Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / 44,000 Kilometers on a Vespa Scooter: Juvena Huang on the Ride of a Lifetime

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44,000 Kilometers on a Vespa Scooter: Juvena Huang on the Ride of a Lifetime · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your host,
0:10
Speaker 1: Ashley Jordano, and today I'm so stoked to be joined
0:14
Speaker 1: by Juvena Wang and she's going to tell us all
0:17
Speaker 1: about her forty four thousand kilometer trip from Singapore to
0:22
Speaker 1: check Ya on a ves Baso scooter. Welcome to the podcast, Juvena.
0:27
Speaker 1: I'm so glad to have you.
0:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me as she has been sometimes.
0:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about your forty four thousand kilometer BESPA
0:35
Speaker 1: scooter trip. That is an incredible feat. And yeah, I
0:40
Speaker 1: just want to go back to before you went on
0:41
Speaker 1: the trip, because that's always where things sort of start.
0:46
Speaker 1: So you were actually finishing university doing aquaculture research before
0:50
Speaker 1: you decided to leave on the trip, and you had
0:53
Speaker 1: a regular like student schedule and you're doing the thing,
0:58
Speaker 1: and those sort of of I guess schedules and routines
1:03
Speaker 1: can be hard to break out of, so I'm wondering
1:05
Speaker 1: how did you manage to move past that and decide
1:08
Speaker 1: to go on this big trip.
1:11
Speaker 2: No, it's not just routines to that you have to
1:16
Speaker 2: break out of, but also the sense of security and
1:20
Speaker 2: suddenly in life. So actually the biggest trigger that pushed
1:25
Speaker 2: me to go on that trip was sudden passing off
1:29
Speaker 2: a friend. He has been a very encouraging figure in
1:32
Speaker 2: all my motorcycling and daviors and he himself is actually
1:36
Speaker 2: a very intripid motorcycle rider too. Just a few weeks
1:39
Speaker 2: it was about to set off riding from Singapore to
1:43
Speaker 2: the China border, he passed away in an accident. So that, yeah,
1:49
Speaker 2: his sudden passing was epaphony. I had a long conversation
1:54
Speaker 2: with myself about mortality, meaning of life and everything. I
2:00
Speaker 2: remember when I was younger, I had a dream to travel,
2:04
Speaker 2: travel around the world, and with my new found love
2:09
Speaker 2: for riding, yeah, I decided to combine the both of
2:13
Speaker 2: them to explore Yeah. And it was really scary at
2:18
Speaker 2: first because I was very used to a life of certainty,
2:22
Speaker 2: routine comfort, like being in Singapore is a very safe space,
2:26
Speaker 2: right and we are bubble, a small country, we are bubble,
2:31
Speaker 2: and to step out of it was really really scary.
2:36
Speaker 2: I started off by doing short trips on my own first,
2:40
Speaker 2: you know, while I was still working, and with that
2:44
Speaker 2: I kind of slowly built up my confidence in traveling
2:49
Speaker 2: alone with motorcycle scooter. And that's how it started, and
2:53
Speaker 2: I gave myself a deadline meat by met twenty fifteen,
2:57
Speaker 2: I have to go. So after graduating, as I was
3:01
Speaker 2: juggling a full time job and studies part time, and
3:04
Speaker 2: even after I graduated, I started more likening to save
3:08
Speaker 2: up money, so I gave myself a date line. Okay,
3:11
Speaker 2: by then I'll have to move on. I have to
3:13
Speaker 2: be for my trip. And there's how I started. Yeah,
3:16
Speaker 2: I think it was that that hot conversation with myself
3:19
Speaker 2: to actually make me push out of my comfort zone
3:22
Speaker 2: the emboology.
3:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it can be really hard to leave. That's like
3:27
Speaker 1: the hardest part sometimes is just being like, you know what,
3:31
Speaker 1: now it's time time to go. Like I can prepare
3:33
Speaker 1: and do more rides, and I can always do more,
3:36
Speaker 1: but it's it's time eventually to go.
3:41
Speaker 2: Yes, definitely, the first step is always going to be the.
3:43
Speaker 1: Hardest, right and moving past those fears and you know
3:48
Speaker 1: the unknown. How how are you able to sort of
3:51
Speaker 1: work through that?
3:54
Speaker 2: I was just reading a book a few days ago,
3:58
Speaker 2: The Mountain is you is Exposure is the best edidote
4:04
Speaker 2: to fear. You have to expose yourself to the situations
4:08
Speaker 2: that you're afraid of, because when you feel fearful, it's
4:13
Speaker 2: because you do not know. You're fearful, you're scared. It's
4:15
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of unknown. But when you expose
4:18
Speaker 2: yourself to the situation, you gain the experience and the knowledge. Yeah.
4:22
Speaker 2: So sometimes our imagination can be scarier than reality on
4:25
Speaker 2: the ground.
4:27
Speaker 1: True, that's so true. And things that you think maybe
4:30
Speaker 1: are going to be an issue aren't. And then things
4:32
Speaker 1: maybe you didn't consider are the things that kind of
4:35
Speaker 1: crap up. So it's interesting and you're gaining confidence out thirty,
4:39
Speaker 1: which is always helpful, right.
4:45
Speaker 3: That.
4:46
Speaker 2: Sorry, Yeah, I'm not saying that bad things do not happen,
4:50
Speaker 2: but the reality is, most of the time things are
4:53
Speaker 2: going well. Yes, but we know we amplify the what
4:57
Speaker 2: is no, well, actually the reality of the around it's like, oh,
5:01
Speaker 2: it's not there.
5:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you're handling what you know hour by hour,
5:07
Speaker 1: day by day. Yes, so yeah, a little at a time.
5:12
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. I'm curious. So part of the preparation process
5:17
Speaker 1: often involves discovering those that paved the path before you,
5:21
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering who you looked to for inspiration before
5:26
Speaker 1: you left. Did you know of other people that have
5:28
Speaker 1: done something similar? And that's what inspired you or was
5:31
Speaker 1: it about your friend who had passed away. He saw
5:34
Speaker 1: stories from other people from Singapore traveling around and that
5:37
Speaker 1: was kind of part of it.
5:40
Speaker 2: So after my friend passed away, Yeah, his writing companion,
5:46
Speaker 2: he was supposed to go with him, he went on
5:49
Speaker 2: the trip alone. So he actually gave him along and
5:51
Speaker 2: gave me the idea to go beyond just Southeast Asia. Yeah,
5:56
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, is that possible, and he's like, yeah,
6:00
Speaker 2: it's possible. And there is a Singapore couple they are
6:03
Speaker 2: traveling around the world at the moment, so they go
6:08
Speaker 2: in Samento. So from two thousand and eight to twenty
6:11
Speaker 2: and ten they took on the African Twin motorcycle two
6:14
Speaker 2: on one and they rode around the world over more
6:19
Speaker 2: than forty countries. So at that time when I had
6:23
Speaker 2: the idea to travel on my scooter, they were still
6:28
Speaker 2: on the road and when I when they came back,
6:30
Speaker 2: I managed to connect with them. So they have been
6:33
Speaker 2: a source of inspiration and for them, they also have
6:37
Speaker 2: a source of inspiration from another biker from Singapore back
6:41
Speaker 2: in the early nineties. They also wrote from Singapore to
6:45
Speaker 2: the Gambia. Yeah, there was a from Singapore.
6:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the passport is is quite generous, like you can, Yeah,
6:57
Speaker 1: you can get into most places with the Singapore Impact Sport.
7:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm very privileged to be holding one of
7:04
Speaker 2: the most powerful passports in the world, which runs me
7:07
Speaker 2: visa free access to many countries. However, when you're going
7:10
Speaker 2: by land, you still need to apply visas for some Yeah,
7:15
Speaker 2: because most of the visa on the river is if
7:17
Speaker 2: you're arriving by flight, but if you're crossing land borders,
7:20
Speaker 2: you maybe there have maybe different terms. So I want
7:25
Speaker 2: to say that I don't have to apply visa like
7:27
Speaker 2: before I left, I had to apply for seven visas
7:30
Speaker 2: and also another visa another too, more visa were on the.
7:33
Speaker 1: Road, gotcha?
7:36
Speaker 2: Mhm.
7:37
Speaker 1: And then have there been other people that have reached
7:40
Speaker 1: out to you from Singapore that have said I saw
7:43
Speaker 1: what your trip, I saw your trip and I was
7:46
Speaker 1: inspired to to my own trip. I'm sure. I'm sure that.
7:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, there are many because I think I set
7:52
Speaker 2: the standard and the bar so low that people you
7:55
Speaker 2: can do it. No woman, a solo semiale rider riding
8:02
Speaker 2: a Vespa scooter can do such a trip. What makes
8:07
Speaker 2: me a man on a big motorcycle not do it,
8:12
Speaker 2: you know, so I don't know like set the bars, like, hey,
8:15
Speaker 2: is the rider not the bike. You don't need the
8:17
Speaker 2: expensive motorcycle to to travel around the world, and you
8:22
Speaker 2: don't need like we need a lot of money. Because
8:24
Speaker 2: I was very resource on the road. I managed to
8:27
Speaker 2: travel on a budget. Yeah, so you don't need like
8:31
Speaker 2: a lot. In fact, I feel that traveling is sometimes
8:35
Speaker 2: cheaper than living in Singapore because our course of living
8:40
Speaker 2: is quite high here.
8:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:42
Speaker 2: So they kind of like put a lot of things
8:44
Speaker 2: in perspective, like, hey, maybe it's not that difficult. Yeah.
8:48
Speaker 2: And after I came back, I know many more Singaporeans
8:52
Speaker 2: and about such trip, and some of them are on
8:54
Speaker 2: a trip right now. Uh. Like for example, there was
8:58
Speaker 2: a hurry and Marine, So there are a couple on
9:02
Speaker 2: the the bikes they wrote from Singapore to Morocco. They're
9:06
Speaker 2: going to continue to South Africa. Yeah. And also a
9:11
Speaker 2: few years ago there was another two guys they wrote
9:13
Speaker 2: from Singapore to the UK. Their first ride didn't wasn't
9:18
Speaker 2: completed because of an accident in Pakistan, and then after
9:22
Speaker 2: the pandemic, they mbud on their trip agate and they
9:24
Speaker 2: managed to complete it. This time round. So I know
9:27
Speaker 2: of many other Singaporeans who am about such a trip.
9:29
Speaker 2: So I think, yes, the things that you do, it
9:32
Speaker 2: has a repert effect. It will inspire other people to
9:36
Speaker 2: do it. Because I said the bars so like, you
9:39
Speaker 2: just need a scooter to go, and people are like, oh, yeah,
9:42
Speaker 2: I can do it too.
9:44
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask about your scooter. Actually, why a
9:48
Speaker 1: scooter and some specifications, some modifications you made, and tell
9:53
Speaker 1: me all about that scooter.
9:55
Speaker 2: Actually, I had the scooter since I'd gotten my motorcycle
9:59
Speaker 2: license when I was twenty years old, so it's been
10:03
Speaker 2: around with me for for a really long time. And
10:05
Speaker 2: then also I got into the biking. And you know
10:09
Speaker 2: my late friend, he always say this to me, it
10:12
Speaker 2: is the rider, not the bike. Yeah. So when I so,
10:18
Speaker 2: when I had they planned to overland from Singapore to Europe,
10:23
Speaker 2: I looked at what I had, So I had a
10:26
Speaker 2: scooter EDUKATM two hundred, and I thought the scooter was
10:29
Speaker 2: a better choice because it's I'm a small built Okay,
10:33
Speaker 2: I'm not tall, big, I'm very petigue, so big bikes
10:38
Speaker 2: they are not really suitable for me. And because I'm
10:40
Speaker 2: traveling alone, I want a two wheeler, which I can
10:44
Speaker 2: pick up myself should I fall, And because I'll be
10:47
Speaker 2: traveling to a lot of countries when you cannot get
10:49
Speaker 2: access to like continental parts, continental motorcycle paths, I prefer
10:56
Speaker 2: a scooter or ride that is simple, it's easy to fix,
11:00
Speaker 2: and the pro scooter really visits two engine. I myself
11:05
Speaker 2: before I left Singapore, I was a mechanic idiot, but
11:10
Speaker 2: I learned so much in the two years. And the
11:12
Speaker 2: scooter is so easy to understand and repair, and any
11:17
Speaker 2: mechanic around the world they can repair it, like even
11:21
Speaker 2: in a small village. Is it understanding two stroke engine? Yeah?
11:26
Speaker 1: Super simple? And then what do you outfit it with?
11:30
Speaker 2: I did some modification to the seat so instead of
11:32
Speaker 2: instead of a long seat, I have a single seat.
11:35
Speaker 2: So I used a rear seat space for my luggage.
11:39
Speaker 2: I have another rear rack. I also have a front
11:42
Speaker 2: wreck for more luggage and my floorboard I store my
11:46
Speaker 2: petrol canister, so that that's really about luggage, not too much.
11:54
Speaker 2: And also yeah, I changed from a tip tire to
11:57
Speaker 2: tulus because tupeless is easier to pair on the load.
12:03
Speaker 1: Was there anything that you didn't brain that you you
12:06
Speaker 1: laughed and you were like, oh no, I should have
12:07
Speaker 1: brought that.
12:09
Speaker 2: Oh no, In fact, I thought I brought to any things. Yeah,
12:13
Speaker 2: we send them home. I think that is the most
12:16
Speaker 2: overlanders will experience, that Oh no, I'm carrying too much.
12:20
Speaker 2: And then you start to offload things along the way.
12:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, what did you end up sending back?
12:31
Speaker 2: Well, I can't remember, like some of like the camping
12:37
Speaker 2: stuff that I didn't really use, I can't remember, was it. Yeah,
12:40
Speaker 2: but I did like send Actually I cannot really really remember.
12:46
Speaker 2: But most of them I don't know. Thought I was
12:48
Speaker 2: given a lot of gifts on the way by the people,
12:52
Speaker 2: by locals. I had to send them back home because
12:56
Speaker 2: I cannot afford to carry them.
12:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not enough space you can enjoy them when
13:01
Speaker 1: you look back.
13:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and I think clothes, Yeah, because I think
13:05
Speaker 2: I brought too many clothes and actually all you need
13:08
Speaker 2: is just three sets of clothes to change around.
