DEPARTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN – FROM THE HIMALAYAS TO AN EAST GERMAN PRISON
A True Story
Volume 3 of the "STATIONS" series
Nepal, November 1986
A young man heaves his black rucksack onto the roof of a rickety Nepalese bus.
There is still room among the sacks, suitcases and tied bundles. His four English friends are already waiting inside the bus.
The bus is supposed to take them to Kathmandu.
Nobody knows when it will arrive.
The fact that it is moving at all seems to be enough of a timetable.
A few days later, the five young men set off into the mountains.
Their destination is not a summit.
They are looking for a farmer who supposedly produces the best hash oil in the world.
Together, they travel to Kathmandu, almost plunge into an abyss on a dangerous mountain road and eventually follow a self-appointed guide deep into the Himalayas.
The journey to Pokhara takes eight hours.
Perhaps ten.
Sometimes twelve.
Not even the ticket seller wants to commit himself unnecessarily.
The equipment is inadequate.
The mood is excellent.
And the plan seems surprisingly simple.
Perhaps too simple.
What follows is dangerous, reckless and repeatedly makes them laugh.
At least in retrospect.
As the five friends trek through remote mountain villages, cross an ice-cold river and spend the nights in simple huts, a decision begins to take shape that will change Christoph’s life.
The hash oil is to be taken to West Berlin.
The journey back leads through Moscow and East Berlin.
Only a single border now separates him from his flat, his job and the life he has known until now.
Then the journey ends in handcuffs.
DEPARTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN tells of friendship, recklessness, a thirst for adventure and the conviction that one can outsmart the risks one is taking.
A true story about a journey through Nepal, a momentous plan and the final weeks of a life in freedom.
Told with suspense, self-irony and the kind of dry humour that sometimes emerges only when there is actually nothing left to laugh about.
Bernhard Christoph Lichtinger writes from lived experience. From journeys, detours, setbacks and new beginnings. His stories are about freedom, decisions and those moments when a single step changes the direction of an entire life.
If you have not yet read a volume from the book series “STATIONS”, you can begin with one of the following books. Each volume stands on its own and explores a different aspect of our lives.
Volume 1: THE MAN WITH THE CRUTCH
Volume 2: TRANSIT – THE LAST DAYS OF FREEDOM
Volume 3: DEPARTURE INTO THE UNKNOWN
Volume 5: Friday the 13th (In Progress)