Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / EP326 | From India to Australia (and Beyond) with Moto Trailblazer Candida Louis

Transcript

EP326 | From India to Australia (and Beyond) with Moto Trailblazer Candida Louis · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your host,
0:10
Speaker 1: Ashley Giordano, and today I have Candida Lewis here. Yay!
0:15
Speaker 1: Female motorcycle rider, extraordinary trailblazer, amazing human. Welcome to the podcast.
0:24
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. We've met so
0:27
Speaker 2: many years ago, and I can't believe I'm talking to
0:30
Speaker 2: you after so, so long. It's amazing.
0:33
Speaker 1: Yes! I think it was at Overland Expo quite a
0:37
Speaker 1: few years ago.
0:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
0:40
Speaker 1: So great to see you. And you're joining from Bali.
0:43
Speaker 1: And I'm in my mobile podcast studio in Mongolia. And
0:48
Speaker 1: we're actually on the same time zone, which happens very
0:51
Speaker 1: rarely to me. So I'm excited to be in real
0:53
Speaker 1: time with you. That's cool.
0:54
Speaker 2: I actually moved from Bali to the Gili Islands now.
0:58
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm on Gili.
1:00
Speaker 1: Amazing.
1:01
Speaker 2: Okay.
1:02
Speaker 1: That's great. Well, we'll chat about what you're doing in Indonesia.
1:07
Speaker 3: For over 100 years, General Tire has delivered tires for
1:12
Speaker 3: your lifestyle, your adventure, your anywhere. From the aggressive all-terrain
1:18
Speaker 3: performance of the Grabber ATX to the ultra-high performance Grabber APT,
1:25
Speaker 3: General Tire's balanced, excellent on-road performance with off-road capabilities designed
1:31
Speaker 3: for all weather conditions. General Tire delivers for whatever you do.
1:39
Speaker 2: So after I started riding a motorcycle solo, and I
1:45
Speaker 2: did that for a couple of years, I was like,
1:48
Speaker 2: how can I make this a profession? So that's when
1:51
Speaker 2: I started doing motorcycle tours, and I've led about 57
1:57
Speaker 2: motorcycle tours so far. Yeah, so now we have motorcycle
2:01
Speaker 2: tours that are running in Bali. So a lot of
2:05
Speaker 2: people from India and around the world are coming for
2:08
Speaker 2: these tours. So normally I lead them, but not this
2:12
Speaker 2: time because I have an injury. But yeah, my team
2:16
Speaker 2: is leading about six groups here in Bali. And now
2:21
Speaker 2: we just have a break between two groups. which is
2:25
Speaker 2: why I've come to Gili Islands to snorkel and for
2:29
Speaker 2: some scuba diving. Because on my ride from India to Australia,
2:33
Speaker 2: which was eight years ago, this is where I did
2:36
Speaker 2: my dive course. And I also was offered a job here.
2:40
Speaker 2: So I just came back to thank them for everything
2:44
Speaker 2: they did for me like eight years ago.
2:46
Speaker 1: Oh, that's so nice. I love that so much. Just
2:51
Speaker 1: come back and say hello. It's just nice to see
2:53
Speaker 1: friendly faces. yeah that's so cool so many motorcyclists and
2:58
Speaker 1: I think overlanders in general have found ways to keep
3:02
Speaker 1: the the dream alive by combining motorcycling or overlanding with tours.
3:08
Speaker 2: Yeah and like eight years ago this place and these
3:12
Speaker 2: people just found me on Instagram and they asked me
3:16
Speaker 2: to come over and do a course for completely free
3:20
Speaker 2: and yeah like at that time I was very broke
3:25
Speaker 2: so like they took me in and they trained me
3:28
Speaker 2: I did not even know how to swim at that
3:31
Speaker 2: time so they taught me everything which is awesome and
3:35
Speaker 2: ever since then I've been swimming with whale sharks and
3:38
Speaker 2: humpback whales and doing a lot of crazy stuff It's
3:43
Speaker 2: just so cool.