13:12
Speaker 3: Yeah.
13:13
Speaker 2: So I think I sent quite a number of clothes back.
13:16
Speaker 1: Nice, lighten things up a little bit.
13:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it was a I think it's like a
13:23
Speaker 2: metaphor in for life too. Sometimes if you're carrying too much,
13:29
Speaker 2: there can be a burden. You have to ask yourself
13:31
Speaker 2: whether it is this like essential useful. If it's not,
13:35
Speaker 2: then just let it go. It's not. They would just
13:37
Speaker 2: be additional burden. I agree having more doesn't mean that,
13:43
Speaker 2: oh it is abas. I think having enough it is abas.
13:50
Speaker 1: Yes, totally. You said one of the mistakes you made
13:53
Speaker 1: during the trip was overall reliance on mechanics for servicing
13:56
Speaker 1: and diagnosis of problems with the scooter.
13:59
Speaker 4: Tell me more about that, because you are with the
14:02
Speaker 4: scooter all the time and you have to trust yourself
14:06
Speaker 4: that sometimes you know the scooter better, like how the
14:09
Speaker 4: engine should sound normally and how the handling.
14:13
Speaker 2: Trips should deal normally, and a mechanic may not be
14:18
Speaker 2: able to feel that, so you have to voice that out.
14:20
Speaker 2: And also instance of getting certain things checked because those
14:23
Speaker 2: are not normal. I think this is what I learned
14:27
Speaker 2: along the way. Initially I was relying a lot on
14:30
Speaker 2: the mechanics, so tell me what to do. And then
14:32
Speaker 2: I decided to take more ownership of the repairs and all.
14:36
Speaker 2: And once you get a better understanding of the baker
14:41
Speaker 2: that you are using, you also gain more confidence in
14:45
Speaker 2: bringing it around right. So like, okay, let's say if
14:48
Speaker 2: I have a tire punctured. I know how to change it.
14:51
Speaker 2: I think towards the end of the trip, I was
14:54
Speaker 2: able to tell the mechanics what.
14:57
Speaker 1: To do.
14:59
Speaker 2: Because they fix so many motorcycles. Yeah, I'll say, like,
15:04
Speaker 2: what's that gear traits must have none? I mean I'm
15:08
Speaker 2: not saying that. Yeah, they are not good, but there
15:10
Speaker 2: are certain little nitty gritty details like this school should
15:14
Speaker 2: be here, or this cable should be in this sleeve.
15:17
Speaker 2: You know it yourself, you've seen it inside, but they
15:20
Speaker 2: may not. No. Yeah, because yeah, I've seen like things
15:24
Speaker 2: that are done wrongly by mechanics. Yeah, because they fix
15:27
Speaker 2: so many bikes, but you your bike, your own bike.
15:29
Speaker 2: I think you know suddain aspect better, like you know
15:32
Speaker 2: where should certain things be placed?
15:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that vehicle better than anybody else in
15:37
Speaker 1: the world, and you care also the most about it.
15:41
Speaker 1: You care the most about you.
15:45
Speaker 2: Yes, because especially when you're over landing and you visit
15:49
Speaker 2: a mechanic, you're not going to going back to the
15:52
Speaker 2: same mechanic to diagnose a problem, right, because yeah, you
15:57
Speaker 2: leave the country bye bye, and then if there's a
16:01
Speaker 2: problem again, you have to look for ano mechanic, so
16:04
Speaker 2: you cannot go back to the same mechanic, and that
16:06
Speaker 2: mechanic do not have a history of your vehicle, but
16:10
Speaker 2: you do. So you need to take more ownership in
16:13
Speaker 2: knowing what is going on in your mother side than scooter.
16:16
Speaker 2: So that's why whenever there's servicing going on, I'll make
16:19
Speaker 2: sure I stay around to make sure that things are
16:23
Speaker 2: done properly, and also to learn more about my scooter
16:27
Speaker 2: because every time you know, I open up engine, open
16:29
Speaker 2: certain parts of the scooter, I actually learned something. Yeah,
16:33
Speaker 2: and I was able to bring that knowledge. Like let's say,
16:35
Speaker 2: if there's something some problem that SOLF is again, I
16:38
Speaker 2: can tell the NIXT mechanic like, oh, the mechanic did this, this,
16:41
Speaker 2: did that. So instead of just like entrusting one hundred
16:45
Speaker 2: percent to the mechanic, I think we need to know
16:48
Speaker 2: what's going on.
16:48
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, Yeah, we always stick around keep an eye
16:54
Speaker 1: on it and even in wherever we are, if it's
16:57
Speaker 1: in Canada, if it's in Morocco, if it's anywhere, it's
17:01
Speaker 1: good to keep an eye on things. And as we
17:04
Speaker 1: were just talking about, you know that vehicle better than
17:08
Speaker 1: anyone and you care about it more than anyone else.
17:12
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's great. And as you were saying too,
17:16
Speaker 1: like it empowers you to learn more about how it
17:19
Speaker 1: works and be able to do a lot of those
17:21
Speaker 1: things yourself. So that's awesome, Yes, awesome. Yeah, Okay, we're
17:28
Speaker 1: gonna go into some quote unquote rapid fire questions. They're
17:32
Speaker 1: not usually like super rapid fire, but I like to
17:34
Speaker 1: call it that because I don't know what else to
17:35
Speaker 1: call it. So maybe we can come up with a
17:37
Speaker 1: new name. But it's basically like one word questions with
17:40
Speaker 1: a couple words of an answer. So the first one
17:43
Speaker 1: is most ingenious repair.
17:46
Speaker 2: I don't think it is a repair, but using nylon ropesest.
17:49
Speaker 1: No chain, Yeah that qualifies. Nice. Yeah where were you?
17:56
Speaker 2: That was in India? I was writing to us the
17:59
Speaker 2: high Yes water, Rob wrote in the world. I think
18:02
Speaker 2: I had that photo on your on the article. Yeah, yeah,
18:06
Speaker 2: socally on my tire there's I actually eat my long
18:08
Speaker 2: ropes around my my tires.
18:11
Speaker 1: Nice okay. Cool. Best food.
18:16
Speaker 2: I think Indian food because I'm a vegetarian.
18:20
Speaker 1: That's fair. Any favorite Indian food.
18:23
Speaker 2: I particularly love this dish called palatpanier. Oh yeah, spinach
18:29
Speaker 2: with cottage cheese, Spanish gravy.
18:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love plain. The worst illness yeah. Yeah, the
18:37
Speaker 1: worst illness.
18:39
Speaker 2: I think it was a toll infection also in India. Yeah,
18:44
Speaker 2: I had to have the toll tonio removed because my
18:48
Speaker 2: neil bit was infected. Oh no, and the infection got
18:53
Speaker 2: me running a fever and throwing up Oh no.
18:57
Speaker 1: How long did it take to get that?
19:01
Speaker 2: A week? A week? And then I continued writing. So
19:05
Speaker 2: I was writing with like one site with my writing
19:07
Speaker 2: boots on and the other side was writing centers because
19:10
Speaker 2: I started my bandage on. I even have a photo
19:14
Speaker 2: of that. I was riding with boots at the Sandal.
19:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, highest high I.
19:22
Speaker 2: Think writing in the Himalayas and ladda. Yeah, riding to
19:26
Speaker 2: the highest road.
19:27
Speaker 1: In the world literally the highest high, yes, and lowest low.
19:34
Speaker 2: Being stuck in Iran with a broken scooter, expiring visa
19:37
Speaker 2: and running out of cash and because of the sanctions,
19:40
Speaker 2: I cannot get access to my funds outside.
19:43
Speaker 1: No, and how did you get out of that situation?
19:49
Speaker 2: Somehow, through some connection, I managed to get some money
19:52
Speaker 2: in and I managed to extend my visa. Then the
19:56
Speaker 2: user stipulated duration with the help of some logo, and eventually, yeah,
20:01
Speaker 2: I managed to get so so, I mean so there
20:03
Speaker 2: were some bikers from a motorcycle group. They helped me
20:07
Speaker 2: repair my scooter and I was able to leave Iran
20:11
Speaker 2: with like just nice amount of money. And also thanks
20:15
Speaker 2: to the kindness of the local people, the hospitality I've
20:18
Speaker 2: experienced there. People gave me food, give me place to stay,
20:22
Speaker 2: and I was able to leave the country to our Menia.
20:26
Speaker 1: Shout out to the Iranians. That's so great.
20:28
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Speaker 3: one oh one. You can find it on Amazon or
21:31
Speaker 3: Barnes and Noble or even your local bookstore, and that
21:34
Speaker 3: encompasses my decades of travel around the world, all my
21:37
Speaker 3: mistakes and failures and the lessons that I've learned in
21:41
Speaker 3: traveling around the globe. Many of those that you hear
21:45
Speaker 3: on the podcast have been distilled down into print form
21:48
Speaker 3: with great lists and beautiful imagery, so you can find
21:51
Speaker 3: that at your local bookstore. Overlanding one on one And
21:54
Speaker 3: thank you all for listening and for supporting us so
21:57
Speaker 3: much throughout these years.
22:01
Speaker 1: Best budget tip, the slower you.
22:05
Speaker 2: Travel, I think, the less you spend in the day.
22:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, m hm. That's like overland rule one oh one.
22:13
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, oh yeah. That's the tips good one.
22:19
Speaker 1: Most powerful lesson learned.
22:23
Speaker 2: Oh, I think that's what I've mentioned. Exposure is the
22:25
Speaker 2: best antidote to fear. Like some of the countries that
22:30
Speaker 2: I fear going in the past, now I'm going back
22:34
Speaker 2: because I've been exposed to the reality on the ground,
22:36
Speaker 2: it's not so scary anymore.
22:38
Speaker 1: Which countries would you say fell into that category?
22:42
Speaker 2: India, because you know, India is a reputation of not
22:45
Speaker 2: being safe for women, but I end up enjoying the
22:48
Speaker 2: country a lot. And for the past two years I've
22:51
Speaker 2: been going back there because I bought the motorcycle there. Yeah,
22:57
Speaker 2: I bought I bought the motorcycle there around two years ago,
23:00
Speaker 2: So I've been exploring that vast country. I don't think
23:03
Speaker 2: it's a country's a subcontinent.
23:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, and you've made multiple trips back there too, yes, and.
23:13
Speaker 2: Also bringing people also hosting towards there now.
23:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm really excited to get into
23:21
Speaker 1: asking you all whole sorts of questions about that. So
23:24
Speaker 1: we'll have to dig into that towards the end of
23:27
Speaker 1: the podcast because that's really exciting news. And yeah, so
23:32
Speaker 1: you're running tours there, which we'll chat about. My last
23:37
Speaker 1: a rapid fire question is current favorite piece of gear.
23:41
Speaker 2: My next edition told you back it's been with me
23:46
Speaker 2: for more than Danius and it's still holding out very well.
23:51
Speaker 1: Nice. What is it like? Was it roll up or
23:56
Speaker 1: does it have zipper?
23:56
Speaker 2: Pockets, zipper pocket like hooks and class. So yeah, you
24:04
Speaker 2: can hang anywhere. Is very spacious and there are different compartments. Okay,
24:10
Speaker 2: easy to access my toiletrees. I didn't expect it to
24:13
Speaker 2: last so long, so I bought it in like two
24:15
Speaker 2: thousand and fourteen, and I'm still using it now.
24:21
Speaker 1: It's said the test of time.
24:23
Speaker 2: Yes, like through so many countries, you know, and it's
24:27
Speaker 2: still holding up very well.
24:29
Speaker 1: Amazing. That's so cool. So you were mentioning returning to
24:33
Speaker 1: countries and learning more about them and feeling more comfortable.
24:37
Speaker 1: And the longer you stay in a country, the more
24:39
Speaker 1: you get to know the place, and with that comes
24:43
Speaker 1: sort of like the glasses coming off and the realities
24:46
Speaker 1: of the place are revealed to you the more time
24:48
Speaker 1: you spend there, both the good and the bad. What
24:51
Speaker 1: were some of the challenges that you faced along the way.
24:56
Speaker 2: So as in challenges I face along the I guess
25:01
Speaker 2: when it comes to the realization that we are all
25:04
Speaker 2: products of our conditioning. Yeah, and I start questioning my
25:10
Speaker 2: own conditioning, like stripping away like what makes me think
25:13
Speaker 2: like that, I feel like that, behave like that, And
25:16
Speaker 2: I kind of like got into this existential crisis, you
25:19
Speaker 2: know in a way. Yeah, so I think, Yeah, there's
25:23
Speaker 2: one part when you spend a long time in the country,
25:26
Speaker 2: and another part it also realized that, yeah, things are
25:29
Speaker 2: not that rosie. You start to understand the good and
25:34
Speaker 2: bad of a country, and you realize that how privileged
25:38
Speaker 2: you are, Like, for example, what's happening in Iran at
25:41
Speaker 2: the moment, I've been there. I was in Iran for
25:44
Speaker 2: three and a half months, and I stayed in the
25:47
Speaker 2: homes of many Iranian families. I understand their struggles, the
25:52
Speaker 2: oppression that's going on, So I'm not surprised that the
25:55
Speaker 2: protest that's going on right now. I witnessed many ex
25:59
Speaker 2: of you clients against the authorities, and they are some
26:03
Speaker 2: of the bravest people I've ever met. Knowing this and
26:06
Speaker 2: knowing how closely connected to that country and with what's
26:10
Speaker 2: going on right now, it's no longer just the news
26:15
Speaker 2: because you have some connections to what's going on in
26:20
Speaker 2: that country. Yeah, so I have friends over there. Yeah,
26:25
Speaker 2: they were like sharing me what's going on and the
26:28
Speaker 2: people they know personally worth being killed in the reason
26:31
Speaker 2: for tests and their frustration. So it's no longer just
26:34
Speaker 2: like numbers and figures, but it's something that is very personal. Yeah,
26:38
Speaker 2: it's just that you can't turn a blind into certain
26:40
Speaker 2: things anymore. Yeah, and because you make so many connections everywhere. Yeah,
26:45
Speaker 2: the news that you read, there's a personal connection. Yeah,
26:50
Speaker 2: it's no longer just that it sticks to you.
