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Have you ever wondered what it takes to cycle from Spain to China? This episode features guest, Sara Qiu, who embarked on this incredible journey in April 2022. Sara shares her experiences, challenges, and the motivations behind her epic adventure which took her from her home in Spain, to connect with her family’s roots in China.
From the rigorous climbs and unexpected hospitality in remote villages to the bureaucratic hurdles and introspective moments, Sara’s journey is filled with rich experiences and profound insights of what it’s like to take a solo bike tour across two continents.
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I kept pedaling for hours and hours and hours I was too tired I think I took one hour nap in the middle of nowhere hitting somewhere and then I continue and then I think at the last 3 kilometers I just had to walk because I couldn’t do it anymore you know in the hard moments questions start to arise you you say okay why I’m doing this yeah you’re cycling all the way for 6 hours 7 hours very slowly and you keep asking yourself why but you then say to yourself that half days are part of the journey too welcome to the seate travel ride podcast where we share the stories and experiences of people who have undertaken Amazing Adventures by bike whether it’s crossing state borders mountain ranges countries or continents we want to share that Spirit of adventuring on two wheels with our listeners [Music] hello I’m your host Bella Malloy and I’m very excited to introduce my guest for today’s episode of seek travel ride Sarah Chu Sarah set off from her home in Spain in April 2022 with the aim of cycling all the way to her parents Hometown Village in China growing up in Spain with Chinese parents she had this inner pool to find out more about her family’s roots to be able to fully answer the question where are you from from which had been put to her so often growing up so what better way to discover this than by taking a longdistance bike tour Sarah has spent the last two years cycling slowly through Europe and Central Asia and I’m actually speaking to her today while she is in China no doubt the experience is gained from undertaking a journey like this will be so vast and memorable and I can’t wait to hear more about what it’s been like for Sarah and have her share those insights of her journey from the road Sarah Chu welcome to the show hello hi Bella thank you so much for inviting me and I’m excited to share all this journey especially the last part of the journey which I’ve been in China almost for two months my head almost explodes Sarah when I think of all those experiences that you’ve had on this journey of yours since leaving Spain arriving in China there’s so much that happens in the middle day today and I imagine these last two months have been really impactful for ones for you as well but a question which I start my show with and I asked this of all my guests is Sarah do you remember the very first bike you ever rode I do remember that my father taught me how to ride a bicycle I was very little maybe well 5 years old 6 years old not that little but I remember that in the first ride I just fell my father just showed me how to ride a bicycle by practicing right he just pushed me and okay best best of luck I have that that image in my mind and did you grow up like do you have brothers and sisters are you an only child yeah I have one older brother he’s two years older than me do you remember then finally getting the hang of writing and writing with your brother as well growing up Yes actually my father some weekends brought us to a park to a famous Park in Saragosa and we hire some bicycles there for 30 minutes and yeah I remember that I I like to ride very adventurously you know like taking the stairs going down the stairs I wasn’t afraid at all has that stayed with you do you find on your travels now you’re more inclined to take a more adventurous route I think since I was little I like to go outside every time you know we we are also lucky that we didn’t have phones when we were little not like today so whenever I could I spend time Outdoors you know on the streets playing football playing baskets with the bicycle and so on and I have good memories of these times yeah this has been a huge Journey for you over 2 years that you have now been traveling like like this but it’s not the first type of travel you’ve taken like you’ve gone backpacking solo you’ve done some other trips as well leading up to this have you always just loved travel I think I loved travel but it wasn’t until I had 23 years old that suddenly I wanted to take that step and start to travel alone you know when I was little for example when I was 13 years old my mother sent me to shinen actually to urumi where I spent a few days and not so long ago because I have um a great uncle there and I have a really good memories of that summer you know in China with my great uncle I remember that I had friends in there which I met a few weeks ago I mean it was one of the best summers in my childhood that I remember and of course in this journey since I planned that I would cycle in China I wanted to visit them and I and I did so I think I did have the Curiosity when I was younger at 14 years old I went to the US for a summer you know I was praying to my mother that I wanted to see I wanted to go to the US and visit I went with the group and everything and then as I said it wasn’t until I had 23 years old that I actually there to go by myself backpacking and it wasn’t a decision that I said said okay I’m fully prepared I’m going to do this it was me seeing other friends other acquaintances doing solo trips and I say okay if he if he can do it why not me and just like that I just forced myself to do it I booked my first blah BL card first time doing blah BL card you know what what it is right I do I know what it is cuz we have it here in France but I remember when I came over and started living here from Australia I was like a blah blah car what is that but it’s it’s almost like a it’s a bus it’s like a ride share bus sort of thing isn’t it or or there’s different versions of it or it can be like a almost like an Uber or something as well it can be like a bus but also its initial form is just like a person that owns a car and he’s going to travel from this city to another city and he share his trip on some platform and just random people can join but you can see the reviews of these people you know but not everybody like likes to travel this way and I don’t know who I’m going to sit next to I forc myself but since then if I wouldn’t force myself then the next solo trips wouldn’t have come into reality and maybe I wouldn’t be here I mean what what I want to say is that I wasn’t fully prepared to do that first trip and I wasn’t fully prepared to do this journey that I’m doing right now I had my fears but I had more curiosity maybe and that’s what helped me uh make that first step and continue I think from what I hear from you as well Sarah it’s a question that I’ve had answered by other guests and I’ve had posed by listeners as well of sometimes we can always find a reason to hold ourselves back from taking a journey we can always think that we’re not ready we don’t have all the equipment we don’t have the enough experience we’re not fit enough we don’t have enough money or something like this there’s always going to be a reason but from speaking with my guests if the desire is strong enough all that happens you don’t need to know I’m just thinking I’ve had guests I was thinking back to Steph Dey she took a Monumental trip all the way started in jalter ended up all the way down at the very southwest tip of Africa and she didn’t even know until she started on day one whether she even liked riding a bike like you know early into the podcast I interviewed another Australian Mark gresser and he was very much the same he he got the bike as a tool to use to travel but he didn’t know whether it’s not like everyone had this Supreme Fitness to go on sometimes you just need to start don’t you yeah for me a lot of people think that cycling is my hobby but I’ve never had a bicycle I think maybe when I was very little and my father you know used to brought us to my brother and I but ever since I was a teenager or after that I didn’t own a bicycle I just bought one a secondhand one when I did my