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.
There were three of us: Sidd, Priyanka, and me. We were hot, dusty, and very tired. We’d been walking hard all day. We were trying to reach a place where we could rest and eat. Somewhere up ahead lay West Bengal and then Nepal. Pineapples grew beside the road. Pineapples near Nepal. This was surprising.
There’d been a terrible suicide bombing in faraway Kashmir, and people were looking at us a little more closely. Questioning us. We each sensed a new coolness. A few passersby gave us the hairy eyeball. “I need to start geolocating all the times I’ve overheard the word ‘terrorist,’” Sidd said. He was brushing it off. But I could tell he was upset. Who wouldn’t be? Some switch had been flipped inside people’s heads. Violence does that.
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
Rakesh Kumar Rai
Village council chief, age 29
Who are you?
I am the mukhiya (chief) of the Bhatgaon panchayat (village council), which comprises several villages, with a total population of 20,000. I was elected three years ago, and the list of people's issues is an endless one. But low levels of education are possibly the biggest problems in this region. I have to travel across all the 16 wards in my constituency, daily, to understand and address people's issues.
Where do you come from?
I am coming from the block office at Thakurganj. We had a meeting with the chiefs of other panchayats. Thakurganj has 22 panchayats in all.
Where are you going?
I am going to Galgalia, where I live near the market. Come, let's sit down and have tea together there and talk properly about your walk.
(Interview by Priyanka Borpujari.)
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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