Hungarian cyclist finished his 13-thousand-km ride disguised and hiding from the cops in India – photos, video

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We reported before about Viktor Zichó who decided to do the journey of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, a Hungarian philologist and Orientalist, author of the first Tibetan–English dictionary and grammar book who lived in the 19th century and died in Darjeeling, India. However, the coronavirus epidemic came, so he was stuck in an Indian hospital for weeks. That is where we left his story last time. Now, we continue because a lot more happened to him in the last few weeks. Details below.

According to Index, Mr Zichó started his journey in Komárom, Hungary, last summer. He made it to India after many crazy and dangerous adventures, for example, in Iran, people treated him like a celebrity, but Pakistani police put him in prison for a month where he played board games with a drug lord. Nobody could stop him except for the coronavirus epidemic and the strict rules Indian authorities implemented. As a result, police forbade him from leaving the hospital in Chapra and held him there for seven weeks.

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The officers did not tell him why they would not like to let him free. He was allowed to visit the town, but only in a police car, and the officer responsible for that was never available. He visited a local judge, but he could not show him the paragraph that did not allow him to move in the country. He also wrote to the Indian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, but he never received an answer.

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Therefore, he escaped from the hospital, and police caught him only 130 kilometres away from Chapra.

By then, strict rules were lifted in India, but the different states could accept strict regulations. Thus, Mr Zichó asked for permission from the Ministry of Interior of Bihar state to travel, so finally, he could legally continue his long journey. However, authorities stopped him at the border of another Indian state, West Bengal.

He left his bicycle by a Baptist preacher and disguised himself to do the last 100 kilometres of his journey on foot. Police officers checked him many times but allowed him to continue his journey even though they probably did not believe his false stories about why exactly he was there.

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He even spent one night in the wilderness, without getting any sleep because it was so cold. When he finally saw the beautiful tomb of the Hungarian philologist and traveller, Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, he was shocked. That is not surprising since Mr Zichó did more than 13 thousand kilometres in 11 months.

Finally, he came back by plane and is now planning to write a book about his exceptional experiences.