first bicycle trip which was in October 2020 so it’s not like riding a bicycle it’s a hobby but for me I realized that the bicycle in this journey is like a tool for me to discover a country or a culture little by little and helping me approaching people that’s the most important thing of of the bicycle travel I think people see you at your level at their level you know it’s you go slow and people see you coming and they are curious and they know that you might be tired you might be hungry and a lot of stories of hospitality stuff like that traveling in this way it’s like a magnet of curiosity to other people and to strangers isn’t it and they are curious what are you doing where are you going how are you doing this let me help you or were you initially really surprised by that if you reflect back on your first trip in October 2020 did that take you by surprise yeah I I do remember two Encounters in my first bike trip it was a 13-day bike trip from taraga to the North in Avo north of Spain oo and I remember on the first days I saw a lot of hospitality you know small gestur but I was so surprised we shouldn’t be surprised people is just being nice people is just being people but I was so surprised because it was the first time I traveled this way and it was raining I was getting wet I didn’t know if to continue or to stop and there was a family who told me okay come here and I could put my bicycle on the garage and stay at their place for the time I needed they brought me a towel a warm coffee you know so so warm everything and yeah it’s a small thing but it changes your whole perspective and it gives you motivation and strength that maybe physically you don’t have it but you push it you can push it there’s strength coming from somewhere and this happened a lot of times in this trip as well of course because sometimes your body cannot keep up or but people gives you a lot of of motivation and strength having that experience in 2020 I guess you know fast forwarding to 2022 when you decided to take on when you left for this bigger journey I guess having that experience of of those interactions with strangers probably was an extra reason to believe in yourself that you would make it to where you are now as well no doubt yeah yeah yeah for sure I think if this journey would have been alone all the time time like camping all the time or hostel in hosts all the time I I think I probably would have lost the motivation somewhere at some point I’m sure I’m pretty sure about it but I was lucky that at some point in Croatia it was in Croatia that I used a lot of warm showers at the beginning especially in France in Italy and so on but the more you go to the east the less warm shower host are in the platform this situation forced me to ask for help you know it was okay to come sometimes from time to time but not on the day today and I forced myself to ask and the response was super good in the first few days and I just kept continue doing it until almost now I keep trying now but China is different we will go to this country afterwards but for all the countries the 14 countries it’s been like that in Spain in France in Italy it’s been maybe like uh one family I have memories of one family because I didn’t used to do it a lot but from Croatia it was almost almost daily the whole meaning of the journey changed changed a lot and I liked that way of traveling to spend the whole day maybe alone cycling alone I like it and then at the end of the day you share your experience you learn about the family about the culture you eat with them they ask you you know and it’s also shocking and surprising for them that a woman is traveling alone the more you go to the east the less they can imagine this situation that a woman is doing this maybe at well not at my age but even younger they are already married or they have their life already planned so it’s a bit shocking for them to see it and and maybe it’s good to show that there is People Like Us also I often wonder when well well there’s two things I think of there the first one is there is this perception that traveling solo as a woman can be really dangerous and I’m not to say that bad situations cannot happen I would think that it’s more bad luck if they do but overwhelmingly speaking to my guests speaking to people like you Sarah it it’s pretty clear that it’s okay for us to do this as women and also there’s almost an advantage of doing it as a woman on your own because people perceive that it’s so dangerous they’re even extra supportive and kind and generous to you than potentially some men which I think is what you’ve experienced there the other thing I’ve thought of is part of the reason I especially love promoting the stories of solo women on this podcast because I feel other women listen to it and get the motivation to try something that perhaps they’re a bit unsure about whether they can do it and hearing and and sharing stories like your own show people that actually this can be done but I’ve also had the benefit of interviewing guests and I get to see their interactions with people after and I wonder how many people that my guests have actually met on their way get the inspiration to do something different as well I appreciate we come from a western culture a lot of us and so you know we have opportunities to travel but I do wonder when you do show other strangers what you can do how many of those strangers potentially have thought of doing something a little bit different because they’ve seen you as inspiration yeah that’s why I also like to promote and keep sharing on social media the stories that I’m leaving you know there’s a plenty of things that I want to share but myself I was inspired also by other people men and woman or men and woman and it’s true that if you see somebody that has done that or has done something similar it’s easy to put yourself in that situation as well if she can do it I can do it you don’t need to be the best athlete not at all I am not that I think that it’s true what you said before that our motivation or our curiosity it’s above our fears doesn’t mean that we are fearless because we are not but it’s true that in this kind of Journeys the kind of fears I think they evolve but that doesn’t mean that I’m not Fearless yeah from time to time people write me H woman and men to to tell them about my journey and it’s true that when a woman writes me it’s more about how did you handle the fears or how did you handle camping alone you know the kind of questions that man ask me are different you’re more it’s more about technical technical things but what bike are you using what gearing do you have I mean but I understand I understand I can put myself in the same situation as as the woman who is preparing her long Journey because I had that these same fears and by practice then I just lost a bit of that fear or maybe still there but I just keep doing it it’s interesting that just even the different questions you get depending on whether it’s a man or a woman asking you the question I want to talk about wild camping there because it is something i’ I’ve spoken about it with a lot of solo female Travelers and a lot of solo male travelers as well I think the fear attached to world camping isn’t just gender specific but I do think that women probably perceive that fear a bit stronger what has your experience with wild camping being and are you at a stage now where do you have fears wild camping or do you feel really comfortable and it’s something that you just do like how has your journey of wild camping grown with this type of travel I have fears doing wild camping but it is because I don’t have enough practice in Wild camping that’s that’s the reason why because what I like the most is to stay with families and it’s been like that in most part of the journey and in China I’ve been here for almost two months 10 of these days I was with my family okay but the rest of it it was basically from hostel to hostel to hostel so in the first region in shinan for example I didn’t want to welcome and not at all you know I didn’t want to be waken up by the police for example in these regions the more I go to the east I want to at least force myself a little bit you know there was one day not so long ago that I had to force myself to find somewhere to sleep because it was a small village no hosts there and even if there was Hostel probably foreigners wouldn’t be allowed so I