3:44
Speaker 1: This adventure and this lifestyle has taken you to so
3:46
Speaker 1: many different places and had incredible experiences. But I wanted
3:51
Speaker 1: to talk to you about before it all began and
3:54
Speaker 1: how you got into this way of life and your
3:58
Speaker 1: sort of childhood when you first started riding. So take
4:03
Speaker 1: me back to that time in your life. I know
4:05
Speaker 1: that your father had some impact on that.
4:09
Speaker 2: Yes, I grew up in a small town in South
4:14
Speaker 2: India called Hubli. And over there, women weren't allowed to
4:17
Speaker 2: ride motorcycles. But my dad rode a motorcycle. And I
4:23
Speaker 2: remember ever since I was a baby, he would always
4:26
Speaker 2: put me in front of him on the tank. And
4:29
Speaker 2: because it's a small place at that time, there weren't
4:32
Speaker 2: any rules. So I would always sit in front and
4:36
Speaker 2: hold on to the handlebar. And I really love the
4:39
Speaker 2: feeling of being on a motorcycle and the wind in
4:43
Speaker 2: my face. And just like growing up sitting on my
4:46
Speaker 2: dad's motorcycle. And the day that I could like put
4:52
Speaker 2: my feet when I was tall enough, I started riding
4:55
Speaker 2: a motorcycle. And my friends in college... A lot of
5:00
Speaker 2: them encouraged me to ride a motorcycle. Even though I
5:04
Speaker 2: did not have one, they would always give me their
5:07
Speaker 2: motorcycles to ride. And when I was in college, we
5:11
Speaker 2: had only four hours of university in the morning. So
5:16
Speaker 2: we would always go out exploring waterfalls and beaches and
5:20
Speaker 2: finding all these hidden spots on the motorcycle. And I
5:24
Speaker 2: absolutely loved it. But then life took over and I
5:28
Speaker 2: got like a finance job in the big city in Bangalore.
5:32
Speaker 2: And I moved there. And luckily, my first manager at Oracle,
5:39
Speaker 2: he was a biker too. And he had like 10 motorcycles.
5:43
Speaker 2: So every weekend we would all go riding and he
5:46
Speaker 2: would let me borrow one of his motorcycles and we
5:49
Speaker 2: would go on crazy adventures. And I absolutely loved it.
5:54
Speaker 2: I did that for four years and I even loved
5:57
Speaker 2: my finance job. But then I moved to a different
6:00
Speaker 2: company where they never allowed me to ride motorcycles. They
6:04
Speaker 2: would always stop me from riding motorcycles and never give
6:08
Speaker 2: me leaves from work and stuff. And that got me
6:12
Speaker 2: really like mentally. Like I started hating doing my finance
6:19
Speaker 2: job and because I was really stuck in the office
6:22
Speaker 2: all the time. And every time I'd look out of
6:25
Speaker 2: the window, I would always see that I want to
6:28
Speaker 2: be out there, not in the office. So then, I
6:32
Speaker 2: don't know how, but I got invited for a TV
6:35
Speaker 2: show in India, where they wanted me to do like
6:40
Speaker 2: a three-month ride across India with 10 other bikers for
6:45
Speaker 2: a TV show. And I said yes to it. And
6:49
Speaker 2: within four days, I left India. From my job, I
6:53
Speaker 2: took like a three-month sabbatical and I left. And I
6:56
Speaker 2: was so excited about this TV show, but then unfortunately
7:00
Speaker 2: it got over in 10 days. It's because everyone on
7:04
Speaker 2: the show couldn't get along and it was a really,
7:07
Speaker 2: really tough ride. It was called Extreme Ride. So everybody
7:12
Speaker 2: couldn't get along and it was very tough for the others.
7:16
Speaker 2: So at the end of 10 days, from 10 riders,
7:19
Speaker 2: we were down to only four riders. So then they
7:23
Speaker 2: had to cancel the TV show. And then I called
7:26
Speaker 2: my mother and I was like, this is a once
7:29
Speaker 2: in a lifetime opportunity. I'm never, ever going to get
7:32
Speaker 2: like three months of leave in my life ever again.
7:35
Speaker 2: I have to use this. And then I was like,
7:39
Speaker 2: I'm going to fly back home and take my own
7:42
Speaker 2: motorcycle and ride across India and do the same sort
7:46
Speaker 2: of trip by myself. And my mother's like, are you crazy?
