.
It turns out that we have gone 400km
in the wrong direction.
Even though you can
only go straight ahead.
Andrej took a wrong exit
at a construction site
in the middle of the night.
His GPS isn't working.
Luckily, we have a map.
Andrej wants to keep driving
for another whole day
to make up for lost time.
All of us are really tired,
especially our driver.
He keeps nodding off. We tried to
get him to take a break, but he won't.
It's fine, I've got my own.
Getting out is no alternative either.
We hardly have any water left.
We try to keep Andrej awake.
We can finally convince Andrej
to sleep for a while.
He sleeps for 3 hours
after driving for 40.
Afterward, we cook for him
and make coffee.
We'll reach Astana around midnight.
14 days later,
we're in the middle of Kyrgyzstan.
We have hitchhiked 8000km
and are on the way to Tajikistan.
We actually didn't plan on going there.
But we get in the car of two Tajiks
and get curious.
Tajikistan is number 1
for water and fish!
They tell us about their country
and it sounds like a promising secret
that we now want to discover.
But when attempting to apply for a visa
we are quickly witnesses to the fact
that the Soviet Union lives on
in Central Asian bureaucracy.
We have to go to embassies
in three cities
until we have the necessary documents.
Pamir Highway
Border to Tajikistan
The second-highest
highway in the world begins here.
It leads deep into Tajikistan
and into the Pamir mountains.
We're told hitchhiking is possible
in the morning or evening
because it's the only time
when cars come by.
It's noon now, so we'll definitely
have to wait six hours.
But the customs officers told us
that there were no cars
at all in two days.
- Where are you from?
- Germany.
Do you want to go to Tajikistan?
Yes, to Murghab, Khorogh...
We wait for seven hours.
Then a car comes.
Thank you, Mischa!
Let's go!
I think we've never been
this happy to get a ride!
Mischa has to deliver coal today
to Murghab on a Pamir mountain plateau.
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Iran, Pakistan, India...
- Not China?
- China too.
China's that way!
But the customs officers warned him.
A river flooded the road further up.
Oh, shit!
It's really shaking around.
Mischa wants to
try again tomorrow morning
when there's less water in the river.
We were optimistic when we woke up.
The water even sank
by at least half a meter.
We still can't get out though.
Now the truck
won't even start.
We're stuck here.
For now.
The ax is broke.
Mischa is getting picked up
by customs later.
Another truck takes us along
the same day.
Then we're in the middle
of the Pamir mountains.
It's incredibly beautiful.
We get out shortly before Murghab
in the middle of the night.
Waking up the next morning,
we can't believe we're here.
I immediately ask myself
how and off what you can live here.
At a height of 3 600m.
We're on the moon!
It's summer in Murghab.
You can tell because the snow melts.
Husseinby explains this to us
and takes us to his home.
- Amazing!
- The ceiling is incredible.
Son or daughter?
Daughter!
Three sons and one daughter?
You're the nestling!
The angels fly like this,
the stone falls like this.
Bumpety bump, rider,
If he falls, then he cries out
Should he fall into the ditch,
Then the ravens will eat him.
Should he fall into the swamp,
Then the rider goes... Splash!
Thank you!
They have up to -40°C in the winter.
Husseinby tells us that the inside
of the closet sometimes freezes up.
We haven't seen trees for 300km.
Which means that
there is no wood up here.
Huseeinby says they burn
dried animal dung.
They couldn't live here
without yaks and sheep.
Sheep liver and sheep heart.
To us, the couple of thousand people
up here are astounding.
In their very special home.
We want to go
to the mountains for a few days.
Husseinby helps us find a donkey
that we can borrow.
We'll come back in five days!
Thank you!
Bye!
Have a good trip!
It's snowing.
Suddenly, the snow isn't melting.
In the middle of June.
I couldn't have imagined
that it would be this bad.
This really sucks.
Now we're getting snowed in in our tent.
This is unbelievable.
I think we won't be able to sleep
because we have to
knock off snow every five minutes.
Luckily, we find a hut for the night.
It's Patrick's 30th birthday.
We bring back the donkey
and want to continue on
to south Tajikistan.
Chinese truckers take us with them
for 500km from Murghab.