found my own way to find a place to sleep I slept in a government building okay approval of the villagers and on the next day I realized that I miss this kind of Adventure too you know because in the other countries it’s okay you sleep with a family and it’s let’s say comfortable but you get to ask maybe to one family to another to another and it’s because you ask and also people are very willing to help that you get that chance you know but when you go from hostel to hostel it’s too comfortable I I don’t want the journey to be like that I’m still adjusting to traveling in China I want to get into that a little bit later I want to actually get into the motivations for this trip first and I mentioned it in my introduction you grown up in Spain your parents are Chinese and you’ve often had this question probably from people in Spain oh you know where are you from and that’s born an inner type of curiosity for yourself to learn more about your family about your roots and stuff how did the idea then come that you would cycle from Spain to China to learn more what sparked this curiosity to embark on such long travel yeah that idea wasn’t there from the beginning of the journey because when I started in April 2022 I just have a direction Asia just that and no time frame you know the whole idea of the journey was different from what it is now it is the fact that after N9 or 10 months within the journey was when I was in southern turkey last year in the month of January my grandmother passed away and is that fact that made me change not change my mind but fix a destination because I didn’t have any destination in mind but from where that happened I flew to China a few weeks later my mother was there and I just realized that the most natural destination for me in this journey would would have been the village of my parents which is in Eastern China and that’s how I decided to go from Spain to China on a bicycle but at the end I was just following a Direction so I like that because it came naturally I didn’t force it from the beginning you know I didn’t even have China in my mind nothing nothing at all not even China but then it just came naturally and here I am I Wonder having it come up so organically there I wonder also whether There Was You know the importance of a sense of freedom from when you set off of not having a fixed destination I sometimes wonder whether sometimes people get burdened with a journey because they have this fixed not necessarily a fixed route but maybe a fixed time frame or a fixed end point and there’s burdens potentially during the trip of do they still want to go that far can they go that far things happen and I wonder whether the way this has occurred for you it’s become so organic there you weren’t burdened by that you did have freedom yeah and that’s a beautiful thing exactly I think it gave me a lot of freedom at the beginning because it’s true that I I stopped a lot in in a lot of places and then maybe five days here and just resting visiting the city and so on if I had China in my mind from right from the beginning maybe I would feel like okay I’m not getting any closure day by day but I didn’t have any destination it was just advancing and I didn’t even have a planned route at the beginning maybe the first weeks it was like okay I want to reach this place I want to cycle six days per week and then I realized this is not realistic I need to reach more and at the beginning of the journey maybe the first year first year and a half I was doing YouTube videos not anymore I just to for a little while and I needed more time you know my off day it was for making the video but I didn’t have time to process everything that I live so there is this balance that you have to find and yeah I’m still finding I found it but then every time you go to a new country everything is different and China is so so different that I have to find that balance again and China is huge we’ve mentioned you’ve been there for 2 months your parents Village is in the East you’ve still got a way to get there don’t you it’s a massive country yeah it’s huge it’s not like I’m in China and I’ll be done in another couple of weeks it’s a big big land mass in and of itself yes the first region I was in Shang which I had to skip most of it you know I just cycled for roughly 10 days or two weeks but is four times almost four times Spain and the Reg I am now chinai it’s a quarter bigger than in Spain yeah I cannot do the whole region of course but it’s a huge country I think it’s bigger than Europe you had no fixed end point when you started and no fixed route did you have a time frame because a question which I get asked a lot by many listeners of the show is how do people do such long distance long duration trips from a bud buting point of view and how do how do people finance and are able to afford to be on a journey for so long how about yourself there yeah so when I started this journey my idea my na naive idea was to be able to make money out of YouTube and collaborations and so on but I think it’s harder than we think it is and at some point when I set a destination I also realized that okay this is not working exactly and I don’t know if it’s worth it to push it that way so maybe since I now have a destination I know more or less how much more budget will I need and then after this project I will start another project and get some funds or earn some money again but yes I before this journey I’ve been working for five years and I’m not a big spender I like to say that way and I just had a room for myself in Madrid I was working in Madrid not a whole flat so I always like to save money and when the idea of this journey came then I had enough savings for keeping up for two years or three or a little bit more if you really want to save money by traveling this way you can save a lot of money that is the truth but also the first month I remember when I was in Spain in France in Italy I didn’t go to a restaurant anytime anytime just from the supermarkets you know but at some point I said okay if I don’t even try the Local Foods you know I have to try it so from time to time I gave myself like this kind of treat the more you go to the east the cheaper it is so you can go outside or eat outside on the day today I’ve heard that from other guests before and actually I’ve had guests before who’ve gone through Europe very very quickly because it’s so expensive and if they if they did it longer they wouldn’t be able to keep journeying on beyond that as well you did mention food and it’s such a great opportunity because I’m a passionate food lover and I always ask a food question on the show Sarah my mind boggles at the amount of amazing unique curious dishes that you would have encountered on this trip I’d love you just to tell me about food firstly your relationship with food are you a food lover or is food purely something that you just have to fill your body up to fuel you each day and then next just some of your food experiences yeah I wasn’t a food lover actually I cook very basic things at home I love it when my father cooked because he is a very good cook and I think the best food I can eat is my father food I believe in that and that’s my truth but it’s also true that I dare to try other sorts of food in even if they are weird I have a Chinese background and from time to time we eat weird things at home and I try them all so that’s okay but I think the best things I had and the best experiences I had in terms of food is whenever I went to a family you know for example in Turkey in Turkey it was the most hospitable country of all and I spent four months and a half in there so a long time it was the country that I spent the most time because it was the biggest now China is going to be the the biggest but yeah the previous one was turkey and I remember that the cish families for example I was with a family in a very small village I was resting in a park there was a school nearby there was a few houses nearby and then the the people in the village start to come over and to ask me and where are you from blah blah blah and there was a woman who realized about my journey and she said don’t worry you stay at my home and this woman she was like 40 something years old and she had 10 kids 10 kids wow yeah and she invited me and she had 10 kids yeah what a woman whoa yeah and that same night she had to bring her little kid he maybe he was two years