The kindness of people keeps us moving forward

We survived by cow dung and straw

At noon, 49 degrees, the road was full of gravel and bumps. We only have half a bottle of 9 liters of water with us, and there are very few vehicles along the way. The only option is to go forward.

This is Azerbaijan, a country of fire in ancient Persian.

We have been riding this gravel road for 3 hours. In such an environment, we would drink 1.5 liters of water in one hour. The speed of 22 yards on weekdays is only 6,7 yards here.

My Syrian teammate is a bit out of energy and proposes a break. Of course no problem, but it is better to find a shade. So we spent another half an hour, and the tallest plant we found was nothing more than the grass just above our knees.

Our water is depleted. For the safety of our teammates, we decided to stop and hitchhiked to the unexpected 20 km town of Bilasuvar.

After 20 minutes, I finally waited for the first big truck. When we introduced our situation with Google Translate, the driver shook his hand impatiently and returned to the cab to blast down the throttle.

After less than 5 minutes, a second truck came towards us, but no matter how we beckoned, they just accelerated forward.

Fair, shortly after, the third car stopped. The driver rolled down the window, thinking he was ready to communicate with us, but he took out his cell phone, pressed the selfie, shook the window, and walked away.

My teammate and I suffered a double blow in my heart and body.

At this time, my teammates were getting weaker and weaker, and there was less and less hope for a free ride.

The fourth car stopped and the driver got out of the car. After seeing our Russian translator, he walked back to the cab.

His two older friends shook his head.

Just when we were hit again by disappointment, the young driver walked back and he said no problem, just follow me.

I don't know what choices he experienced in the past second, but when he turned around, I saw the firmness and kindness in his eyes.

The moment he opened the container door, we were stunned: it turned out that this truck was not a loading truck at all, but for cattle transport. The ground was full of cow dung and straw, which was a bit smoky under the heat.

But why not, less than 5 minutes after getting on the bus, my Syrian teammates went to sleep in endless bumps.

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$ 1 crosses 1 country.

I came to the border between Iran and Central Asia and North Korea-Turkmenistan. One person had only $ 1 in cash in my pocket, and I needed to pay a $ 14 transit tax to enter the mirror.

How did I fall into this situation? $ 600, to get my Syrian teammates home safely,

I have a lot of plan B, but in the last city of Iran, I did not even meet a Chinese. The foreign exchange shop inside was closed and there was no foreign tourist on the train coming to the border, so I kept it in my account. No amount of money will work at this time.

When I came to the border, I pretended that I didn't understand what is called the immigration tax. I wanted to confuse the customs. Of course, in a country like North Korea, this set would not work. The border inspection officials are dignified.

I went back to the waiting room before I checked my passport and put my luggage in the sky, thinking that I was smart enough to put life-saving money in a certain bag. Finally, I found 30 waves of black marks.

If you haven't heard of where Bosnia and Herzegovina is, neither have the border inspection officials of Turkmenistan. They looked at the two currencies for three minutes and finally said, "We don't accept this money."

I went back to the waiting room before, but I did n’t know at all. I was sitting in a corner, and I did n’t know how long the next foreign tourist who could help me to come here. This is the border between the two countries. Money to the Iranian border villages is not enough.

I sighed, but I did not expect that I have today. I knew that I should accumulate more travel experience, bring more US dollar cash, and save more life-saving money before entering Iran.

It's a shame. At this time there is only the wait of unknown results.

I closed my eyes, and it didn't take long before an Aunt Turkmenistan patted me on the shoulder and asked me what happened.

I knew she couldn't speak English, so I made a 14 gesture and two empty pants bags.

At this moment, she turned around and walked to her group of friends to introduce me. Every auntie present here, invariably, took out his wallet, and took out one dollar, one dollar, one dollar. The old lady who talked to me at the beginning collected all the 14 dollars I needed from them.

She came over and handed me the thick one dollar cash that I didn't know how many times I had folded.

I took the money, and I spoke Russian in thank you, spasiba. I also wanted to ask her bank card account. After thinking about the border, I called her money.

She shook her hand and pushed me to the window of the border inspection, hoping for success this time.

On this weekday, the unselfish border inspection officials were also a little puzzled, thinking where the Chinese I changed from $ 14.

He stamped a red entry stamp on my green Turkmenistan visa. I held this heavy passport and weighed it with my heart. Walked back to the waiting room. I took out the food from Iran and Azerbaijan in my bag, and I want to thank them in this way.

They just took a little symbolically and said, "You need to use these on the road." They returned the food to me.

"Welcome to Turkmenistan." They waved with me.

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Three finally waiting for you

Because crossing the Central Asian desert in August is too dangerous, I sent two people's bicycles from the Iranian capital Tehran to Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent. I crossed the desert by train alone. After crossing the Turkmenistan border, I was going to make friends with Indian Convergence in Tashkent.

After arriving at the post office in Tashkent, I was dumbfounded that only two bike boxes arrived.

We and the two countries have confirmed many times without an explanation.

At this time, the only way to continue is to buy another bike in the city.

Just as my Indian friend and I chose a car in a car shop, the guy in the shop handed me a call. The Chinese on the other side of the phone really startled me. I haven't seen a few Chinese people in the past month.

After hearing our story, the other end of the phone invited us to dinner. The thought of compatriots in other countries, we readily agreed.

My fellow drove to pick me up, and there were two other fellows at the table. Let's start with Istanbul and talk about every country and risk we pass. Finally, when talking about Uzbekistan, we asked them if they knew the reliable second-hand bicycle market nearby.

At this time, a burly fellow said, "You can pick one in my shop tomorrow."

I was stunned by the news: "How sorry this is Uncle. We can pay."

"Do you know why we invited you to dinner? I have stayed in Uzbekistan these years and saw a lot of people riding the Silk Road. French and Germans came to my store to repair cars ... I see them and hope that one day I could meet a Chinese. So I said to my guy in the shop, if I saw that the Chinese needed help, just call me. "

"I met you today. You've done so many things at such a young age. This car is my support for your activities. Come to my store tomorrow. My store is not big and you need to take whatever you want."

Two days later, we rode our bicycles and continued to march towards the motherland.

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Riding all the way, the scenery is changing, the mood is changing, what remains unchanged is the honesty among people, not asking for reward.

There are too many such stories in travel. Although we often have different languages, religions, and nationalities, we are all born with difficulties. When we need help, when we have the ability, we can really give away charity in the snow. Under the care of the people along the Silk Road, we are moving towards our home one kilometer and one kilometer.

This is also one of the most important things I learned at UWC. It is because of this sympathy that human beings have surpassed the cold blood and cruelty of animals, allowing us to work together to face difficulties and accept challenges. Understand each other, care for each other, and help each other.

Riding all the way, we never feel lonely, because we all act with the goodwill of people along the way.

It is just too much goodwill like that of Aunt Turkmenistan, which has allowed me to go further and allow me to pass such goodwill to more people.

(Sometimes, the kindness of the stranger makes you go further, and spread this caring further.)