India overland

In October 1996 I started with a friend for a journey that should lead us with bus and train overland to India. The path led to Italy via Austria and from there by boat to Greece. From Greece, it continued to Turkey, Iran and Pakistan to India, through which I traveled another half-year.
The experience not to disembark from an airplane after a few hours and to arrive in a completely different culture, but to experience consistent change in mentalities and cultural characteristics – sometimes with larger and smaller jumps – was sustainable and gave a different understanding of both travel as well from the world.
In addition, it was the first strong experience to travel a country – here Iran – of which my images had been shaped by the media only. The discrepancy between a nightly news spokesman and the encounters with the local people was opening eyes.
To travel as freely as possible we renounced any technical equipment. Only a one-time camera accompanied us. Visit brought me to India my cassette Walkman, with whom I made some field recordings.
The whole travel took in total a bit more than seven months.
Photos: Frank Settertobulte und Marcus Beuter