Into the unknown, a 3000 km trek for peace (part 1)
Brooke Brodack begins narrating what may be the defining journey of her life: a 3,000 kilometer trek through the Himalayas from Jaipur to Manali, India, undertaken in late 2019 and early 2020. This is not a polished travel documentary but a rough draft of a novel spoken aloud, as all the original footage was taken by a former travel companion who has held it hostage for four years. Undeterred, Brooke reconstructs the journey from memory, and the result is raw, beautiful, and deeply personal.
The story begins with Brooke's complex eight-year relationship with India, starting with a 2013 trip to teach video production in Vadodara, Gujarat. After years of being drawn back despite initial culture shock, she found herself in a Jaipur guest house having an epiphany: she was done being a guest, done with codependency, and ready to walk into the unknown until she found true freedom. Within moments, the weight lifted, and she set off with nothing but faith and her feet.
Brooke describes walking at three miles per hour through some of the most remote and untouched landscapes on earth, drinking water straight from mountain streams, sleeping on temple doorsteps and jungle reserve benches near tigers and bears, and walking up to fifty miles a day. She approached Key Monastery in the snow wearing shorts and a t-shirt, somehow never getting cold. The trek ended in Manali at Christmas, where she says God spoke to her, showing her that something called Corona was coming. This first installment sets the stage for an extraordinary story of spiritual pilgrimage, self-discovery, and the courage to walk 3,000 kilometers into the complete unknown.
Key Topics
- 3,000 km trek from Jaipur to Manali through the Himalayas
- Eight years of connection with India before the trek
- Original footage held hostage by a former travel companion
- Teaching video production and fashion film in Gujarat
- Walking at three miles per hour and experiencing every blade of grass
- Sleeping in temples, near tiger reserves, and in the cold desert
- Hitchhiking through deserted Gyu mountains
- Key Monastery approach in snow wearing shorts
- God speaking at the Himalayan Okotel about Corona
Notable Moments
- 00:00 - Introduction: rough draft of a novel about the Himalayan trek
- 01:37 - Original footage held hostage for four years
- 02:10 - "I wanted nothing from the past and was aiming to achieve nothing from the future"
- 04:57 - First visit to India in 2013 to teach video production
- 09:56 - The epiphany in a Jaipur guest house: "I'm getting out of here my way"
- 11:57 - Walking the Himalayas and acknowledging every blade of grass
- 13:01 - Sleeping on temple doorsteps, near tigers and bears
- 14:00 - Approaching Key Monastery in the snow wearing shorts
- 15:00 - Walking where locals born there would not dare to walk
- 16:22 - Hitchhiking as life-or-death essential in Gyu's deserted mountains