When he embarked on the epic bike journey from India to Europe, P.K. Mahanandia only knew one thing: He wanted to be with the love of his life. After having cycled over 3,600 kilometers along the ancient Silk Road, today, P.K. Mahanandia is one of the great supporters of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Born as an "untouchable" in India in the late 1940s, P.K. Mahanandia falls in love with a Swedish tourist. To be with her, he sells everything he owns, and with only 80 U.S. dollars in his pocket and a rusty old bike, he rides to Europe along the ancient Silk Road.

It's a love story of the kind that inspires people to write books and make movies. Indeed, the novel "The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love" by Per Andersson has been translated into numerous languages, also Chinese, and becomes a bestseller.

However, when the couple and their two adult children traveled to Beijing in August this year, it wasn't just to promote their book. Mahanandia has a special relationship with China, since he got the courage to embark on the four-months-long bike journey from the legend Chinese monk Faxian (337-422) who is said to have walked all the way from China to India…

Join CGTN as P.K. Mahanandia and Charlotte Von Schedvin take us back to their incredible love story, talk about the cultural divides in today's world, discrimination, and the importance of hope.

(Cover: Courtesy of P.K. Mahanandia)

Reporter: Katrin Büchenbacher

Filmed by: Sun Yibo

Edited by: Katrin Büchenbacher

Graphic designer: Xu Qianyun