Then we go with Rakim,
who doesn't actually have any space.
After that, with Mohammad.
And now?
Now Maradonna stopped for us.
At least, that's what he calls himself.
Maradonna's in luck: there's no
quality control for cars in Tajikistan.
All good!
I'm a bit scared of the door.
I've got you.
Look, now he touches the wires together.
Is it working?
- Should I help?
- No!
We only drive 8km with Maradonna.
Still, we will always remember him.
That's what's great about hitchhiking.
You have no expectations and
every time you meet someone new,
and a new story
you could never have planned.
For five days we ride along
the Tajik-Afghani border.
For five days we admire Afghanistan
from across the river.
Kazakhstan Desert
2000km from the Caspian Sea
For the first time,
not flying becomes very hard.
We did not get a visa for Turkmenistan
and have to make a big detour.
We travel to Kazakhstan again
and then 2000km through the desert
to the Caspian Sea.
I saw him yesterday, too.
Where do you want to go?
On a boat to Baku.
- And then?
- Georgia!
- And then?
- Iran!
- And then?
- Pakistan!
- And then?
- India!
- And then?
- Nepal!
- And then?
- China!
- And then?
- Mongolia, probably...
Who's paying for all this?
We sleep in a tent and hitchhike.
Gas cooker, noodles
with tomato sauce every day.
That's all we need!
Well then, good luck!
Thanks, you too!
Can you take the bag?
Some people don't
understand what we're doing.
They're worried about leaving us
all alone in the wilderness.
But it's precisely what we want.
To be outside.
Because of moments like this.
Absolute silence in the desert.
You hear nothing.
It's an unbelievable feeling.
15 of these construction machines
have to go to Azerbaijan.
They're driving in a column
and we're allowed to come along.
Good sound?
The trucks also have
to cross the Caspian Sea.
But not for a week.
Until then, we wait
for the ship at the harbor.
The truckers are staying in a hotel
and left us the key to a truck.
We've been traveling
for half a year now.
Across land and sea.
Now to the Caucasus,
Iran,
and then India won't be far.
Hello!
This will become one of
our favorite countries: Georgia.
To us, this is a fairy-tale place.
A country that puts us under its spell.
And then there's the music.
It can't be overheard, overlooked
and inseparable from
the Georgians' everyday lives.
At the beginning
of our travels, Gwen said:
This isn't actually a journey.
It's rather a chapter of our lives
during which we are traveling.
I now understand what she means.
Living in a tent
has quickly become ordinary to us.
It's simply a part of it now.
We usually don't know in the morning
where we will be spending the night.
We love this freedom,
but it takes a lot of energy.
We'll need a break soon.
We meet Goran in the Caucasus.
He's been traveling for 30 years.
22 of which with a camel.
He is currently stuck at the border.
He's been waiting for a visa
for his many animals for months.
When we ask Goran where he feels home,
he responds that he was once French.
Now he's a citizen of the world.
His home is everywhere.
Tiflis
Capital of Georgia
We find a comfortable room
in the heart of Tiflis.
Even here, Georgia is a green paradise.
And so we stay for a few weeks.
It feels good to
stop moving for a while.
To wash, sort things out, trade,
give things away, repair things.
It's nice to live
in such an uncluttered way.
To concentrate fully
on the few things you have.
- Should I put them back together?
- Yeah, go ahead.
- It goes in like this, right?
- You have to put the cable back in.
It's autumn now.
We want to continue south.
Iran isn't far now.
Of course, Georgia
bids us farewell musically.
Goodbye!
That's Iran, right?
That's the border, see?
I'm really excited now.
With no money?
Iran.
We'd heard about
the death penalty for homosexuality,
whippings for alcohol consumption
and that you're not allowed to dance.
And yet, we were told
wonderful things, too.
About the people and the exceptional
hospitality in this country.
Teheran
Capital of Iran
We almost always couchsurf in cities.
People that enjoy
the company of travelers
invite you over an internet platform
and you can sleep on a couch,
bed or on the floor.
We immediately receive 15 invitations
upon our inquiry in Teheran.
One of them is from Amir.
He is not doing great right now.
He'd like to study in Germany
and got mail from the embassy yesterday.
