Hiking the Glenn Highway through Alaska. Published in Asphalt Pilgrims.
Paul Salopek
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
The Grand Trunk Road is one of the legendary byways of the world. Older than the Buddha, it has linked South Asia and Central Asia for more than 2,000 years, rippling over lush plains and towering mountain passes from the Bay of Bengal to Afghanistan.
Today in Pakistan the Grand Trunk has been bypassed by a sleeker modern highway that carries little of the mixed traffic of the older road: the painted trucks, tractors, cars, ox carts, bicycles, motorbikes, horsemen, and pedestrians that clog a ribbon of asphalt that unrolls for 150 miles between Islamabad and Lahore. Walking along the “GT” isn’t easy. It is like being hit over the head with a sonic sledgehammer for 12 hours a day. Its lanes vanish into clouds of peppery smog. But it is a deeply human artery. Everywhere along its margins there are people: teashops, towns, farms, villages, and vendors of every conceivable item required for life. It is Asia’s ancient conveyor of hope—its primordial mother road.
A wraparound soundscape at this Milestone
This Milestone’s location on a map
Photos of the ground under Paul’s feet and the sky above at this Milestone
A brief question and answer with the first person Paul meets at this Milestone
Majid Ali
Motorized rickshaw driver, about 40
Who are you?
I was a dacoit (robber) for about five years. Then my pir, my religious advisor, reached into my heart and changed me. I have a different heart now.
Where are you going?
I will continue working hard here.
Where are you from?
I was from Faizulabad. But the economy was bad there. So I moved here. Now my sons run a mechanic shop for motorbikes. I drive them as a rickshaw driver. I donate rides to poor people whenever I can. Poverty is a very harsh reality of life. Some people can’t even afford a 10-rupee fare. If you give, God will respond favorably to you. If you expect to get something, you need to give something.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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