26:53
Speaker 1: True, and you're no longer sort of you're now like
26:58
Speaker 1: connected to that place in a way because you've been there,
27:00
Speaker 1: and so it's not just like this random thing you
27:03
Speaker 1: see on the news and somewhere that you've you don't
27:05
Speaker 1: know where it is and you don't really care or
27:08
Speaker 1: you know, you're busy with your life and you're concerned
27:09
Speaker 1: about other things, but you're like, oh my gosh, there's Yeah,
27:13
Speaker 1: it's opening your eyes to it and you feel it
27:15
Speaker 1: differently because you've been there and met the people.
27:21
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, the people who affected Yah.
27:24
Speaker 1: I'm curious when you were having your existential crisis about conditioning,
27:30
Speaker 1: what are some of the things that you were like, oh,
27:32
Speaker 1: what you know, I guess I'm wondering what you've shed
27:39
Speaker 1: in terms of conditioning or like sort of had another
27:42
Speaker 1: look at.
27:44
Speaker 2: I remember when I came back to Singapore, one thing
27:48
Speaker 2: that was really jarring to me was stepping into the
27:51
Speaker 2: shopping mall and there's all these big sign boats by one,
27:55
Speaker 2: get one free, the consumeries culture and let's ask you
28:00
Speaker 2: to buy. So in the past I'm like, whoa, that's
28:04
Speaker 2: such a good deal, and buying it, I realized that
28:06
Speaker 2: I don't really need that thing.
28:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't need the second one or the first
28:09
Speaker 1: one maybe.
28:11
Speaker 2: Yeah. And when I came back to my home, there's
28:14
Speaker 2: all these things that I've packed away. See, I even
28:18
Speaker 2: missed them for the two years on the road. Yeah,
28:22
Speaker 2: it was like I don't really need so many things
28:24
Speaker 2: in life, Like, oh, I mean, it's just you know,
28:29
Speaker 2: fifty All I had was fifty kilograms of like luggage,
28:34
Speaker 2: and there's all I need the two years on the road,
28:36
Speaker 2: and those two years are of the happiest time of
28:38
Speaker 2: my life. Yeah. So I actually started to ask myself, like,
28:43
Speaker 2: what makes me contented?
28:45
Speaker 1: That's a big question.
28:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. The reverse culture shock, I'm not sure. I think
28:50
Speaker 2: maybe a lot of Overlanders have experienced there. When you
28:52
Speaker 2: step out of your culture, you realize the checker is
28:55
Speaker 2: has on your own thinking. There's a lot of boundary
29:00
Speaker 2: is limitation in post on you, and that's why you're
29:04
Speaker 2: conditioned this way we scaled of verity. Sometimes it's like
29:07
Speaker 2: a way of like society and controlling you. And when
29:11
Speaker 2: you start to see too that, you're like, okay, you
29:13
Speaker 2: never you can never go back. Mind has been shaped
29:16
Speaker 2: by new experiences. Can I ever go back to his
29:19
Speaker 2: old dimensions? Yes?
29:21
Speaker 1: Yes, m yeah, you can't plug back in after you've
29:25
Speaker 1: plugged or unplugged, I guess. Yes. Were there things when
29:30
Speaker 1: you got home that you were like, Oh, I am
29:32
Speaker 1: so happy that I have this, or ate this or
29:34
Speaker 1: experienced this. You know, I've missed this so much. It's
29:38
Speaker 1: like the opposite end of the spectrum.
29:41
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, like ultimate, I grew up in Singapore,
29:46
Speaker 2: and of course I missed the diversity of food because
29:51
Speaker 2: in Singapore we have food from different corners of the world.
29:56
Speaker 2: And one of my favorite food, which is also very
29:59
Speaker 2: controversial food, which is the is.
30:01
Speaker 1: The during the Durian.
30:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, I love Durian. You can't find it anywhere else, Like,
30:07
Speaker 2: if you can find it, they're not really fresh. Yeah,
30:11
Speaker 2: So whenever I come back to Singapore, like binging on
30:13
Speaker 2: you in.
30:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, I haven't had one for a long time, and
30:17
Speaker 1: I think it's funny that they're that controversial. Because I'm like,
30:20
Speaker 1: doesn't seems that bad, you know, I don't mind it.
30:26
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I don't know. That's a good question.
30:30
Speaker 2: Thailand.
30:32
Speaker 1: Maybe it was Thailand. It could have been Thailand. Yeah,
30:35
Speaker 1: but I'll have to come to Singapore and try it again.
30:40
Speaker 2: In Singapore. We get all during from Malaysia, so you
30:44
Speaker 2: can go to either Malaysia or Singapore to have it.
30:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. Perfect, it's a plan.
30:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me know if you you you come and
30:52
Speaker 2: if I'm happy to be here, I'll bring you to
30:55
Speaker 2: sample some really doing. There's some difference between the Thailand
30:58
Speaker 2: during and the ones Malaysia. I think the ones in
31:01
Speaker 2: Malaysia the smell is stronger.
31:03
Speaker 1: Okay, I look forward to it. I wanted to ask
31:08
Speaker 1: you about a few different terms and concepts to expand
31:11
Speaker 1: on actually talking about food and Singapore will lead into this.
31:14
Speaker 1: But there are four concepts or terms that I'd like
31:17
Speaker 1: to ask you about, and one is hawker centers.
31:21
Speaker 2: Hoccer centers. Hocer centers is something that is unique in
31:25
Speaker 2: U in Southeast Asia. So in the past there are
31:32
Speaker 2: many hawkers selling particular dishes, so usually they spend like
31:36
Speaker 2: many years perfecting this, like just one or two dishes,
31:39
Speaker 2: and because of like hygiene issues, the government decided to
31:43
Speaker 2: put them in a proper center where there are cleaning
31:47
Speaker 2: facilities so that well, like the food are better prepared. Yeah.
31:54
Speaker 2: So there's all these centers with many Hawker stores, so
31:57
Speaker 2: they're like small stores with common sitting area. So when
32:00
Speaker 2: you go to Hocer Center, you can sample food from
32:03
Speaker 2: different Honker so you can try a different dish. It's
32:05
Speaker 2: not like you go enter a restaurant. When you see
32:08
Speaker 2: at a restaurant, you can just order only from the restaurant.
32:10
Speaker 2: So at the Hacker Center, you have a communal seedting
32:13
Speaker 2: area where and you can sample food from different honker.
32:19
Speaker 1: And what are some dishes that are your favorite that
32:22
Speaker 1: you would order at a Hawker center.
32:25
Speaker 2: I would order luxA. luxA is uh muda dish with
32:31
Speaker 2: like a curry like broth. Yeah, so it's infused with
32:36
Speaker 2: coconut milk, so it's really delicious. Okay, so I don't
32:41
Speaker 2: really eat meat, I mean I'm a pescatarian. But another
32:45
Speaker 2: dish I would really recommend my non vegetarian friends to try,
32:49
Speaker 2: which is the chicken rice. Mm hmm, yeah, heina nis
32:54
Speaker 2: chicken rice and only there's so many food because we have,
32:59
Speaker 2: like I need food, Indian food, Malay food, Eurasian food,
33:03
Speaker 2: so many different types of cuisines. It's really very difficult
33:07
Speaker 2: to sound.