Because rejection presents
a hindrance in the planning
of your further
academic and career paths,
the main reasons for rejection
will be listed in the following:
Amir can't come to Germany.
He won't get a visa.
Despite the University of Tübingen
even offering him a scholarship
in neuroscience.
Now for the reasons:
Due to serious concerns about your stay
your application must be rejected.
The semester has already begun.
Without Amir.
If he's not allowed to go to Germany,
he can at least accompany us for a bit.
Amir has never
traveled in his home country.
Thank you!
We stay at Ali's in Isfahan.
He likes having guests, too.
He invites anyone he can find.
Today it's a Norwegian, a Slovak,
a Belgian, a Swiss,
two Iranians und us from Germany.
There are nine of us.
From there, we hitchhike to the desert.
We meet David, a French guy
we met in Teheran
and borrow old motorcycles.
The only problem:
none of us can ride a motorcycle.
After a week in the desert
we say goodbye to David and Amir.
Amir will get an Italian visa
six months later
and sleep on our couch
in Freiburg four years later.
We've been procrastinating
on making a decision for weeks:
Should our path lead through Pakistan?
Getting to India without an airplane
doesn't seem to leave an alternative.
Gorgan
Northern Iran
Iran presents us with non-stop culture.
It's Muharram, the most sacred
festival of the Shia.
This time, Madjid has invited us.
Because he needs help on the fields
and because he is simply bored.
His mother isn't very pleased
that he had brought guests again.
Two people from France
left only yesterday.
We think about leaving,
but try our luck with a gift first.
Black Forest cherry cake!
We're allowed to work
for food and lodging at Madjid's.
We will be doing volunteer work
often on this journey.
It's a wonderful give-and-take.
You contribute and can
take part in others' lives in exchange.
After two weeks, we're almost
part of the family and glad
that we stayed after all.
Before we leave, Madjid's mother
has one more request.
Come! Come!
With a stature like Gwen's.
Iran.
The 4 weeks we wanted
to stay turned into 10.
We've rarely been
this close to another culture.
We're practically being pulled into
their home for dinner!
It seems that Iran was
just as interested in us
as we were in it.
All in all, we did not
experience the strictness
we were expecting.
This looks amazing!
We waited for a visa for a long time.
Now we have it.
This helps us with making a decision.
We're going to Pakistan.
Our last morning in Iran.
The last kilometers before the border.
Our thoughts went back and forth often.
We were afraid and curious
at the same time.
Now, my heart pounds with excitement.
Because I will be able to see
what it's really like.
The fantasy leaves
as experience takes its place.
Okay, this is a lot more
relaxed than I imagined.
There are three of us now.
Patrick from Ireland
hitchhiked to Iran as well
and wants to reach India by land.
We decided to travel together.
Hitchhiking is out of the question now.
We have to cross 1000km
through the province of Balochistan.
Pakistan can be quite dangerous here.
For this reason,
foreigners are escorted.
A taxi and armed escort are organized.
Those trucks are insane!
They like like circus wagons!
Balochistan is as large as Germany.
Tribes and radical Islamic Taliban
lay siege to this desert
and fight the Pakistani military.
With harsh methods.
Bus transport is regularly
hit with bomb attacks.
In the past, tourists
have been kidnapped as well.
We drive from checkpoint to checkpoint
to enter our names in a book.
It's reassuring to see that we're
not the only travelers passing through.
There are loads here!
From Poland, Estonia...
Someone passes through
about once a week.
There's no getting around this.
I've been waiting for it.
'Til the first guy
makes me hold one of these.
It goes on like this for two whole days.
We always follow the same process.
You get the colorful schoolbook
at the checkpoint,
sit on the camping chair,
have a cup of tea,
take pictures,
and get back in the car.
Quetta
Capital of Balochistan
We arrive in Quetta the next day.
Even here, somebody
invited us via couchsurfing.
But the police have different plans.
They want to play it safe
and let us sleep in the police station
before we can take the train
to Karachi the next day.
It is a bit scary, right?
We have mixed feelings.
There's supposed to be
a nice market in Quetta.
We would like to experience
everyday life here, too.
But we're also happy
to have a safe place to stay.
Above all else, the cold
will make this night uncomfortable.
We had -14°C last night!
Now I think it's around...
