This is Hyojin and she decided years ago that she wanted to travel around the world on her bicycle and 2 years ago she set off.
And now she is stuck in Ethiopia with some parts of her bike busted and waiting for replacement parts to arrive. Her camera lens also took a beating and this is where I could help out.
It is a pretty wild idea (for me) to set out on such an adventure all by yourself. Kudos. She is projecting another 2 years to finish her journey and I will keep an eye on her website and follow her adventures.
Maybe she comes through your neck of woods and you can contact her about hosting her. But I got the feeling that she already has quite some network of contacts.
The obstacles (besides having been in 3 accidents thus far) she faces in Africa and especially here in Ethiopia are mind boggling. From her facebook page:
Ethiopia is the hell for cycling that I am bothered too much ever during cycling. By the way I changed a derailleur three days ago on the street. But it is broken again today that I feel so frustrated. Tomorrow I will go to the capital of Ethiopia by bus or hitchhiking. My all stuff is just worn out. The biggest problem is I am in the middle of Africa that I don’t think I can find enough strong parts of the bicycle . I might have to order parts from Europe…
Unfortunately I have had horrible experience for a few days. Even I’ve been heard “Fuck you” only from ten years old children. Can you imagine that 10 years boys shout at you “F….” Some people keep kicking my bike. I’ve gotten too much stress that even now I have headache. But I don’t want to give up.
Also amazing to go through her daily logs and see other struggle highlights like scariest night sleeping in an empty house at the South African border to Swaziland or the hardest and worst day in my life because of storm on a sailing boat going to Columbia.
This kind of stamina and will power is just incredible!
Keep on riding Hyojin and stay safe!
e·piph·a·nyiˈpifənē/ noun/ 1. the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12).
Time to move on ...
The end of the year is nigh ...
When I was a kid, there were no guards at the school gate, let alone those armed with AK-47s !
The highway is my soccer field.
Meanwhile ... And this is the pre-construction traffic!
To acclimatize to Addis one must first learn to give up control. Failure to do so may result in a total loss of sanity.
Morning commute. Mind you, this is not the country side, this is the city center of Ethiopia's capital!
"Julius, do you want to watch some TV with papa?" "Shhh, I am reading" ...