33:11
Speaker 1: Yes, you're gonna just pick a few little little ones. Yeah,
33:17
Speaker 1: and I hope the people sorry, go ahead.
33:20
Speaker 2: And sometimes you know different wood costs for different dishes.
33:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, how true. I know. I hope Overland Podcast
33:30
Speaker 1: Overland Journal podcast listeners appreciate. I always have to ask
33:34
Speaker 1: people about food because I it's such a core component
33:37
Speaker 1: to traveling. So I'm always like, tell me about the food. So, yeah,
33:41
Speaker 1: it's fun. I have some more terms and the concepts,
33:46
Speaker 1: and the next one is, hopefully I'm pronouncing this right, jugaid.
33:51
Speaker 2: Juga. So what I mentioned just now, using nylon ropes
33:55
Speaker 2: as a snow chain, there's a form of jugar. So
34:00
Speaker 2: the concept behind juga is resourcefulness over perfection, especially when
34:05
Speaker 2: you're trying. Yeah, especially in remote areas, you cannot get
34:10
Speaker 2: the perfect fix. You have to make use of whatever
34:14
Speaker 2: that's available to solve the problem. Right. So that another
34:18
Speaker 2: juga that I came across also in India, my luggage wrack,
34:23
Speaker 2: there's one component there was a rod that was missing.
34:26
Speaker 2: I think it broke and I lost it somewhere, so
34:28
Speaker 2: my luggage wasn't really help properly. So I went in
34:32
Speaker 2: the mechanic and asking can I repair it? Like, can
34:35
Speaker 2: I like fabricate something that looks like this, like this
34:38
Speaker 2: rod that holds my luggage wreck? And it was like,
34:40
Speaker 2: looking at this looked like something that I've seen before, us,
34:45
Speaker 2: I think it's something that I've seen before in a
34:47
Speaker 2: car battery holder. So we brought a car battery holder,
34:50
Speaker 2: so it has like four pieces and including the metal rod,
34:54
Speaker 2: and then he used the meta rod to feed it
34:56
Speaker 2: and just like bang it a little bit and it
34:58
Speaker 2: holds my luggage.
35:00
Speaker 1: A right perfection.
35:02
Speaker 2: It's perfect. Yeah, And because they have to such short rot,
35:06
Speaker 2: I kept one as a spare just in case I
35:08
Speaker 2: lose the rod again.
35:09
Speaker 1: So like, okay, so great, you're like I don't have Amazon,
35:14
Speaker 1: I can't do this. Let's use and make it happen. Yeah.
35:20
Speaker 2: It's a South Asia.
35:24
Speaker 1: Okay.
35:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, I just have a friend who told
35:29
Speaker 2: me this invention is the mother of necessity. Yeah. So
35:38
Speaker 2: this word is a South Asia term, so I often
35:40
Speaker 2: heard it in India, Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Yeah, so
35:48
Speaker 2: they understand it.
35:49
Speaker 1: I love it.
35:50
Speaker 2: So whenever like there's a problem with Vega and then
35:53
Speaker 2: you're like, ah, we can't get access to the parts
35:55
Speaker 2: and all. They I'll ask do you know of any Juga,
35:58
Speaker 2: They're like, oh you know the come you go like okay.
36:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, so good. The next one is Gora Complex.
36:08
Speaker 2: Gora Complex. It goes back to the history of colonization
36:14
Speaker 2: and all. So it's like, is it describing an inferiority
36:17
Speaker 2: compext there's prevalent in South Asia, especially in India and Pakistanto.
36:23
Speaker 2: Like fair skin people views more superior, more attractive, and
36:27
Speaker 2: more intelligent.
36:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is not the case obviously, we know that.
36:33
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think it's quite prevalent in not
36:37
Speaker 2: just in South Asia, also in Southeast Asia. Like I know,
36:40
Speaker 2: like some of my Thai friends, like your wives, they
36:43
Speaker 2: would like really cover themselves up before going to the sun.
36:47
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, I don't want to look so dark.
36:49
Speaker 2: When I look dark where I'm not, I'm not beautiful anymore.
36:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then in the West it's like going to
36:56
Speaker 1: the tanning bed y. Different kinds of standards of beauty
37:01
Speaker 1: are yeah, very interesting.
37:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
37:04
Speaker 1: I remember you talking about traveling by yourself versus traveling
37:09
Speaker 1: with other people, the Europeans, and how your experience was different.
37:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was in Iran. So in Iran there are
37:19
Speaker 2: many refugees from Afghanistan, so they a lot of them.
37:24
Speaker 2: They from an ethnic group called the Hazara. So Hazara
37:28
Speaker 2: people they kind of like look like me, so they
37:31
Speaker 2: have East Asian features and they are prosecuted in Afghanistan.
37:36
Speaker 2: That's why many of them fled to Iran. Unfortunately, in
37:40
Speaker 2: Iran they are also discriminated, discriminated against. Yeah, so when
37:44
Speaker 2: I was traveling alone, like when I was reading the
37:48
Speaker 2: Shara companies I got from Pakistan, I come out my hair.
37:50
Speaker 2: When I looked like dressed really like ethnic, I don't
37:53
Speaker 2: really get a lot of people coming up to me
37:55
Speaker 2: to say like hello, or just like another person on
37:58
Speaker 2: the street. But when I was with my male friends
38:03
Speaker 2: from Germany and Croatia, and clearly they have like the
38:06
Speaker 2: color hair, they look Caucasians, and I saw many of
38:10
Speaker 2: them walk like the locals Iranians. They will walk up
38:12
Speaker 2: to him and say hello, Hi, welcome to Iran. I
38:17
Speaker 2: was like, okay, this is a very very different treatment.
38:20
Speaker 2: So the only times when I get locals coming up
38:23
Speaker 2: to me is because when I have a signifier that
38:25
Speaker 2: I'm a tourist was when I'm with my scooter, right,
38:30
Speaker 2: so my scooter, clearly the number plates is not from there.
38:33
Speaker 2: And women actually they are not allowed to hold a
38:36
Speaker 2: motorcycle license to write. And when I have my camera
38:39
Speaker 2: clicking pictures, then that's a signifier that I am I'm
38:43
Speaker 2: a traveler tourist, and then I get the treatment. But
38:46
Speaker 2: when I'm walking alone with my the traditional costume not
38:51
Speaker 2: but in fact also received some not so nice extra
38:55
Speaker 2: yars like being cat caught and also yeah, men giving
39:01
Speaker 2: some incent indiscent propositions. Yeah, just do it, true gesture.
39:06
Speaker 2: So I realized that your nationally, how you low, your gender,
39:12
Speaker 2: can shape your travel experience. So maybe maybe many travelers
39:20
Speaker 2: from the West, they may not be able to relate
39:22
Speaker 2: to my experience, but because they are not me, they
39:24
Speaker 2: are not in my issues right to really experience that.
39:29
Speaker 2: So I realized that everybody has different, uh like these realities,
39:32
Speaker 2: and we shouldn't invalidate their experience just because you didn't
39:36
Speaker 2: experience it yourself.
39:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so.