- 5° or so.
It doesn't take long
before it gets warm.
Balochistan is
especially beautiful here.
The people in this part of the world
have an amazing aura.
We reach Karachi on New Year's Eve.
It sounds just like fireworks,
but you see nothing in the sky!
Cause everybody's just shooting.
Six months ago, we stayed with
the Pakistani Faisal in Moldova.
He said back then:
When you arrive in my
hometown Karachi, don't worry.
My friends will take care of you.
Faisal kept his word.
Khalid, a good friend of his,
picked us up from the train station.
and is now showing us around
his city for several days.
The news at home reduce
Pakistan to terror and violence.
Now that we're here, we can see
that this country is a lot more
than this one-sided image.
We had actually promised ourselves
not to hitchhike.
We're far too curious not to.
Khalid waved down one
of the colorful trucks for us.
We hitchhike for
four days and three nights
until we're at
the Indian border in Lahore.
What we remember
especially well are the Sufis.
They meet every Thursday
for their religious rituals.
After ten months and 30 000km
without flying once
we have realized a dream of ours.
We traveled to India by land.
Varanasi
India
Colorful, shrill,
magical, loud,
terribly ugly
and simultaneously beautiful.
India has everything.
We've been here a few weeks now.
It is undoubtedly fascinating.
But to be honest,
we're struggling with it.
It's rarely as quiet
as this morning on the Ganges.
Our way of traveling
doesn't seem suitable for India.
Hitchhiking takes more of
a toll on your endurance and nerves
than any other country we've been to.
This really sucks.
We'll have to walk.
We're getting nowhere. Let's walk.
There's too much going on.
After hitchhiking 1000km
through India, we give up.
We hardly slept in
our tent for ten weeks.
We rarely find space for
our 2 square meter private sphere.
The longer we stay,
the more we miss the quiet.
Carrying things has
a long tradition in Nepal.
Whoever thinks this
is an obsolescent model
only applicable to areas
that are difficult to access
should think again.
In the capital Kathmandu
there are the so-called porters.
The style is traditional,
the merchandise moves with the times.
Gopal carries refrigerators across town.
He too carries up to 90kg.
We hike for 200km in the Himalayas.
It's so cute!
Look!
Look, Patrick!
Cute!
It must be just a few hours old.
You can still see the umbilical cord.
What do you think the temperature is?
Close to 0, I think.
Today, we're having gruel
with Himalayan yak cheese.
it really doesn't look
like it would taste good,
but it really is.
Especially up here, when it's so cold
and we haven't done anything
but walk all day.
It's getting really difficult now.
5 400m.
I often play a mental game
during this trip.
I think about what we did
exactly one year ago.
A year ago, we were in Ukraine.
Gwen made steamed dumplings
for twenty people at a small festival.
And I ask myself
where we will be in one year.
There's no way for me to know.
One year from today, our child
will be born in Mexico.
Second year
Traveling is now our new home
There was no way to get further East
from Nepal and India.
Either the borders are closed
or the visa too expensive.
Luckily, we're permitted to
enter Pakistan a second time.
From there, we go to China
via the Karakoram Highway,
the highest motorway in the world.
It's almost summer
and we want to reach
Mongolia and Siberia
before the first snowfall.
The Karakoram has the highest number
of high peaks in the world.
Over 60 are higher than 7 000m.
It was predicted that Pakistan
would have a bright future here.
Then came the 11th of September in 2001
and tourism collapsed in on itself.
Today, the hotels are abandoned.
We meet Kualam.
He too profited from tourism
for a long time.
Nowadays he rarely opens his shop.
You can really tell
that nobody's bought
postcards in a long time.
Kualam tells us that Pakistan could be
where Nepal is today with its
hiking and mountain tourism.
Pakistan and its people have potential,
but this country is anything but lucky.
For this reason we're amazed
how relaxed people are toward us.
Look at how they
transport the cars across!
Wow, unbelievable!
In the middle of the mountains,
a lake blocks the road.
A mudslide has backed up a river here.
That's why the Karakoram Highway
is far below sea level.
It's been this way for three years.
The Chinese government has offered
to drain the lake,
but we're told several times that the US
forbade the Pakistani government
to permit this.
