DO NOT DEFLATE
Melusine Mallender
ONE DAY YOU MUST GO
After 10 years and 110,000 kilometers traveled together, Mélusine Mallender decided to give her aging Varadero 125 motorcycle a last stand: go as far as possible towards the rising sun. No more than a few hundred kilometers according to specialists! Mélusine dreams of Mongolia, Siberia, the rising sun! An initiatory journey par excellence, with its share of discoveries, encounters and surprises, good or bad, the film recounts this dream come true over each of the 22,000 kilometers finally traveled solo by the young biker, to Vladivostock. .. until the end of his dream.
IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
It is from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, that Mélusine begins her journey. It first heads east, towards the Muslim lands of this country of a thousand faces, which brings together more than 80 ethnic groups for as many languages, none being an official language. A way of preserving the culture of each one which is not without difficulty for the young biker when it comes to communicating with the inhabitants. But as always, the motorbike works like a key to initiate contact with women and men alike. Mélusine thus discovers Harar, the legendary city with 99 mosques in the kingdom of Saba, where she meets several women who offer her a first face of the notion of freedom in Ethiopia. The journey continues in the Somali region, along the border of Somaliland, a self-declared country split from Somalia, recognized by no other country. She decides to go there, and after a difficult start in a country that is bogged down by many demons, it is the Minister of Youth and Sport in person who will sign the necessary authorizations for her to travel in the country. She thus discovers the incredible cave paintings of Las Geel, and a country where less than two hundred tourists return each year. Then it is the return to Ethiopia, before completing this first stage in the Danakils plain, near the lake of molten lava of Erte Alé, Mélusine will have the opportunity to cross paths with a former excisor who has decided to put down the knives, and many other people who, in happiness or sometimes violence, to the point of stone's throw, will allow him to better understand life in Ethiopia today.
THE PERSIAN ROUTES
After the Back to Japan initiation, Mélusine could not stop there. The journey now well anchored to the body, reinforced in the fact that the motorbike is a beautiful way to meet people and an important testimony of freedom, she decides to embark on a new journey. More constructed, but also more ambitious, this time with a large 800 cm² cube, it wants to continue the adventure in the countries of Central Asia (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan), but also to touch the countries of the Middle East, Iran in the lead . This daring journey truly begins in Turkey, with the carved cities of Capadocce and Kurdhistan, along the Syrian and Iraqi borders, where the welcome is already Eastern but the tensions are very present.
WAYS TO FREEDOM
The ways to freedom! Or the portrait of the concept of freedom in five South Asian countries! Here is the theme of this solitary 2015-2016 motorcycle expedition by Mélusine Mallender. Mid-October 2015, the specialist in long-distance motorcycle expeditions, Mélusine Mallender begins her new solo expedition: 6 months in South Asia, departing from Jakarta, to cross successively Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, China.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
INDONESIA
Mélusine has just arrived in Jakarta for the start of his expedition. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, but above all it is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands. The young woman rolls between the Jakarta megalopolis and the beaches of Bali, passing through the forests of Sumatra. She discovers the fabulous diversity of each island she crosses and meets a warm population. Between the kites of Putu and the dreams of Lydia of the Minangkabau ethnic group, the largest matrilineal ethnic group, Mélusine is astonished and questions them in their daily lives.
MYANMAR
Nothing is easy in Myanmar, the country is opening up, but Mélusine cannot enter it without an escort with her motorcycle. It doesn't matter to her, she decides to rent a motorbike there while waiting for her papers and can still drive more or less freely on her own in Myanmar. Mélusine takes us to this country at the heart of change in the midst of political transition. The population intimidated by years of dictatorship are nonetheless benevolent and curious to exchange with them.
NEPAL
Nepal is the country of the Himalayan giants, it is also the paradise of the trek, bruised by the recent earthquakes, the inhabitants advance against all odds. The highlands of Mustang, Kathmandu, the plain of the terrai are so many fabulous landscapes where Mélusine is lost with joy.Between Sareena the punk singer, Mira Raï the trail champion and Sanu a former Kalamari, Mélusine shares joys, sorrows and hopes in this country so beautiful and still so fragile where the condition of women is still precarious.
BANGLADESH
Mélusine discovers Bangladesh, a country tormented by natural disasters and great poverty. The young woman is quickly greeted by these many inhabitants, surprised to see a woman riding a motorcycle. The longest beach in the world, Cox's bazar, the mangroves, the noisy Dhaka, are little in the face of people who step by step are building the freedom of tomorrow. Mélusine goes from the world of men to that of women and takes us to this little-known Bangladesh.
PAKISTAN-IRAN
It had been 5 years since Mélusine had returned to Iran and this time she is alone, but before she has to cross Pakistan, a country that worries her relatives a lot. Thanks to the motorcycle, the young woman meets people who help her and confide in her. Mélusine finally arrives in Iran, a contradictory and astonishing country where hospitality is king. Between sets of a thousand and one nights and sublime landscapes, Mélusine lets herself be guided by its inhabitants, and especially the women who welcome her with pleasure.