Arrival at the Brandenburger Tor
In the beginning we have to adjust to orderly road traffic and we have to force ourselves to use the indicators and not to honk. Naturally, every driver keeps to the marked lines on the streets and insists on his or her right of way. Countless road signs bombard us with information or prohibit something. In 2002 we did not have nor need anything like that but now we appreciate the absolutely smooth, bumper-friendly road on which our cruiser practically "glides". All the cars around us are very clean and shine much more than any of the drivers behind the steering wheel. Welcome back home in the car-oriented country of Germany.
The closer we get to our home city of Berlin, the more we wonder about how all the familiar things will appear to us. This last year not only represented a trip, but a special chapter in our life full of numerous experiences and impressions, which we compared to our life in Germany and intensively discussed in countless conversations. We are very happy and proud of what we have seen: After more than 40,000 kilometers of travel through 15 countries we often strongly experienced the myth of the Silk Road and its lovable people, cultures, landscapes and religious beliefs. We learned not to cling to our western values when making a judgment, but instead to see it all with a more open-minded and tolerant point of view. In only this way you can understand these countries and their people. We have discovered values and virtues in cultures then unknown to us, which certainly not always matched our western expectations, but which supported their contented and satisfied way of life. It is indeed surprising that these people never complained about their private lives, although at first sight they possess much less than we do. They demonstrated instead optimism, contentedness, and above all a love of life. We Germans rather mistrust strangers at first, the people we met however trusted us right from the beginning. During our trip we gradually lost our insecurity towards strangers and put trust in them, which considerably simplified traveling. Therefore, we never really felt unsafe and were never confronted with a really dangerous situation.
Arrival at the Brandenburger Tor |
Having all these impressions and events in our minds we arrive at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on a beautiful, crystal-clear and sunny winter morning. We are overwhelmed by the warm welcome we receive from our families, friends and colleagues and are so happy to hug them all. It is wonderful to see all our old friends and to greet people we know. To meet friends again whom we trust and have known for years, knowing they will not disappear from our lives in a week. On our trip we constantly had to say farewell and this wasn't always easy.
Everybody is so interested in hearing about us and our travels and unfortunately we cannot speak to each friend individually. It isn't possible anyway to compact the events and impressions of 2002 in a few words and the question "How was it?" isn't easily answered. Our attempt to find a short answer to this question is rather unsatisfactory. Even though the world is so different, what is the use of traveling if you do not try to bring the impressions gathered in far-off countries into the people's view in your home country - to expand the perspective?
We keep hearing about how fast this past year went by. We stress instead the fact that we had a contrary impression regarding time.
As soon as the welcome party is over and it gets quieter in the evening after the get-together on Lindwerder Island, we share a bottle of much-longed-for red wine and try to feel at home. Certainly this will still take a few weeks until we are mentally at home. Nonetheless we are immensely happy that we had the courage and the strength to go on such a trip. We would always do it again.
Of course we will always remember the year 2002. For a limited period of time we led a special life: rough and beautiful, peaceful and hectic, adventurous and difficult, full of happiness, loneliness, insight and disillusionment. And since a lot of you seem to be interested: Despite all the burdens we had, we did not have any serious fights.
The Internet enabled us to stay in touch with numerous people in 2002 and we were very happy to share our travel impressions with this web community. Thank you for your strong interest in our tour and the many encouraging emails. If you have any further questions, we are certainly pleased to answer them - just send an email to our guest book.
Our (online) expedition Silkroad 2002 is over now. We wish anyone preparing for any similar tour all the best and much success.
Yours truly,
Ute Vogel and Andreas Bläse
 Silkroad |
Like this, Andreas didn´t imagine his familiarisation in Berlin. At the demobilisation of the car the sand steel plates drop on his foot on the frosted cellar steps. He can drag to the near hospital with a complicated ankle joint fracture and is operated there directly. Unfortunately the “new life “ takes place for him in the following weeks first in the sick bed and then at one leg.