Apparently, this is to hinder
Chinese access to the Arabian Sea.
We will often be asked the question:
how was Pakistan? Dangerous?
Did you just get lucky?
I would say that we
simply didn't get unlucky.
There's a big difference.
It's a shame that this country is
reduced to a few extremists.
One could also talk about the other
200 million people that live here.
Or that Pakistan is the 4th biggest
manufacturer of cotton.
Or that 75% of all soccer balls
are manufactured here.
It's a shame how one-sided
the effects of globalization can be.
Even Pakistan's export goods
travel the world faster
than the message of how friendly
and helpful the people here can be.
We meet Karim.
He led tourists through
the mountains before 9/11.
Karim tells us that a snow leopard
killed twenty of his goats last week.
I sometimes let things
not nearly as bad ruin my mood.
Karim is still beaming.
As we're about to continue on,
he gives us
two gemstones he found in the mountains.
And then our time in Pakistan ends.
We traveled through
the country for over a month.
It was wonderful to have been here.
We made it! We reached China
without an airplane
via India.
Now I can take off my headscarf again.
We now have thirty days
to reach Mongolia.
That means hitchhiking
5000km in thirty days.
Let's see if that's possible.
Karakul Lake
West China
Thank you!
Hitchhiking really, really sucks today.
Because...
first of all, there are no cars.
Secondly, when one does come by,
it won't stop.
It's so cold!
Minus 70 degrees.
Minus 70 degrees!
Today really sucks.
Fuck this.
We wisely foresaw a scenario like this
and had a friend in Germany,
who speaks very good Chinese,
write this text for us.
It pretty much summarizes
everything we're doing.
Our names,
that we've been to
over twenty countries,
that we're traveling around
the world without flying.
This will be a difficult thirty days.
My name is Pa-de-ricke, by the way.
We're Pa-de-ricke and Gu-wen.
We're in Mongolia.
In a country that has
fascinated us for a long time.
The modest and mindful life,
the connectedness to nature.
Here they say: who owns a lot,
has a lot of baggage, too.
And yet, we ask ourselves
a question as we reach the grasslands:
Are the nomads still traveling?
Or have the people moved from
the countryside to the cities here, too?
Hello.
Hello.
What's your name?
My name is...
And your wife?
Tough one.
Do you live here in the winter, too?
In January and February?
Yes, we live here
or in the house over there.
So they don't travel around anymore?
The yurt's always been here.
- For sixty years.
- Yes.
And...
in the winter they move into the house,
in the summer they live in the yurt.
There are almost no yurt visits
without at least small delicacies.
We want to return the favor
and cook dinner.
You still need a fork.
But vegetarian layer polenta
is not received well here.
After two spoonfuls
they give it all back.
We quickly learn
that they prefer meat in Mongolia.
We get in Mendee's car
while hitchhiking.
He studied in Dresden
and moved back to Mongolia.
He spontaneously takes us home with him.
His wife mentions as an aside
that Mendee is a shaman.
Mendee will perform a ritual at the
holy Mother Mountain in four days.
He invites us to join him.
However, he doesn't have any space
in his car to take us.
We decide to follow him.
For over 1000km to the Mother Mountain.
But that's not so easy.
Out in the country,
Mongolian streets often look like this.
If you're unlucky, you'll be here
and you'll see another road
half a kilometer away
where people are driving by.
So you walk over,
only to see them pass you
on the other side.
Thank you!
We get to a point where
hitchhiking is difficult to impossible.
Mother Mountain
Gobi Altai Province
After four days,
we see Mendee and his family again.
As we observe Mendee,
we can see the balancing act that's
being attempted in Mongolia today.
We arrived with the 4-wheel drive Jeep,
sacrificed milk from the carton,
and now call upon
the ghosts of the past.
Mendee seems to find this balance.
We can feel how important
the ritual is to him.
Out of respect for their traditions
we shut the camera off
as the ghosts come.
Mendee channels the ghost
of an old woman
who is supposed to have lived
by the mountain 300 years ago.
It was she who asked him here.
She can now see her old home
through the eyes of the shaman.
We're in Ulaanbaatar one week later.
No road in the country
doesn't intersect with the capital.
Twenty years ago, a fourth
of the population lived here.