7:51
Speaker 2: India is not safe for women to ride. You won't
7:54
Speaker 2: be able to do this and all of that. But
7:57
Speaker 2: I was like, if I was able to ride for
7:59
Speaker 2: 10 days in such a remote part of India, doing
8:03
Speaker 2: all these hard things. And even on the show, I
8:06
Speaker 2: was alone most of the time and there was nobody
8:09
Speaker 2: to help. So I told her, if I could do
8:12
Speaker 2: all of this for the last 10 days by myself,
8:14
Speaker 2: I can do right through India. And I'll start off
8:18
Speaker 2: with South India because South India is considered more safer.
8:22
Speaker 2: So I immediately flew back to Bangalore, picked up my
8:26
Speaker 2: motorcycle and I started riding. And yeah, I just continued
8:33
Speaker 2: riding for like three months. It was the best time
8:38
Speaker 2: of my life. Those three months riding solo, nobody knew
8:41
Speaker 2: what I was doing. Only on the last day when
8:45
Speaker 2: I was sitting on one of the beaches in India
8:48
Speaker 2: for sunset was when a guy just randomly walked up
8:53
Speaker 2: to me and asked me, what are you doing here
8:55
Speaker 2: all by yourself? And I just told him that I
8:58
Speaker 2: just rode for three months across India. And he said,
9:02
Speaker 2: can I take a picture of you? And I was like, okay.
9:05
Speaker 2: And the next day was big news in all the
9:09
Speaker 2: newspapers in India. He was a journalist. And only then
9:14
Speaker 2: did people know that I was doing this big ride
9:16
Speaker 2: across India. And even my manager called me up and
9:20
Speaker 2: he was like, you're doing this ride all alone. Now
9:25
Speaker 2: you got to come back to work. So I did
9:28
Speaker 2: go back to work. And the first day was great
9:32
Speaker 2: after this three months of riding because everybody were like
9:35
Speaker 2: super excited to see me. They had a lot of questions.
9:40
Speaker 2: about my trip and they were so proud of me
9:43
Speaker 2: but the very next day when I had to go
9:46
Speaker 2: back to work I felt really really sick and I
9:51
Speaker 2: couldn't even get out of the bed so I called
9:53
Speaker 2: my manager and I told him that I can't come
9:56
Speaker 2: to work today I'm extremely sick and he's like if
9:59
Speaker 2: you don't come to work today, you're losing your job
10:02
Speaker 2: because you weren't here for the last three months and
10:05
Speaker 2: you can't like not come to work yet. So I
10:08
Speaker 2: asked a couple of friends to like come home and
10:11
Speaker 2: get me and take me to work. And that's what
10:14
Speaker 2: I did. And like I struggled to get up. dressed up,
10:19
Speaker 2: went to work. I just reached work and my manager
10:23
Speaker 2: was like, Oh my God, you're really sick. I think
10:26
Speaker 2: you should go home. And I was like, Oh my God,
10:29
Speaker 2: I have to deal with all of this again. I
10:32
Speaker 2: can't do this anymore. And I like burst out crying.
10:35
Speaker 2: And I, and I immediately called my mother again. And
10:39
Speaker 2: I was like, I can't do this anymore. You got
10:43
Speaker 2: to trust me. I'm Just give me one year of
10:46
Speaker 2: time and let me do something with motorcycles. And if
10:50
Speaker 2: I can't do something with motorcycles, I'll always come back
10:54
Speaker 2: to my finance job. Like, you just got to trust me.
10:58
Speaker 2: And then my mother was like, we've put in all
11:02
Speaker 2: of our money and we've saved everything. And we've like,
11:08
Speaker 2: you worked so hard to get this awesome job and
11:11
Speaker 2: you're giving it all away to ride motorcycles. Like that's
11:16
Speaker 2: unheard of in India, especially when you're the only child
11:19
Speaker 2: as well. Because like everybody in India are taught to
11:25
Speaker 2: become like engineers, doctors, like really good jobs, right? So
11:30
Speaker 2: me leaving everything from motorcycling, my mother wasn't too happy,
11:35
Speaker 2: but she said, okay, fine, I'll give you a year's
11:38
Speaker 2: time to figure things out. So I was like super happy.