old he was de and she needed to bring him to another city for an operation you know so there was a lot of things on her plate already but she she invited me and I remember that in kurish families in the small villages you share everything with everybody from the same plate and I remember we were like two groups because the family was super big and I sat on the floor with the small girls and I remember that one of the small girls maybe she was 15 or 14 years old she kept putting things on my side you know I yeah and super and and the food of course was amazing yeah yeah everything homemade everything with the hands and it was a super nice the hospitality of a woman 10 children of her own one who needs to go for an operation and still welcoming a stranger in and then just having just a a beautiful Feast laid out for you wow what a memory and just one of many many many that you’ve most likely had so far Sarah yeah yeah yeah I had many many like that all recorded in my diary because I have bad memory but I did have so many of these kind of experiences especially in Turkey in many countries but the countries that I spend the most time also was in turkey and in usbekistan as well in usbekistan it was so easy to find these families you know at some point I was cycling and I just realized that how calm I am even if I don’t know where I’m going to sleep because the experience of the previous days of staying with families one day after another show me that here people is super nice and they will help me for sure something you’ve talked about there is how people will help and how you’re comfortable asking for help is that something that you learned to do as part of traveling in this way the reason I asked that Sarah is I’ve had a few guests who have now told me that’s one of the biggest learnings that bike travel has taught them is that it’s okay to ask for help have you come to that through this experience yourself yeah I think so I think so because before this journey I was very uncomfortable to ask for help even to people that I know it was always embarrassing or I don’t want to bother this person but it was out of a need or that I had to force myself and I realized that the reaction and the willingness to help was there and I just kept doing it yeah and you can see even if you don’t understand the language you can feel how the people is with you when you don’t understand the the language you pay more attention to their gestures the nonverbal language and you realize that they are happy that you’re there that you’re comfortable and the thing I can do is to be present to be with them to listen to them ask them questions they will ask you questions and that’s the little thing also that you can do for them on the topic of language you speak a few languages yourself as well you are multilingual which I imagine has been helpful during this journey as well for the countries that you’ve traveled with where you don’t speak the language what has been something that you’ve done that’s been really helpful you talked about opening your mind up to body language and seeing other signs but are there other things like when you go to a new country say when you’re in usbekistan do you enter a country and go okay I need to learn these words these phrases or something like that I try to learn the basics at least I mean Hello bye-bye thank you the basic but then it’s not realistic that I I learn a lot or maybe one sentence or two sentences but yeah I feel that they are happy if you know some words or a few sentences just a little bit you can sense that they are happy that you take the little effort to learn it but also if there is willingness to talk to do some exchange we always use a translator even if it’s a bit uncomfortable it’s not that straight you know but it is what it is sometimes they bring their niece for example or they put you on the telephone with someone who speaking English and you can have a more fluid conversation they always do that I’ve done a lot of facetimes in in family’s houses you’d be in a lot of situations that would have been totally unexpected for you as well like I just imagine how has it been then in China being able to speak the language do you feel that that has been a bit advantageous it’s not that people who don’t speak Chinese can’t go to China and I know there’s restrictions on what you can do there when you travel there but have you found that being able to talk with people has been very helpful for you yeah for sure for sure it’s been very helpful because yeah normally I deal with medium AG people or older people and for sure they do not speak English but if they can’t speak with you and there’s no this language barrier I’m not fluid in Chinese I have like a medium or low medium level level but we can exchange and we can I can travel with this level of Chinese and you can feel that people feels closer to you if you speak the language maybe at the first sight they do not know that I’m from abroad some people think that I’m from the south of China because I’ve got apparently I’ve got some southern accent maybe from my parents and yeah sometimes they don’t know straight the way that I’m from outside and maybe that helps but if we keep continuing talking then of course I told them that I traveling from Spain I was born in Spain that my parents are Chinese you know there’s always a connection because my background is Chinese that helps I cannot speak for someone who is white let’s say but maybe they are very fluent in Chinese maybe they can communicate perfectly but since they are not Chinese or they don’t have the Chinese origin there would be a barrier I still don’t know I I don’t have that experience I guess though overall and looking more broadly than just China what’s really clear speaking with you Sarah and speaking with other guests is language barriers can make things a little bit trickier but by no means are they a reason to not interact with people and sometimes I wonder whether language barriers also help us a little bit similar to what we were talking about about being a solo female I wonder in some countries being a complete Foreigner would have been a bit helpful as well potentially yeah I can’t speak in that situation because I I’ve been there and in a lot of small villages in Turkey for example I ask and they’ve told me that I’m the first Foreigner they see in their Village maybe the first Foreigner who is traveling in their Rel maybe I’m just the first you know so it’s always something new but you see that they don’t have that fear even if I’m different from them I haven’t seen that fear and that’s beautiful as well because maybe in other places or maybe the people that is living in the cities would have that fear but in many villages they didn’t sometimes they ask me aren’t you afraid of staying at people houses people that you don’t know and I asked them aren’t you afraid of Hosting me you don’t know me either you know yeah it’s true there’s an element of Trust on both sides isn’t it I trust you’re not a murderer you trust I’m not a murderer that’s something that has to be mutual that you know that that is there yeah I also learn to trust on people more and more even if I don’t know anything about them or you just trust them and sometimes you have to do it because you don’t have any other choice but a lot of times you just do it because you want to and you have some hope hello everyone I just wanted to take a quick moment to say a big heartfelt thank you to all of you listeners who have given me a small Financial donation and supported Me On by me a coffee all of those donations do make a difference they help to support the running cost of this podcast so that I can keep producing episodes for you each week and I really appreciate all of you who clicked on the buy me a coffee link and sent me through a small donation if you are listening and would like to support the show you can do so quite easily I’ve provided a link to buy me a coffee you will find it in the show notes if you click on that link and you can choose to buy me a coffee which again is just a small donation which helps toward the running cost of the show thank you all so much okay now let’s go back to the show one of the questions that I had for you Sarah was about perceptions meeting reality a traveler like you Travels With The Curiosity inside you to learn to experience and to be immersed in a new culture a new country see the