Nowadays, half the population lives
in Ulaanbaatar and its suburbs.
Many brought their yurts
and hopes for a better life.
Siberia
Russia
Hello!
We're in Irkutsk.
At the partner school
of Gwen's old Waldorf school.
The teacher, Elena, was in Freiburg
on a school trip a few years ago
and visited Gwen's parents.
Now we can stay with her
and talk about our plans to her class.
After Irkutsk we want to keep going,
probably to Yakutsk,
after that to Vladivostok,
and then take a ship to Canada.
Through giant Siberia,
and then to Canada.
Yes, that was the idea.
Until life came up with a new plan.
So there will be three of us soon.
And we'll keep traveling as three.
Going home now isn't an option for us.
This trip has become too integral
a part of our everyday lives by now.
Canceling everything would be
a bigger change than to continue on.
As long as all three of us
are doing well,
our path will continue around the world.
From today on, a lot will change.
- Let's go there.
- Huh?
Let's go there.
Where is this?
The ultrasound is here.
This is Marina. She works
as a translator in the Waldorf school
and offered to help
when we go to the doctor.
The only problem
is that it's in Russian,
if you go into a different country,
there's no problem.
Until then, we'll translate it.
It's good to have Marina
with us during this time.
We'll visit her frequently
in Irkutsk during the following weeks.
We feel drawn to the countryside.
Istok
Siberia
In Istok, an institution
for people with disabilities,
we once again work for room and board.
For two months,
we move into a small room
and work.
I'm a driver.
Hello, hello!
The institution can only
barely stay afloat.
It gets hardly any
support from the state,
they're always short on personnel.
And so there is a lot to do.
It feels good to really be needed again.
Look, what a dragon!
I learn vocabulary every day
during my lunch break.
Natschinaitsa - to begin.
Konschaitsa - to end.
Prodavat - to sell.
Bireminja - pregnant.
What is the temperature
usually during the winter?
Normally around 18°C to 20°C.
Minus 20?
Of course not plus!
- What about the chickens?
- They're used to it.
Siberian chickens!
Minus 40°C. No problem!
The chickens hardly ever
go outside in the winter.
And the cat's don't either?
- Sure, the cats love it.
- They do?
- But why?
- They're Siberian cats!
It snowed a lot, didn't it?
- Cold?
- No, no... a little bit.
You're so funny.
Are you going back to the city?
I don't know yet.
We're here in the wonderful
woodworking shop with Aljoscha.
Hello!
We're making birdhouses.
Come on, again!
Again!
Good.
We're making toys.
Elephants - what else?
Ducks...
We make different animals.
Rainbows as well. How is this called?
You can even learn Russian. It's great.
Unfortunately,
our Russian visa is expiring
so it's time to move on.
We decided that our child
should be born in Mexico.
So we have to get
across the Pacific somehow, soon.
After a long search, we book
a cabin on a freighter.
From Japan to Mexico.
We say goodbye to Istok,
Irkutsk,
and to Marina.
OK Marina, please come visit us!
In Mexico, or anywhere else.
At the North Pole!
Hey, he's stopping!
Run, run, run!
They're going to Mongolia!
Awesome!
We have to be at the harbor
in Tokyo in three weeks.
The freighter will start from there.
So we're traveling back to Mongolia,
to China again,
take the ferry to South Korea
and go to Japan from there.
Japan
1000km before Tokyo
- Patrick, could you help?
- Sure.
We're finally standing
where we're allowed to stand!
We come from Germany.
We're traveling around the world.
We are curious.
We're traveling without an airplane.
It was fun - thank you!
We suddenly see Mt. Fuji
shortly before Tokyo.
I can hardly believe it,
it looks so incredible.
One last guardian of nature.
Shortly before the largest metropolis
in the world swallows us.
Welcome to the
largest city in the world.
This thing is a monster.
It's hard to imagine
that this was built by humans.
We made it!
Nice!
How cool!
Awesome.
How far is far?
Can you even feel where you are?
If you see nothing but water
for so many days?
The horizon always
seems to be the same.
Sure, we could've flown, too.
But could we really have done that?
Can you take almost two years
from home to Japan,
only to fly over the largest ocean
on Earth in twelve hours?
