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Mikhail Golodok | Got1Try
The world is better than they say. I’ll show you.
Mikhail Golodok | Got1Try
The world is better than they say. I’ll show you.
Got1Try journey timeline
Timeline
Ten years on the road: from a first hitchhiking route across Siberia to the Amazon, Papua and the northern water.
Through Siberia
In 2017 I stepped beyond the familiar hikes of Krasnoyarsk Krai and hitchhiked across Siberia towards Lake Baikal, Khamar-Daban, Yakutia, the Far East and the sea. The writing is still uneven, but the essentials are already there: a raised hand by the road, a tent in the rain, a cold Baikal morning and the first feeling that the wide world was not as far away as it seemed.
Central Asia
When I turned twenty-five, I decided to try the dream I had been postponing: not after perfect preparation, but right now. Central Asia became the first stage of my round-the-world journey: a rucksack, a little money, steppe, borders, the Pamirs, cold nights and people who received me as a guest.
Europe Balkans
In Istanbul I gave away my tent and stayed with a bivvy bag, a rucksack and one daily task: find somewhere to survive the night. Under a bridge, by the sea, in a field, in the mountains or on the edge of a city, whatever worked. It almost sounds romantic, except for one detail: it was winter.
South America
As one disaster ended, another began: war. I could not let it take the dream from me as well, so I bought a one-way ticket to another continent. That is how my South American road began: not because everything had fallen neatly into place, but because there was no longer any other way to live honestly with myself.
Down the Amazon
Five months on the continent. Spanish had begun to feel familiar. I was standing by the Ucayali, the river that opens the way to the Amazon, with a plan: a handmade canoe, an almost empty wallet and a little stubbornness. Madness? Maybe. Or maybe not.
East Asia
A year passed after the Amazon. I came back to myself, gathered new gear and returned to the road. Lake Baikal once again became the starting point, and ahead lay Mongolia, China, Vietnam and a new aim: to reach New Guinea without flights. But there was something else too.
Southeast Asia
After a short pause it was time to keep moving. The rucksack felt too heavy again, and an expiring visa pushed me towards the border. The roads of Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia would gradually lead me from the mainland to the sea, ferries and islands.
West Papua
The ferry reached the shore of New Guinea. On the way there I had heard the same warning again and again: “They will eat you there.” Ahead were forty days without guides or guards, with a rucksack, hitchhiking, police permits, jungle roads and people who gradually disproved every frightening rumour.
Northern Karelia
Northern Karelia was not an attempt to get as far away as possible, but a slow movement over water among forest, stone, rain and northern silence. The route was short in distance but important in meaning: a gear test, three weeks of self-supported life and the first serious journey as a pair.
Dehe. Road to Muari soon
The first meeting with New Guinea went well, and I knew I would return. Before that, though, there was one more childhood dream I wanted to try.