Adorjan illes : Circumnavigating the World in a bicycle

Every morning birds leave their nests to gather the grains, but each of them returns to their nest before the sunset. Whereas we the human beings bestowed with the wisdom that makes us travel an extra mile as compare to any other creatures on this earth. In the past two thousand years the world has witnessed many great expeditions. In the year 326 BC Alexander the Great travelled all the way from Greece to the Far East Asia to conquer India. Likewise in the middle ages (1024AD) Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanisthan invaded India to loot the treasures of Somnath temple of Gujrat. But it was a Portuguese by the name Magellan who was the first person to circumnavigate our planet earth in the year 1480. The basic objective of human beings to explore the world is to amass wealth and treasures. Yet there are exceptions to this age old human tendency. Thirty six years old Adorjan illes of Hungary all set to explore the world in his bicycle not in search of treasures, but to win over the challenges. He set to conquer the world without carrying any arms or ammunitions. Adorjan wanted to win over the physical limits that our human body is biologically programmed with.

Adorjan was born at Tata city in Hungary. By profession he is an IT network engineer and was working with a telecom company in Hungary for over seven years. He was leading a decent life and made enough savings. One of his friend by the name Szabo Adam who has made a Eurotrip of 10,000kms in a bicycle inspired him to undertake the world trip instead. Adorjan took a break from his lucrative job at an age when any other young man would tend to earn money so as to settle in life by getting married to a pretty woman. He wanted to get rid of the conventional 10.00AM to 5.00PM weekdays job. His parents objected to his plans. They feared their son might be killed either on the way in a road accident or might be kidnapped by the extremists in the religious sensitive zones of Middle East. Otherwise he might be eaten alive by the beasts in the remote forests of Africa. Adorjan liquidated the little assets that he was possessing. Apart from the furniture and unused wardrobes, he sold one of his price possessions i.e. a piano. He is fond of music and used to play it once a while to tranquilize his mind.

On 13^th June 2015 he came out of the comfort zone 

of his life. He along with his friend Szabo Adam set to travel the world in their bicycles. While riding his KTM Life Lontano bicycle that has got a steel frame with a gearbox both friends headed for Serbia. The question is how he supported himself for these long one thousand days when he is not earning any money while travelling the world. 

Adorjan started his journey with 10,000 US $. As such there is no cost of fuel as he is pulling the cycle manually. At night hours he digs the tent at the remote places to sleep. The only expenses that is involved is buying food on the way. He set the limit of just 5$ to 6$ a day(roughly INR450). He says how strange we the human beings are. We may not be compatible with our siblings at home or the neighbour living next door or the colleagues with whom we are working at office, but while travelling he has been received warmly by the strangers across the globe. At many places especially villages and small settlements people offered him fresh food to eat and even shelter to rest for a night. 

One of the most difficult situation that he encountered was in the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan. He had to pump his adrenalin at an altitude of 3000 to 4000 meter above the sea level. During the day hour the temperature was -2 degrees to -4 degrees Celsius. Whereas at night it drops further to -10 degree Celsius. It took him as much as three weeks to pass through this dangerous terrain.

Through the ancient silk route at Wagha Border of Punjab they entered India. They virtually encountered no difficulty in the immigration counter. The officials were warm and kind to process their documents. Adorjan found Punjab to be a vibrant and colourful region. People were warm and attentive. From Amritsar he went to New Delhi. While at Delhi he spent one night sleeping in a Gurudwara. By the morning he awake his shoes were stolen. With this event he was disheartened for the high opinion that he had about India. When he informed the temple authority the local Sikh community raised money in solidarity to buy a pair of shoes for him. From new Delhi they headed south wards.

On 14th February 2016 while they were riding their

cycles in Odisha on the State High Way near Tingipali of Bargarh district two young men of Barpali by the name Subanta Dash and Ritesh Dash intercepted them. They took the duo and introduced with Nandlal Sahu of Puspak Hotel. Nandlal Sahu called the former MLA of Bijepur Constituency Late Subal Sahu and arranged their stay for a night at Inspection Bunglow (IB) as a state guest. At night Nandlal Sahu even sent complementary dinner to these two foreign guests. He is a vegetarian and enjoyed the Indian food very much. They had a peaceful rest for the night. Next day morning after interacting with people at Barpali they headed towards Chatisgarh.