39:44
Speaker 2: There are someone to I get this debate like, oh no,
39:46
Speaker 2: there's not true this something, but yeah, that is your experience,
39:48
Speaker 2: but this is my experience.
39:51
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, hmm, yeah, good point. Good point. I think
39:58
Speaker 1: it has different experiences.
40:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think this also has a lot opened
40:02
Speaker 2: up to me to empathize different situations and differ different
40:07
Speaker 2: that people go through. I say, I may not be
40:10
Speaker 2: able to understand, but I know your your experience is
40:15
Speaker 2: real for you. Like I don't invalidate people anymore, I
40:18
Speaker 2: just accept them. Yeah, it also makes me not empathize
40:20
Speaker 2: with people more as.
40:22
Speaker 1: Well, for sure. Thanks for sharing that. Okay, I have
40:28
Speaker 1: one more term slash concept and it's job we Met.
40:33
Speaker 2: Job we Met. Jock we Met is actually the title
40:36
Speaker 2: of a movie, a Bollywood movie Job We Met. Yeah.
40:43
Speaker 2: There was one particular scene where the protagonies was dancing
40:47
Speaker 2: in the mountains in the Humalayas, and that was the
40:50
Speaker 2: first time I actually saw how beautiful India actually is.
40:54
Speaker 2: And then because the time I was on the Bollywood
40:57
Speaker 2: movie Spreit, I watched We Met That. I watched the
40:59
Speaker 2: movie through three idiots, and three idios brought me to
41:03
Speaker 2: another place in Ladak called the Panglong Lake and the
41:07
Speaker 2: capital of Ladda is Lay. So when I was doing
41:10
Speaker 2: some research, I found out that Manali Le Highway is
41:14
Speaker 2: also known as a viker's paradise. Yeah, that was like
41:18
Speaker 2: my biggest inspiration and trigger. Do want to travel that highway?
41:24
Speaker 2: It cuts across the Human Mountains and the average altitude
41:27
Speaker 2: of four thousand meters above sea level. Of course, it's
41:29
Speaker 2: gonna be challenging, the area's gonna be thin. The road
41:33
Speaker 2: was really quite rough at some parts. I remember I
41:37
Speaker 2: had like naysayers telling me that my twoitter will not survive,
41:40
Speaker 2: but I did because if you never try ever knowing right, So, yeah,
41:43
Speaker 2: we met. That was that movie that inspired me to
41:47
Speaker 2: to attend that that Manali Le Highway and no regrets.
41:50
Speaker 2: It was really one of the most beautiful places I've
41:53
Speaker 2: ever been.
41:55
Speaker 1: And you've gone back again and again because of that.
41:59
Speaker 2: Yes. So when I bought my motorcycle in India two
42:03
Speaker 2: years ago, so that priority was to travel the south
42:06
Speaker 2: of India because that was a region that I have
42:07
Speaker 2: not explored previously. And after exploring Seuth, I hid back
42:11
Speaker 2: not into the Humalayas and returned to that region this summer.
42:16
Speaker 2: I'm bringing people to experience that magic over there.
42:20
Speaker 1: And which bike did you buy?
42:23
Speaker 2: I bought a Hero Expouse two hundred, which is a
42:27
Speaker 2: Indian model. It's made India, so I can get access
42:31
Speaker 2: to motorcycle paths very easily over there because it's locally
42:35
Speaker 2: made and it's really affordable.
42:38
Speaker 1: Nice, And what made you want to bring other people
42:41
Speaker 1: there to experience it with you? Like why did you
42:45
Speaker 1: want to start these motorcycle tours?
42:48
Speaker 2: You know, because you know the two years journey really
42:51
Speaker 2: has a really great impact on me. And I realized that,
42:55
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of times we are holding back
42:57
Speaker 2: ourselves so much because of the counditioning, because of the
43:01
Speaker 2: boundaries that place on us. We don't dare to venture. Actually,
43:06
Speaker 2: we hold so much potential within us, but we're never
43:10
Speaker 2: there to take the first step out. And I really
43:14
Speaker 2: want people to experience what they actually hold inside them.
43:18
Speaker 2: And Ladak was one of the most transformative places that
43:22
Speaker 2: I've been because despite people telling me that I will
43:25
Speaker 2: not survived my SCOOTO will not survive, I then should
43:27
Speaker 2: do it. I've been like going there really often. Initially
43:30
Speaker 2: I was very scared, but now this is like I
43:32
Speaker 2: know that place very well and people are really friendly.
43:36
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed that place. So last year when I
43:39
Speaker 2: bought the first group over there, and many of them
43:41
Speaker 2: are actually new writers. Some of them they have not
43:44
Speaker 2: ridden overseas before, and coming to Ladak for the first
43:48
Speaker 2: time as their first oversea right, it was really a
43:52
Speaker 2: huge thing and they realized that, wow, we know, there's
43:57
Speaker 2: a lot of things that I realized that I could do,
44:01
Speaker 2: like offloading, crossing the river streams, because these are scenarios
44:05
Speaker 2: that you will not get inside in Singapore or in
44:09
Speaker 2: very developed countries, right because in Humlayas things are very
44:13
Speaker 2: unpredictable because the nature of the terrain, the weather and
44:19
Speaker 2: really humbers you. And when you look in the vast
44:22
Speaker 2: mountains there's existed like millions of years before you you
44:26
Speaker 2: realize that you're part of something bigger. Yeah, something is bigger,
44:30
Speaker 2: bigger than your problems. And yes, so you know, sometimes
44:36
Speaker 2: when we are like so up close with everything, we're
44:38
Speaker 2: in a close and closed space, everything feels very upclose,
44:43
Speaker 2: personal and overwhelming. And when you take a step back
44:46
Speaker 2: into a vast land of the mountains, we just have
44:48
Speaker 2: a different perspective about everything. Wow, you realize, wow, the
44:53
Speaker 2: worst so beautiful. Actually, we just step back and explore like, wow,
44:57
Speaker 2: actually this word is really beautiful.
44:59
Speaker 1: It's not that it's so wonderful that you're sharing that
45:02
Speaker 1: with other people. Tell me a little bit more about
45:05
Speaker 1: those tours that you're offering.
45:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the tours will be happening between May to August.
45:12
Speaker 2: We have I think around I think six different artineries
45:15
Speaker 2: with varying difficulty level. And also the Humility is really
45:21
Speaker 2: also a very diverse region, so you can expect have
45:24
Speaker 2: different experience and probably we're also going to have we're
45:27
Speaker 2: also going to have artineries at the end of the
45:30
Speaker 2: year for another region, which I just came back from.
45:34
Speaker 2: So my local business partner and I we went to
45:37
Speaker 2: Wreckie the place to scout a route to look for
45:40
Speaker 2: properties to find that experience that the clients can get. Uh. Yeah,
45:48
Speaker 2: you'll be in the state of Utaakan for the end
45:49
Speaker 2: of the year because in the Uttawa Khan it is
45:52
Speaker 2: still accessible all year around, but in Ladak is only
45:55
Speaker 2: accessible by road between May to October. So we are
45:59
Speaker 2: expanding the range of the routes that that clients can
46:05
Speaker 2: embark on.