world right it’s often interesting when I ask gu when when you went to such a country what did you think about it beforehand and what it was it like to be there You’ mentioned a few times just how different your experience has been in China I’d love to know what was your perception of China before arriving there and how has that reality been for you now yeah I think China is very big and I cannot generalize but I would say an example with other country for example so whenever I go to a new country I try to read a little bit about it but not to get the full information about it because I want to discover it by myself and I don’t want to have these preconceived ideas or I don’t want to have these prejudices so I say okay I’m going to discover it by myself and get to know it by knowing the people and so on it is true that uh most of the countries I think all the countries surprise me very positively because I found a lot of goodness and kindness and all that what I also have seen is that for example when I was in Serbia I think the first family that I stayed in Serbia my previous country was Croatia you know and in the past there was a conflict between these countries and the woman asked me and what do you think about croatians or are croatians good and I was so surprised to listen to that to that question and I say yes of course I stay with a lot of families in Croatia they help me the nature is beautiful and so on and I remember that another family in Serbia I think I stayed two nights with them and I told them that the next part I’m going is through Kosovo and of course Serbia and Kosovo have their conflict from a lot of years before and they say be careful in there be careful in Kosovo bew with the people and so on but then I went to Kosovo I met a super nice family I stay with them for three days then I made a loop in Koso because I wanted to spend more time and before leaving Kosovo I came back to that family and maybe you will say okay maybe you were lucky but also I met a lot of family from this family and so on what I want to say is that people me included we have some ideas or prejudices we read about the media and the media also put bad news we canot find many good news and that’s bad because it’s another person fear that they try to put you that fear it’s just because they don’t know maybe they they’ve never been to Kosovo they don’t even know people from Kosovo from this other country but you know that there is some fear in them and you can get that fear as well that’s what I mean so we have to be careful with that because maybe they don’t have the the experience but they trust the what they say in the news in the media and so they have that fear and they try to instill it in you so I try not to listen to this and form my own opinion and it’s been all very good I guess then China has been restrictive for you in that the way that a bike tourer typically travels from dayto day is very different what you did up until what you how you’ve arrived in China was that something that you knew was potentially going to happen or was that were you oblivious to how you would be received there yes I knew that it was going to be more controlled than any other part of China but I would never imagine that I would live what I’ve lived it’s not that the police treat me badly but it’s there constantly if you go into a big city and you do the touristy things and so on no one pays attention to you but as soon as you leave a city and you go to small villages then something is weird for them in almost all the places I’ve been in shinchan I’ve been stopped by the police or uh yeah they ask you questions and even in the Border it was the toughest border of all it was 1 hour and a half or two hours with a policeman he took my phones and look into all the gallery he he did a full a background check what I was doing what my parents are doing where are you from show me where is your city they wanted to have it all to understand it all and why I’m coming here and what do you know about the igur of course at the end every everything was okay and I could go in and everything but it is pretty strict I remember that I was so happy to finally cross this border and then boom that is your welcome package for coming to China but I started in the most trick one you know but I think in the later years it has been worst and worst and when you do a checking in a hotel in a small village it’s very common that because you are a foreigner that the owners call the police and say okay this person is here you know because the village is small maybe there are like three four hotels and no more and the police has to be aware they cannot through the system but they say okay this person is here sometimes they come they ask me you know everything all the questions I and on the next day when I leave Sometimes They Come sometimes they follow me with a car so it’s been like that almost every day that I cycle so at the end I decided that what I’m doing here if the surprise factor is not there if someone some family by any chance inv invite me to their home which happened one day one time actually but I refus because maybe I’m putting that person in danger so what’s the point I’m staying from hotel to hotel I’m not cycling freely yeah there’s no point so at the end I decided that I would keep it all and I SK it almost all Shin it was much more restrictive than I thought that yeah have you found then as you’re traveling further into China and the restrictions are a bit less have you you found a different Rhythm to your travels again now or it’s still different yeah when I arrived to the second region canil it wasn’t restrictive I was free but it is true that there is a general rule in China that uh we as foreigners cannot stay in at every hotel or hostel you know you normally can stay at the ones that are designed already designated by the police these used to be the most expensive ones in small places but if the city is Big maybe you have the chance to find a hostel like a youth hostel like the one I am now that is cheap and they can host foreigners so that’s a rule that I really don’t understand and for foreign Travelers you know it’s not very convenient Because unless you really like to Wild camp and you wild Camp from the day to day then it’s okay but it’s is not my case but it’s true that in canu I had freedom let’s say as a bicycle Traveler I’m still trying to find and to ask in The Villages about help and they are very willing to say to tell me okay you can come don’t worry about it this is a safe place but I still didn’t find someone who proactively tell me okay you can stay at our homes maybe I have to ask directly I don’t know gosh it must take so much adjusting because so much of your trip hasn’t been in China of course so much of your experience has been just this other way and even what you mentioned earlier about being concerned to stay somewhere in case you’re putting someone else at risk there’s that element which is a new one as well how much further is it from where you are now to that end destination of your parents Village in in time not distance so much how much time do you feel you’ll have still for this journey of yours in China yeah so I set a date also I haven’t told you but I set a date so I have a time frame but a very long one I’m skipping a lot of parts so it will be a very long one that is in January late January 2025 right before the Chinese New Year seven odd months still to travel still to experience 7 months to be in a country where you you get to introspectively feel about finding out going back to your roots what has this experience for you been like Sarah being in China and being there what’s that part of it like for you being in China I’m still discovering and I’m still trying to make people guess where I’m from you know because it’s true that you may have an idea of of what you are or what I feel but I think it’s also important to in this case of about when I’m talking about identity to know how people perceive you because that’s how they will treat you in Spain for example I get annoyed when people ask me where I’m from because I’m from there and if they didn’t see my face they wouldn’t ask that you know if they were blind nobody would ask me that right but whenever they ask me that in Spain I feel that there is a wall because you already put me in another bag and I don’t like it but it is what it is and maybe I have we have our