It wouldn't have worked.
On this journey, we were able
to feel things change slowly.
Faces, the countryside, food.
Even the climate.
We want to feel
how far the world is out here.
This is the key moment
where we
crossed the International Date Line
a few minutes ago.
And with that
East
becomes West.
We arrived on the other side,
so to speak.
165,2 tons of Diesel per day.
Surely that can't be right?
180,000 liters of Diesel, every day.
I'll think about this number
often when I'm home
when buying coffee, chocolate or bananas
that came over the sea on a freighter.
I think we felt the path after all.
Perhaps not its distance,
but the passage of time
let us feel its vastness.
And the climate.
It got a little warmer every day.
After 14 days, we see land again.
A new continent.
Here in Mexico,
a new life will begin for us.
Third year
Journey, show yourself!
- Weisser.
- Hi Grandma, it's Gwen!
What! You, calling from Mexico!
Yes!
I can't believe you're calling!
How are you, Gwen?
I'm doing really well, Grandma.
I'm quite round already.
- How's the baby?
- It's kicking.
How will you be doing this?
We got ourselves
a big Christmas present.
We bought an old bus.
We're going to travel with that
and we'll have a little home.
You can fit a bed in
and a closet, and...
- I see!
- And children's items.
We'll just see how it works,
we simply don't know.
We have to try and if it's too much,
we can always go back home.
- All the best to you!
- Thank you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
- Thanks, you too!
- Merry Christmas!
All the best for the new,
eventful year!
It certainly will be.
Now everything's changed,
now we can pick up hitchhikers.
- This is our first hitchhiker.
- Hello!
We come from Germany.
From Germany?
That's far away!
Indeed, that's far!
You think you're making
everything easier and better,
buy a car
and everything gets worse.
We've been to seven mechanics
in four days.
This is ridiculous.
Nobody knows
what's going on.
4 days earlier
Somewhere in Mexico
It's not doing anything.
The motor just shuts off.
Mechanic number...
four, I think.
And who could help?
I only understood half of what you're
saying, but we'll check everything.
What? - If we're lucky, we can
get out of here this afternoon.
If we're unlucky, it could be tomorrow,
or the day after. Or the day after that.
Day three, we're still here.
Mechanic number five.
He says it's one of
the distribution cables.
It's not the spark plug.
We'll just change it.
I'd say he's very competent, though.
Mechanic number six.
He says it's this.
But apparently, it isn't.
- Is the battery the problem?
- Yes.
This is one of the hardest
moments of the journey.
If we can't get
our VW-bus Carlos fixed up again,
it will probably mean
that we have to go home.
We meet Ivan by chance at a gas station.
He specializes in VWs.
The motor sounds good.
He and his son completely
overhaul the Bulli motor
and get us back on track.
What would you like?
What else?
Magical weeks are to follow,
during which we get to know and love
our child's future country of birth.
The 35th week begins today.
We find two wonderful midwives
and rent a small house
in which we are now settling in.
For our first weeks as three.
South Mexico
5 months later
The 3rd summer of this journey
is slowly coming to an end.
It was an exciting summer.
We've been parents since May.
We got many visitors from Germany.
It was like the journey
was on summer vacation.
A break that gave us time
to get to know each other
as a small family.
After almost nine months
we are leaving
our beloved Mexico.
We're going to Guatemala.
With Carlos
and Bruno, of course.
Bruno will get his first stamp
in his little Mexican passport.
I think that's pretty cool!
It's the Day of the Dead.
In Central America, this day has little
to do with a sad visit to a graveyard.
It's a colorful celebration.
Sumpango is no exception.
It's a village in Guatemala
that has passed on the tradition
of creating giant, paper dragons.
It takes months to make the dragons.
The designs are created in groups.
It takes months to make the decoration,
to glue all the small parts on
and to put everything together.
It's amazing! It's that super-thin
tissue paper.
They make Christmas flowers
out of that in Germany.
You kind of feel for them
because you can see how much work it is
and every time they want to set one up
it's an exciting moment,
because over there they
tried one three times.
I don't know if they'll still manage.
Guatemala
Atitlan lake
We're on our way to Jaibalito.
It's a small Guatemalan village
by the beautiful volcano lake
that can only be reached by boat.
