50 years ago, in 1974, Wolfgand Bendick left the Bregenz Forest in Germany on a pilgrimage with his wife Doris towards the Himalayas via the Hippie Route to Benares in search of Shangri-La, “at the land of peace where joy and happiness reign, the place of the eternal moment, where love has conquered hatred…”. Wolfi, for those close to him, had already made this trip for the first time in 1971 with his friend Ludwig, a trip that he recounts in volume 3 “A round trip to Kabul” via Austria, northern Italy, Tyrol , Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Iran, Afghanistan. Returning from Kabul, he completed his civilian service in a refuge in the Northern Alps in Germany. It was there that he met Doris who worked there during the school holidays, after a three-week separation. Doris wants to take a period of reflection so she can reorient herself and discover what she really wants. For his part, Wolfi is still attracted by the orient and leaves again. “I would have liked to make the trip with my soul mate. Now, alone again, I think that I too must reorient myself, and nothing is better for that than a total change of places. As a first goal, I I chose Jerusalem.” After many adventures, he arrived in Türkiye. In Erzurum, poste restene, a letter from Doris awaits him, in which she tells him that she has thought carefully, that she wants to travel with him. Wolfi therefore heads back to join her in Germany and leave with her. So in 1974, both left towards the east, a sort of pilgrimage to accomplish where this journey, through all the difficulties encountered, would be a moment of truth for them, an exchange, a communion, a sharing, an osmosis. Here they go, “after trying to hitchhike, we bought an old VW combi, it's an ideal way to travel”. But suddenly there is a breakdown. But what about these mythical places, Shangri-La? “We never found it, deep within ourselves.”
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