the people like me have to educate the people in there I don’t know but here in China I’m having all sorts of answers or perceptions and I don’t really know but I’m still discovering I also don’t speak very fluently the language so okay I can understand sometimes they perceive me as Chinese but not totally Chinese with a bat and sometimes they tell me that okay for having grown up in Spain your Chinese is really good and I should be happy about that right but if they saw me as a Chinese they wouldn’t think my Chinese is very good and that’s because they perceive me as a foreigner so it’s something tricky I try to take out the good things about it the good thing is that I can have a conversation with them I can maybe I can give them another perspective or I can be like a small representation of second generation Chinese in in other places and I don’t know I don’t know what I am I like to have a Spanish passport because it’s a strong passport but doesn’t Define who I am so I feel like both I’m Spanish and I’m Chinese as well I I don’t have a final answer for this oh gosh it feels really philosophical and deep and meaningful but the Sarah that started on this journey is very different to the Sarah that you are today as well you are made up of your experiences we all are in our life and the experiences you’ve had from the last two years of traveling in this manner influence your personality now and your perceptions now and how you act now as well so I imagine just even how you’re feeling now would be different to if you were to teleport yourself from two years ago into this situation now you would have different feelings as well I think yeah so I wouldn’t want to go back to to the one two years ago of course I think everything helps you to grow this kind of Journey set you in a lot of situations that without doing it maybe wouldn’t have happened or every day is new it’s it’s happening a lot of things every country is New as well I had some fears at the beginning that maybe have faded away I have much more Trust on people or even if I perceive that I do not have it or have some Prejudice if I’m lucky and I’m aware about it about that prejudice I I try to work on it because I realize that there is something wrong with me and maybe I don’t know this person I think this person has something negative but maybe it’s just a Prejudice and I just have to talk with this person but I one of the things that I think I’ve learned the most is to ask for help because I’ve been doing it for a lot of times and that’s something I’m okay with now there’s also a lot of things I’m still struggling so you keep learning things but there are also struggles that arise or maybe they were there and they are more present but I think the main problem is myself sometimes I don’t know how to handle myself emotionally or a few days I feel that I’m very negative but you know it’s just a matter of perception with the situation in China for example I’ve also question myself if I chose the right country to cycle you know it was like a natural decision but it was like what I’m doing here and sometimes I also imagine what if I quit now I mean what if I don’t cycle anymore because it didn’t make sense to cycle in that region so it made me question the journey a lot of times and as I said it’s taking a lot of time to adapt to this new situation but I’m also a very stubborn person so maybe if I wouldn’t be that stubborn and just follow the rules maybe things would get easier just it is what it is and so on if the police has to take you from this place to that place okay just visit the other places there are plenty of places to visit in China right but it just makes me angry that my own decision the way I want to do it which I did it in the first 14 months is out of my control now but sometimes it would would be easier if I just accept it and and that’s it so I still struggling with my inner thoughts inner emotions nothing’s going to help that except yourself and it is just it’s another sort of challenge I see I see that way is different it’s not even something physical it’s not the physical part of the journey it’s partly mental as well but it’s another kind of obstacle challenge that I have to deal with and maybe that’s challenge it’s the Restriction itself but it’s also a mental one you’ve got so much time to think about it with yourself you’re traveling solo I know that you have interactions with people dayto day but maybe not so much this time in China aside but we talk about your prior travel dayto day you’re riding on your own each day you’re riding solo so I guess that would add to it as well I often think sometimes people who take these sort of trips they probably come out with self assuredness of who they are themselves and and perhaps even more questions than when they set off or what the rest of us would be like where we aren’t just on our own dayto day as well it’s true that I think in most part of the journey well in all the journey I’ve been alone I’ve been cycling alone except only a few counted days but it is true that in this last part of the journey in China it is true that I felt more loneliness I think it is because I haven’t stayed with families as I did in other countries but also I think it’s it’s something I have to adapt it was okay in the previous countries well in Greece it was different as well because I haven’t found it was a tough thing to find families maybe I just found one or two in Greece it was yeah it was a challenge maybe they had some fears about about refugees or I don’t know but China and Greece has been the countries that that I felt more loneliness I still have hope in China though there are many other regions have you come across many other bike Travelers during your journey as well not many I just remember a couple from Sweden yeah a couple from Sweden they are called solidarity raising they are going to finish the trip at the same time as me in Western Sahara it’s a solidarity project so they are raising awareness about the conflict in Western Sahara cuz I wonder like does that go into the way that your route it’s unplanned you were talking about being in villages in Turkey where they say you’re the first Foreigner we’ve seen I have this perception that people who travel through turkey and then they through Central Asia there’s I guess there’s less roads possibly to take but I just wonder whether or not you would see other bike Travelers doing a similar Journey but not necessarily I guess yeah no at the same time as me no I normally if I know that I’m going through Central Asia for example I’ve contacted some other people that have done it to get some tips and that’s it but I haven’t found anyone and maybe they are not on social media all of them yeah and I’m improvising a lot so sometimes I’m staying two days in this place sometimes I just keep cycling every day I mean that’s at the very essence of your journey is that improvisation of no fixed plans maybe a fixed end point now but no fixed fixed plans on how you get there you have more room for surprises if you travel that way and if you travel alone one of the good things of traveling alone if there that kind of encounters or just random situations random events you can join because you are the only one who decides and you do what you feel to do that’s the good thing of alone there are bad things maybe probably but the good things are is this I was going to ask such a long journey that you’ve undertaken I appreciate it’s not over yet obviously but just even reflecting back what’s something that fills you with the most sense of pride in terms of what you’ve done and experienced so far what are you most proud of let me think about it so after being some time on the road which has been over two years you kind of normalize what you’re doing and this is like the normal thing to do and you also follow a lot of other bicycle Travelers who have done very similar things and you get into this bubble and you think that is normal and when people ask me I just tell them about my journey very naturally but it’s true that when I look back and everything I experienced since I started when I look at the map with all the thoughts that’s a lot it’s hard to imagine it seems so far in time when I started because I think that whenever you are on the bicycle a day in a bicycle seems like a lot a lot of things can happen and it’s like time goes slowly but I think that you are more present in