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.
We were walking dusty canal roads along the Brahmaputra River. The Brahmaputra is one of the three mighty waterways that define the identity of India. The others are the Indus and the Ganges.
How is the Brahmaputra different?
In a thousand different ways. But this is the biggest: It is so colossal, it absorbs sound. How silent is it? As silent as a kept secret. The villages along the banks of the Brahmaputra are the quietest in India.
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
Ashraful Jinnah
Student, age 12
Who are you?
I’m a student. I’m in the sixth grade. I like to study poetry.
(We ask his favorite poem. He looks away in silence for a for ten seconds.) It’s a poem called “A House, a Home.”
(We ask him to recite it.) I don’t remember how it goes.
(We ask him what it’s about.) And I’m not sure what it’s about.
Where do you come from?
I came from home to see who you are.
Where are you going?
Back home, I guess.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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