Although it doesn't look like it
in the morning, it's the rainy season.
It rains cats and dogs every night.
We're happy to share a house
with other travelers.
Luciano is almost always with us.
He's from the village.
Want to look?
This is Bruno
and that's me.
This is the story of
these little animals,
who leave their home for a journey.
Do you like it?
Did you like it lot?
There is one disadvantage
to the Guatemalan house.
We're not the only ones
looking for a dry place.
- Do you have it now?
- Yeah.
Fucking scorpions.
This is the seventh scorpion
we've found in this room.
In under four weeks.
This is nothing new for Luciano.
He just laughs when I ask him how many
scorpions he's seen in his life.
The next day, he gives us foreigners
a Guatemalan education.
- What is it?
- A black widow.
Is it really a black widow?
- This one's deadly, right?
- Yes.
That's what he said.
We travel through Central America
during the next months.
Driving from country to country.
We look for projects we can help with.
We trade our ability to make films
as often as possible for room and board.
In between we travel as a family -
calmly and comfortably.
We don't immerse ourselves as deeply
in cultures as in the first two years.
We're more focused on ourselves
and we can also tell
that it's time to go home soon.
We haven't been
to Europe in three years.
Does he have his upper teeth yet?
Mine doesn't.
- He has six.
- Six?
Four upper and two lower.
They're going to marry one day!
It's weird, like selling an apartment.
Paint the walls before the handover.
It's pretty sad, that's true.
It was our home for a year.
We went from our tent to Carlos.
It was Bruno's first room.
His window
to a world he was passing through.
Miri and Wolf from Hamburg
are Carlos' new owners.
Off you go!
Now it comes to an end.
Our time in Central America.
Incredible.
We'll always remember it
as Bruno's first home.
The Atlantic
14 days to Europe
We're on a cruise ship.
It was our only option
of getting back to Europe
without an airplane.
The ship is coming from the Caribbean
and is going to Spain
for the summer season.
The cabins are surprisingly inexpensive.
The trip isn't of particular interest
for anyone looking for a dream cruise.
There are hardly any stops,
the sea is rough
and repairs are being done.
The entire personnel is working anyway.
It's completely surreal.
There are 110 cooks for 90 passengers.
Europe.
After three years.
In an hour we'll
set foot on Europe again
and then we will have
traveled around the world by land.
Five people are walking
along the road there.
Mom!
They're waving!
Fourth year
Home is where memories hide
behind every corner
North Spain
Pyrenees
It's so pretty, it looks
a little like the Black Forest.
And you can hear a cuckoo.
- Can you hear?
- Yeah.
At the beginning of our journey
we envisioned walking home
as soon as we were back in Europe.
Now the time has come.
We hike home from Barcelona.
We take the bus over
a part of the Pyrenees,
then walk through South France,
the Swiss Jura,
back to the Black Forest.
South France
900 kilometers left
It's pretty tight in the tent
when it's raining.
- It's tight anyway.
- It's tight anyway.
Bruno's having fun, though.
You don't mind, do you?
Shortly before Switzerland
600 kilometers left
Admittedly, our way home
isn't always easy.
We occasionally really reach our limits.
And yet, we know why we're
doing this to our knees and feet.
To be outside again.
Close to nature.
We already saw a fox
and four wild boars today.
And a snake.
Yumyumyum! Oh, that was a big one!
Walking the remaining part is wonderful.
To be slow.
To return home unhurriedly.
Very good. Want to add it?
Good job, Bruno! Very good.
Swiss Jura
100 kilometers left
I think this is
the last hill.
Another 350 meters uphill.
And then we actually should
be able to see Alsace
and Germany.
You can see the Black Forest
for the first time now.
Look Bruno. That's our home.
Five meters left.
4, 3, 2, 1 - Bruno's asleep.
Federal Republic of Germany
We've gone so far East
that we came back from the West.
We traded our fantasies for experience.
We saw how colorful
and diverse the world is.
We witnessed how much good
it has to offer.
And that there are
wonderful people out there.
No matter where.
What remains with you in the end
is the experience.
The experience
that it is worth it to trust.
Translation:
Jefferson Jung
Subtitles:
alias film & sprachtransfer