the time because you cannot go faster I mean you have to be there you have to be patient you have to climb that hill and you know that it just keep pedaling maybe at 4 kilometers per hour and and that’s it so I think a lot of things happen in one day that’s why the perception of time seems longer I feel that I’ve been in this for four years or five at least and yes I’ve been able to do this by myself with the help of a lot of people because without this help and without this company and staying with families I am sure that I wouldn’t be here I have have dealt with some fears and with a lot of uncertainty some things that I’m still dealing with is to find this balance to keep adjusting to the new countries or to to the new regions but that’s another kind of obstacle and another thing that I have to deal with to learn with and I hope that all the learnings that I’m gaining from the bicycle travel stay with me afterwards one of the things that worries me is that when I finish this trip and I go back to Spain I think the the sort of job that I want to find or the sort of project that I want to do H will be very different from what I was doing before but I’m afraid to get again to that bubble or to that rat race to that having that ego you know to find your place in I don’t know it’s like a I’m living another life right now it returning back to a different routine in work too isn’t it like returning back to a different life to a different you know your routine for so much of your trip would be pack up your possessions put them in your paniers and your decisions there which road am I taking where am I going to find food where am I going to find water you know where will I stop and it’s a very different experience what you’ve had to then return back to what you know the majority of people are doing day in day out it’s that different routine a different way of life a different way of experiencing you know Monday to Friday or whatever days you work and stuff as well I’ve thought about this so strongly for many of my guests who’ve traveled on such vast big multi-year experiences and Adventures like you have and I’ve often wondered what it’s like to try to to teleport yourself back to what you used to do because it’s like we said already on this show you’ve changed from two years ago to try and adjust to life of two years ago when this is over or 3 years would be so so foreign to you as well to be able to go back to it it will be like another sort of challenge in here you are forced to adapt otherwise you are going to have bad moments if you don’t adapt and I guess going back will be a new sort of challenges but then if everything goes smoothly you know like living in a city and having all the comfort and you will take it for granted I think even if we have that comfortable life I used to have a comfortable life let’s say to try to remember yourself that you have to put yourself again in uncomfortable situations or go do a small trip with the bicycle again bring your tent don’t have a plan ask for help welcome or whatever but to put yourself out of that comfortable life of the city to force it your Journey’s taken you through very remote places through isolated places mountains you know deserts all those sort of things cities and Villages where do you feel most at home where do you feel most energized being in a city in a village in the mountains by a river like where does Sarah feel the best I I think I need I need a balance of all of them you know if I stay two weeks in a very remote Village I would be crazy if I stay two weeks in this big city with the comfort and everything I would get crazy as well I know that spending three night in a place would be the perfect thing at the fourth day I start being agitated I need to move again I don’t know if this is something I have gained from the bicycle travel but I know that I need some days to rest but not too much and I need the days to cycle but also not too much because your body cannot handle it all so I need this balance being with people being alone sometimes doing sports cycling sometimes resting yeah I was talking about the routine of a bike tourist and travelers say are about you know packing up your things putting them in your paniers making decision ISS they’re not major decisions that you have to make each day but that’s what your routine looks like I’d love you to take us me and the listeners to one day of your trip it’s a question I’ve asked all of my guests and it’s too hard to ask you about every day because there’s so many days there’s so many experiences there’s so many moments 15 countries 13,000 kmers there’s so many places but I’d love you to just reflect choose one day of this journey a journey from the road and take me and listeners there what was it like on that day and what happened I think I will choose one day in China it was something recent but I think it was an interesting day so I started the day in a village that is called fried noodles actually fried noodles awesome yeah I don’t know why they put that name there was no restaurant with you know but it’s okay it was a funny anecdote I woke up there this Village was at 2,800 M I was going to have a big climb and I decided to split it in two that’s why I slept in this Village so I could have more strength to do it so I started the day around 900 a.m. the good thing about these days in here is that the day daylight is pretty long so it start at 6 more less until 8:00 p.m. so you have enough time I was going to cross the border from the region of kanu to the next region the one I’m now which is chhai and I had approximately a th000 MERS of climb and the highest point was at 3,000 and almost 700 Metter it was a long time that I didn’t climb that I haven’t been in the mountains last time was almost two months ago uh in the kges pamier highway and I really like the that experience because the climb was slowly the views were super nice no mountains on the side it was super beautiful the the kirg experience and here the views were super nice as well but you realize that in here they don’t take care much of the nature you know at that sort of elevation you expect more pureness more nature you know but there was a road with big trucks coming by from one side of or another and I was so surprised to see that because at 3,000 m in Spain you wouldn’t see that or maybe in Europe so many cars passing by or so many trucks especially trucks so I was surprised it was like a shock I kept pedaling for hours and hours and hours I was too tired I think I took one hour nap in the middle of nowhere hitting somewhere and then I continue and then I think at the last 3 kilometers I just had to walk because I couldn’t do it anymore you know in the hard moments questions start to arise you you say okay why I’m doing this yeah you’re cycling all the way for six hours seven hours very slowly and you keep asking yourself why but you then say to yourself that half days are part of the journey too and I remember arriving at the highest part there was nothing special no special panel or anything but I remember that there were a lot of stalls people selling souvenirs and I remember that there were skins of animals hanging there and I say oh my God I I arrived here to see this is not this is not possible and I was tired I was cold everything but then one of the Stalls there was one family who saw me and they say just come over come over it was warm in their tent because actually they slept there in that time of the month and they sell souvenirs and stuff and they were super nice to me they invite me to a yogurt they were from the h minority and they were super warm super hospitable and everything and it remind me to the good moments that I had in previous countries you know it made me so happy so that was the best part of the day and afterwards I had a 2 kilometers going down to the first Village of chinai I ate something I was starving because I didn’t bring any food I was starving so I ate something rice and and beef it was delicious and then I called to a hostel and ask as them if they could uh host foreigners in there because I knew how the policy was and they say no we asked to the police and we cannot host foreigners I’m sorry if you go to the police and get their approval you can’t stay with us we we are happy to receive you and say okay it makes sense I went to the police and you know all the funny started I was super tired I was