46:08
Speaker 1: And you ran the first tours last year, and it
46:10
Speaker 1: sounds like there have been people that have been signing
46:13
Speaker 1: up for this year already and the feedback has been
46:15
Speaker 1: really good and things are booking up. So yeah, that's
46:19
Speaker 1: so awesome. So congratulations, yeah, yeah, thanks.
46:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, well some of them they came to Lada last year,
46:25
Speaker 2: so Wie of the biggest concert about writing in Ladder
46:28
Speaker 2: is the high altitude up moment and sickness. Of course,
46:31
Speaker 2: you know, ordinary we take the precautions, so we have
46:34
Speaker 2: a support, the vehicle that carries oxygen cylinder, We have
46:37
Speaker 2: first eight kids and our ordinary includes a gradual ascent
46:42
Speaker 2: and the first two days definitely for economatization. Ah. So
46:48
Speaker 2: I think after they came from the first time, they
46:50
Speaker 2: realized that I can handle it, and they're like, Adulina, Actually,
46:54
Speaker 2: last year's route it was very easy. Do you have
46:56
Speaker 2: something more challenging? I was like, sure, you asked for
46:59
Speaker 2: you get it. Yeah, you can get varying types of
47:06
Speaker 2: touring over there. You want watercrossing, you want huge times,
47:09
Speaker 2: you want sand, Yes, you can get it there. Yeah.
47:13
Speaker 2: So yeah, if you want good roads there there that
47:16
Speaker 2: is also there. So you know, some writers they really
47:19
Speaker 2: want something more challenging and fun. And it was like, okay,
47:21
Speaker 2: yes you can, we can, we can, we can't pokyo something.
47:24
Speaker 1: For you perfect, wonderful. Well I'm excited to, Yeah, follow
47:31
Speaker 1: and see how that all goes, and yeah, see on
47:34
Speaker 1: social media and from trips and everything. What a cool project.
47:41
Speaker 2: Thank you. So.
47:44
Speaker 1: When I chatted with you in twenty twenty two, you said,
47:49
Speaker 1: and I quote, I'm hopeful that one day travelers like
47:52
Speaker 1: me are no longer novel and when you write a
47:55
Speaker 1: travel article you no longer have to write solo female
47:59
Speaker 1: to pay homage to the fact that she's female. How
48:01
Speaker 1: do you think that's going in twenty twenty six, four
48:04
Speaker 1: years later.
48:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess like female. I really hope a female
48:12
Speaker 2: writing motorcycle writing around the world is normalized. It's something
48:16
Speaker 2: that anybody, everybody can do, and I think it's changing. Yeah,
48:22
Speaker 2: I think a lot of more women's they are also
48:24
Speaker 2: like stepping up to push their own personal boundaries, you know,
48:29
Speaker 2: first by learning how to write and writing across the borders.
48:33
Speaker 2: And I think the society is also becoming more accepting
48:37
Speaker 2: of women on the world. I wouldn't say that, yes,
48:40
Speaker 2: it stems from me alone, but it stems from a
48:42
Speaker 2: collective effort of every single one who there to push
48:45
Speaker 2: their own boundaries and normalize things.
48:50
Speaker 1: I agreed, there's there's a huge collection of women out
48:53
Speaker 1: there here doing it.
48:55
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, I've been seeing a lot more so, which
48:57
Speaker 2: is very encouraging. Yeah, and we seem all of them
49:01
Speaker 2: doing it. You yourself a few inspired to try to
49:04
Speaker 2: write and it becomes like very novel and writing is
49:07
Speaker 2: not something that is synonymous to being a male, then
49:11
Speaker 2: writing a motorcycle is like for everyone, you know, everyone male, female,
49:17
Speaker 2: You can take a two wheel it and write.
49:23
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, I need to get on there and to
49:26
Speaker 1: try it out.
49:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.
49:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, And there's so many great inspirations and tours where
49:34
Speaker 1: you can feel, you know, even if you're a beginner,
49:36
Speaker 1: like you're saying, you can feel safe to be able
49:38
Speaker 1: to ride, but also take more chances and push your
49:42
Speaker 1: limits a little bit. I think now more than ever,
49:44
Speaker 1: you know, there are specific women's groups going together and mixed.
49:50
Speaker 1: Everybody's doing it, and there are more opportunities now than
49:54
Speaker 1: ever to join a tour such as what you offer,
49:58
Speaker 1: or to learn. So yeah, yeah, I think it's it's
50:01
Speaker 1: wonderful and we'll continue on. I actually see more female
50:05
Speaker 1: motorcyclists doing longer trips than I do see solo female
50:09
Speaker 1: overlanders in vehicles, which I think makes sense to a
50:12
Speaker 1: certain extent. Just based on like the ability to learn
50:19
Speaker 1: and ride a motorcycle. It's more it's like simpler than
50:22
Speaker 1: taking care of a vehicle and less expensive, and I
50:24
Speaker 1: think like the entry is probably a bit easier, but
50:28
Speaker 1: I'm not one hundred percent sure why, But those are
50:31
Speaker 1: my ideas on that subject, I guess.
50:34
Speaker 2: So.
50:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, lots of people out there, and I'm sure you
50:37
Speaker 1: have a great community that you're a part of and
50:39
Speaker 1: lots of wonderful, wonderful friends to support you and provide
50:44
Speaker 1: support to them.
50:47
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, is really happening. I mean, just like
50:50
Speaker 2: it's the same that when I receive so much support
50:52
Speaker 2: from the logos when I was on my world tour.
50:55
Speaker 2: I want to give something back to let others have
50:58
Speaker 2: the same experience.
51:02
Speaker 1: Yes, yep, it does end up getting to that, doesn't it.
51:06
Speaker 1: You're like, there must be some way that I can
51:08
Speaker 1: sort of contribute something as well and pass along with
51:12
Speaker 1: the baton of knowledge or skills or support or whatever.
51:16
Speaker 1: It's great. Yeah, thank you so much Juveina for being
51:18
Speaker 1: on the podcast. It was so great to chat with
51:21
Speaker 1: you again, and you always have something wise to say
51:25
Speaker 1: and I love chatting with you, so thanks again. I'm
51:31
Speaker 1: wondering Where our listeners can find you online.
51:35
Speaker 2: You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. My
51:39
Speaker 2: channel name is the Wondering What's Wondering is is you
51:43
Speaker 2: a N D, E, R I, N G and what's
51:45
Speaker 2: u asp.
51:49
Speaker 1: Perfect And we can find all the information about your
51:52
Speaker 1: motive tours on there as well. I imagine.
51:54
Speaker 2: Yes, you can comment just Himalayans Himalayas on my my
51:59
Speaker 2: polls and I will send you a DM with the
52:02
Speaker 2: tour information and how you can reach out to me.
52:06
Speaker 1: Incredible. Well, best of luck going forward. I can't wait
52:09
Speaker 1: to see more about the tours and see what you're
52:11
Speaker 1: up to next. And yeah, it's been so great chatting
52:14
Speaker 1: with you, so thanks for taking the time to chat
52:16
Speaker 1: with me.
52:17
Speaker 2: Thank you Ashley, thanks for having me. It's always a
52:19
Speaker 2: pleasure to share and talk.
52:23
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the Overland Journal podcast listeners
52:27
Speaker 1: for tuning into this episode. We will catch you next time.