Jinji Sadan

Roei Jinji Sadan with his bike Emona cycling around the world

Posts Tagged ‘Africa’

All you need is luck

Thu ,28/05/2009

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Cape town is a city to remember and to write on it. It has a really interesting history and beautiful sight to see. The city has many colors and the people give to her a good energy, I talked with many people on the markets and it seems that they have really bad life but they are not complaint, happy and hoping for a better future. At my last days as a normal tourist I went to the robin’s island to see the famous prison that the white people use for the blacks in the past, one of the most known people in the world, nelson Mandela, spent almost 20 years in a small sell, really small like 2 meters on 3 meters… I thought that it’s bigger then my new tent but its different life or no life at all. After the apartheid time the prison is now a museum for every one to see at to try to understand some interesting things on this dark time of south Africa, actually this prison locked in a small island near cape town and you have from her nice view to the impressive table mountains.Penguins are all over the island and it’s really funny to see a car stooping her speed to let the small penguins to cross the road. It’s not something that you will see in Israel…The day after I took a cable car to the table mountains, the view from up there is nice you can see cape town from above and to see all the way to the cape of good hope. The days of the tourist need to be end and I needed (and wanted) to start the journey. Like always the breaking up from my friends that host me was sad but you can’t cycle around the world and be in the same place. The first kilometers in the city was interesting I am not use to cycle on the left road so I needed to think twice before every turn in the city. Cape town is a big city so it took some time to navigate to the road that I wanted to take on the coast to the east. cycling next to the sandy roads near the Indian ocean was a nice way to start, when I cycled there  I remember the days on highway 1 in California but that thought finished when I saw first “houses” of the slams of cape town. People living in teen house with no running water and need to share there toilets with another 20 family or more. Its always hard for me to see it because people born her at it looks like that they also will day there. After some km I noticed a car driving on the shoulders of the road and the guy is looking at me the car was like 200 meters from me but I felt a little unsecured but I cycled and tried to put some happy thought in my head ( that’s the only thing that I can do) , after 4 km that I am cycling next to the small houses the car past me and I was happy to see that the car is actually a local police(it don’t look like it) and he stooped me and ask for my name and what I am doing her. “I am cycling in south Africa and this is my first day” I told him. “You should know that its not really good place to start you cycling tripe” the police man told me. I started to be excited maybe on the first day I could see wild life and have some action. “I didn’t know that there is wild animals her in this area” I smiled at him and gave him my surprise tourist look. “There is no wild animals her but there is something much more dangerous and its wild people” he smiled back at me. He told me that this place is calls khayelitsha ans its one of the most dangerous places in Africa. “You are not in America” he told me. He told me that he will escort me until I will finish this part and we start our way. The first day in Africa with a police escort… After I crossed the “interesting” place we stooped and talked. His name was Kennedy and he asks me what I am doing with the bike and why I am not working a little to buy a car and do it at the easy way… I told him that I crossed America with this bike and he didn’t think that it’s something unique but when I told him the countries that I going to be in Africa he did a face like you do when you have a bad stomach pain. And when I told him that I am going to finish my way in Africa in Ethiopia I thought that I am going to lost him… “Roi, I really wish you all the luck in the world you know why?”, “Because I am a nice and funny guy?” , “No, I wish you all the luck in the world because I think that you going to need it”. I didn’t know if I need to laugh or to cry so I started to cycle and singing to myself. All you need is luck. Luck is all you need. I wish you all the luck in the world my friends.
yours
Roi jinji Sadan
south Africa
Africa
the world

 

 

 

 

Hello Africa

Sat ,16/05/2009

Hey to everyone. tomorrow I am starting my way in Africa, I was lucky to meet my friend, Pete, in Buenos before the flight and he gave me a place to sleep and to plan my way and to have the time that I needed to think about my future in this big continent.
In amazing hospitality Pete showed me the beautiful and western city of Cape Town in South Africa. We saw many animals and I looked from above the beautiful table mountains the Cape of Good Hope (I need some hope…) where the 2 oceans (Atlantic and Indian) meet. Cape Town is one of my favorite cities that I ever been, really cool and easy going city, it remains me California. It’s not what I was expected from Africa and I had easy start and I know that from her it will be more challenging to me and Amuna. Since I finished America I am spending my time thinking about the new chapter of my journey in mixed feelings about it. I felt like almost 2 years ago before I started in Alaska
I would like to share with you, my friends, a note that I wrote on the flight from America to Africa. I will write it here like I wrote in my diary, fresh from the pages. Sorry if its a little not in order but that how I am writing in my diary.

29\4\09 on the flight

We are about to take off and I got the weird feeling that I get before big and long flights. what a brilliant idea is that plan you are jumping to a box you it something and trying to get some sleep(there is always a baby that give me hard time) and after some hours you jump out from the plan and you are in new place that you never been.

#now they put a cartoon in the TV that showed me how to act in a case that this amazing box will have some “small problems” and you can see a calm and smiling guy walking like he is Clint Eastwood in the wild west movie, walking in a plan that just crashed on the sea and jumping to the water this cartoon make it look easy like another day in the office…

He looked like he did it hundreds of time (he is lucky guy). After 21 months in the continents of America (north and south) I am ready (I think) to start a new one. It’s hard to put this time in some words so I will do it in one word: Amazing.

The menu started: from the tundra of Alaska( I am still remember the first day more then I can remember yesterday) to the Rockies mountains in Canada, west coast of USA to Mexico and the hot countries of central America. The Caribbean coast of Colombia to the long and great Andes Mountains of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. And then for dessert I had Chile and Argentina. This is how I like my dessert: with a lot of meat… after 30000km that I did with Amuna in a world full of adventures and wild animals and amazing people that I meet on the road I feel that I am not only cycle around the world.
I am cycling inside the world.
Inside the people heart and soul, inside their dreams and fear.
Inside my dream and fear.
Inside new cloture that I can learn from it.
People that have nothing and want to give you everything.

I am cycling inside myself inside my body in heart.
Some time I feel that my heart is full of love and it’s about to explode from my small body.

# The plan start to go up and I think to myself what a wonderful world we are living.
I am looking of the small lights of the big city and the screen is showing our speed and altitude (he climbing really fast) and we have a small map of South America and our plan is there like we are the only ones in the sky. 8 hours of a flight its mean more or less 8 months of cycling (with no big mountains). It’s a nice thing to see the distance of the flight and think to myself that I did more than 3 times this distance and on my bicycle. And I am not good in math. Amuna is in a small bug in the luggage place and I hope she is ok and will be good after this flight.

In the airport there were people with mask on their faces I forgot about that flew that killing people in Mexico and I thought that it’s because I forgot to take a shower this morning…
#now we are above the ocean and they showing a movie in the name “forever strong” I really need to be strong before Africa (and also because the fucking baby that screaming) . This ocean is amazing so big and vast.

#close for landing
I didn’t get some sleep and the movie was really bad, now its morning in Africa and I feel like tired and still in Argentina time (it 3 am there) and I see new maps on the screen.
A world map and Africa map.
In Africa map there is something special.
When I looked in the north east of this map I could see a place that gave me a big smile (even after that baby) I saw it and it feels amazing.
It was written “Tel Aviv”.

Welcome to Africa

Love you all

Roei “jinji” sadan

Cape Town

South Africa

Africa

The world


Map above