that Village was at 3,400 M and I said okay the B the worst situation here is that I come somewhere and probably it will be minus5 or minus 10 I don’t know minus5 at night and it will be very Cal but I try to explain my journey to the police and then this policeman called to another and to another and to their Superior and and like this for around 3 hours because they didn’t want to give me any alternative they say we will bring you by card to the next place to the big city and I say no I don’t want that alternative can you give me another one and like that it felt like I was dealing I was speaking with the wall at some time that’s why I told you that I’m stubborn I wanted I had some hope that they know that I’m so tired that I need a shower and everything and I thought that they were going to be able to let me sleep in that hostel I told them I’m not going to leave the hostel don’t worry or you can come to that hostel as well sleep in another dorm and leave in the next day but they didn’t at the end I stayed for three hours with them and at the end of the night four police woman came they were nicer they explained to me all the situation that I had to get a permit and so on and I I accepted the right and in two hours I was in the place I am now but it this is not the first time that happens and this is not Shin Chang this is chinai I asked to a lot of people Chinese Travelers foreign travelers to the Spanish Embassy also in China and no one know about this permit and I tried to get it yesterday there’s no way I can get it I cannot go to some places oh gosh there’s so much in that day that’s happened so many things wow your mind would be racing and exhausted like it would have been physically exhausted as well right what an absolute gift it has been to have you share that with us though I feel that’s the best part of this podcast is I get this gift of traveling through my guests stories their experiences shared and I feel listeners you are most likely the same it’s why you’re listening to the show as well Sarah there are going to be people who want to find out more about your journey who want to follow the rest of this journey as you make your way to your parents Village there in China for the end of January in 2025 what’s the best way for them to follow you and find you and see the pictures of this journey as well okay there are two ways you can do it you can follow me on Instagram it is called Journey from the road and I also have a patreon all tires have the same access access to everything and from time to time I tell stories like this one awesome and listeners I will be providing links to both of those ways of keeping in touch with Sarah in the show not as well so definitely check that out I definitely encourage you to follow along with this journey from the road Sarah as often happens when I speak to guests with such interesting stories time seems to fly and I know that I need to wrap the show up I always finish my show asking the same three last questions the first one is music related and that is because as a guest you get to choose a song that will end up on the seek travel ride music playlist listeners it is available now on Apple music and also obviously on Spotify Sarah what song would you choose to represent your journey on the road and to be the soundtrack to This Adventure I don’t have a song I have like a playlist it’s like a Spanish music from the 2000 oh wow well I’m going to get you to send me the playlist and I’m going to pick a random song from there and put it down there for you okay final two questions the first one you’re giving a choice one day Sarah and you are going to be spending all day cycling up either a constant hill climb or alternatively cycling into a constant headwind which one would you choose the climb I’m guessing you’ve had a few constant climb days and a few constant headwind days on this journey no doubt I don’t like headwinds at all I don’t like where’s the windiest place you traveled okay was lucky the most part of the journey but I remember one day in the desert of usbekistan it was always there like a strong wind and I couldn’t arrive to the destination but it was okay because I found a family families in kindness and opening their doors it’s the it’s the undercurrent it’s the theme of this trip isn’t it okay Sarah absolute final question you’re going to be riding your bike just for 4 hours on one day and you can choose to Ride 4 hours on your own or spend those 4 hours riding your bike with other people which one would you choose see I will bet on on something I’m not used to and I will ride with someone let’s try try something new yeah I was wondering whether that would be the case because when I asked you had you seen many other bike Travelers and your answer was no I was thinking I wonder then would you tryle with somebody else it’s been two years and actually if some woman want to join for a few days she’s more than welcome oh the call out is there well you know what Sarah I’m going to put this call out to you cuz I know unfortunately I’m not going to be there in China for any of the rest of your trip but when you do return and you return to Spain I live in France I live in the Pyrenees I would totally love to be that stranger that opens up the house to you and I would love to spend four hours riding with you here in the Pyrenees I know that you have traveled here before so you sort of know what to expect always welcome the Panet is is super nice and yeah Spain France are super nice countries to travel so yes I’m up to that sounds great we have a date well Sarah Chu it’s time for me to wrap this up it has been such an awesome experience for me to be that curious person at the end of this microphone getting to ask the questions getting to hear you share your insights and those deep experiences from this journey you mentioned during the show that you write a journal to remember these experiences and I I hope that for the rest of your life you’ll randomly flick through pages or see anecdotes from random days that will fill you with a deep sense of Pride one of the things that I came across when I was researching you was a beautiful quote which said I try deliberately to do the things I fear so they won’t be a fear anymore I feel there is so much to be gained from taking on this mantra it has been such a great experience for me to talk to you thank you so so much for sharing your stories and experiences here on the podcast for seek travel ride thank you very much it’s been very nice to dig deeper uh with you and above all complete this journey with the last month of the journey and yeah thank you for reminding me that quote because I have to put it in my head again well listeners I don’t about you but I am completely energized after my conversation with Sarah I love the spirit with which this adventure took hold and the Curiosity which she travels with I especially love the idea that she didn’t necessarily have that end destination in mind when she set off from her home in Spain she was purely just cycling East towards Asia and that spontaneity and the lack of restrictions which she’s placed on this trip for herself have given her a different sense of Freedom just her approach to doing the things that scare us anyway because then they won’t scare us anymore I really love that I think personally I can take so much from that as well I wish Sarah all the best for the rest of her journey and I will certainly be looking through her post to find out where each and every day takes her from here until the end on the 25th of January I want to say a special shout out now to all of my beautiful listeners who have been supporting the show and tuning in the show is now over a year old we have so many episodes in the bag as well and with each and every week when I have listeners get in touch with me it just fills me with joy to know that they are finding value in this beautiful podcast that I have been so fortunate to create for you this is a truly Global community and I love that with each and every episode the community is growing even more if you would like to show some small Financial support for the show feel free to hit the buy me a coffee Link in the show note description all small amounts are very appreciated by this independent podcaster and I look forward to continuing to bring you fresh new episodes each week until the next episode I’m Bella Malloy thanks for listening [Music]