While travelling through the un-tracked paths they found India absolutely vibrant and culturally rich. When he was cycling through the rain forests of Athirappilly water falls in Kerala there was a big gap between two settlements. He had to pedal another ten kilometers in order to reach the next village and to be safe in the night. He was pumping his adrenaline with absolutely full power. It was a hilly terrain and he pedaled while standing. He yelled “YES ! Oh yes, I can do this and gonna do it”.  And suddenly out of the blue a vehicle surpassed through him. But it halted 100 meter ahead of him. The driver got out of the car and waved him to stop. When Adorjan stopped, with wide eyes open the stranger said “In life I never seen such a Super Human like you”. And that gentleman gave him pineapple slices to eat.

Every second while he breaths he keep on interacting
with each cell, tissue and organ of his body. He believes his body is a biochemical supercomputer and always listening attentively to his mind and soul. Adorjan is capable to undertake the challenges much more than what any other human being could imagine. While cycling, he usually thinks his  body is made of the elements of air, water and light. And his life flows through it. In india he learned Yoga. He practised deep breathing sequences. He started doing Surya Namaskar (salutation of Sun) every morning as well. He realised the nurturing effects of Sun to his body and the soul. 

From India they went to Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. At Kuala Lumpur Adorjan decided to travel alone so as to have a greater freedom. Both friends parted. From Indonesia he wanted to reach further south i.e. Australia which itself is a continent surrounded by South Pacific Ocean. Let how aplomb he is physically, but his cycle won’t be able to float in the ocean. He did the arithmetic and found ship is expensive and time consuming to reach the other shore. So he caught a flight and landed at  Perth which is on the west coast of Australia. 

From Perth he cycled to Melbourne. It was in Australia where he faced life threatening circumstances. He had to pass through Nullabour Plain. It’s a 1200 km long deserted area with no trees to take shelter. It took him long twenty days to cycle across this topography. The wind blew hard at the rate of 60kms per hour. It was virtually difficult for him to find a suitable place in that dessert where he could pitch his tent. From Melbourne he caught a train for Sydney. Over there he has undergone Vipasana retreat the ancient meditation system of India. From Sydney he caught a flight for Christchurch in New Zealand. And from New Zealand he went to Fiji. 

By the time Adorjan reached the shores of Japan in a ship his money was exhausted. He printed large size photos of the places and people of Europe and Asia that he clicked with his DSLR camera. He started selling the photos on the streets in the Japanese cities. It helped him to manage his expenses as Japan is an expensive country to live. He found Japan to be a super cool and clean country and its people are warm and magical. 

In Japan while riding his cycle it skidded and he fell on the ground. He went to a hospital. After undergoing a MRI scan the doctors said his hand needs a surgery. They wanted to drill the pieces of the bones and graft the bone together with a screw. But instead of undergoing through the painful surgery Adorjan resorted to his conscience. This fellow intensely meditated for two long months to appease the Universe to heal his arm. After two months this stubborn and stoic fellow went back to the same hospital. When the MRI was done the doctors were stunned to check the reports. The doctors were puzzled how could such broken bones could be grafted without ever drilling. There was no evidence of any bone rupture left in his hand.

From Japan he took a flight to United States of America. He found America to be a magical land. It’s a vast country. Unlike Asians its people are not cunning. Americans think big so they do everything big. After travelling alone for one year he got united with his friend again at California.   

             

Until now he is cycling for 1,400+ days. In these four and half years’ time he ride his cycle for almost 37,000+ kms. In quantitative terms this length would be  92 percent of the circumference of our planet earth. He has travelled as many as 25 countries. They are Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands, USA and now travelling in Mexico. 

He got a huge surprise when his host Teotihuacan presented   ancient Aztec spiritual dance. This tribal music and dance of Ajtec lifted the spirit of Adorjan. He experienced the  sense of belonging with nature.

[Ajtek dance Mexico]

On circumnavigating near about 100 percent of our planet earth he has discovered in different continents, countries and regions people are wearing different wardrobes, we are speaking different languages, eating different foods, where as the aim of life is to be happy and contended with whatever we are. Often he found happiness in the faces of children instead of the adults or the old age, because their needs and desires are insignificant.

kiranbima@gmail.com

Cell # +918249314972

http://barpalidays.blogspot.in/p/ekiran-mohan.html

E.Kiran Mohan(The Writer)

C/o.Dr.E.R.Rao (M.D)

Main RoadAt/PO : Barpali-768029

Dist.Bargarh,Odisha, India