11:42
Speaker 2: went to my manager, put down my papers and then
11:46
Speaker 2: I served like a two months notice period and then
11:49
Speaker 2: I continued writing again for the next four months and
11:53
Speaker 2: it was the best time of my life. Just being
11:57
Speaker 2: by myself taught me like how capable I am of
12:01
Speaker 2: handling different situations, how The freedom and the independence that
12:07
Speaker 2: the motorcycle gave me at that time was like nothing
12:10
Speaker 2: like I could have imagined. And yeah, I just continued
12:14
Speaker 2: doing that for the next four months. So in total,
12:17
Speaker 2: I was on my own for about seven months. And
12:21
Speaker 2: I rode across India like 32,000 kilometers and covered 25
12:27
Speaker 2: states of India. And I was the first woman in
12:30
Speaker 2: India to do that.
12:31
Speaker 1: Yay. Groundbreaking. Tell me more about the hurdles that women
12:37
Speaker 1: face and faced in India like at that time, because
12:43
Speaker 1: this was a big deal for you to go out
12:45
Speaker 1: and do this because there were you were talking earlier, too,
12:48
Speaker 1: about how you weren't allowed to go or people were
12:51
Speaker 1: like saying it's dangerous or you weren't having these opportunities
12:55
Speaker 1: to ride your bike. So, yeah, what were the hurdles
12:57
Speaker 1: that face women riding motorcycles and why was it unusual
13:02
Speaker 1: at that time?
13:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, in 2015, it was just the beginning of social media.
13:08
Speaker 2: And like a lot, like growing up in the small town,
13:13
Speaker 2: we always had to be back home by five in
13:16
Speaker 2: the evening, never be out after dark. We weren't allowed
13:21
Speaker 2: to talk to boys in general. We only had to
13:24
Speaker 2: be in a girls group. So it was very restricted
13:28
Speaker 2: and everybody like, Growing up in a small town, you
13:33
Speaker 2: have like a certain radius and nobody goes outside of
13:37
Speaker 2: that circle. Everything just happens within this. The only things
13:42
Speaker 2: that you see are bad things on the news and
13:44
Speaker 2: nobody shows you the good side of it. Which is
13:48
Speaker 2: why like parents especially are very scared to send their
13:52
Speaker 2: children outside. Which is why there weren't any women riding
13:57
Speaker 2: motorcycles at that time. A lot of women were riding
14:00
Speaker 2: scooters and scooties, like the small mopeds, but not really
14:05
Speaker 2: anybody riding motorcycles. And when I started riding motorcycles, a
14:10
Speaker 2: lot of boys would whistle at me and call me
14:14
Speaker 2: names and stuff like that. But I just did not
14:18
Speaker 2: care about it. I just loved riding motorcycles. Yeah, but
14:24
Speaker 2: a lot has changed over the years and now there's
14:27
Speaker 2: so many more women riding motorcycles in India. A lot
14:31
Speaker 2: of husbands and brothers are so supportive to the women
14:37
Speaker 2: riders and they're encouraging more women to ride motorcycles, which
14:41
Speaker 2: is amazing because I did not have that at that time.
14:45
Speaker 2: But I see a lot has changed, yeah.
14:47
Speaker 1: Do you think that's because of social media and also
14:50
Speaker 1: seeing more... women riding, it's become more normal or more accepted?
14:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Because when I was riding in 2015, I
15:03
Speaker 2: would get a lot of messages and mails from parents,
15:07
Speaker 2: from men saying that we... we love what you're doing
15:12
Speaker 2: we keep showing your videos to our daughters and our
15:16
Speaker 2: wives to encourage them to ride motorcycles and there were
15:20
Speaker 2: also messages from some people saying that you are very
15:24
Speaker 2: bad influence and we don't want our daughters to watch
15:29
Speaker 2: your videos because they are going to become super independent
15:32
Speaker 2: and travel the world so there was always like two
15:34
Speaker 2: sides to it always, but I'm just happy I continued
15:39
Speaker 2: doing it for the last 12 years now. It has
15:43
Speaker 2: helped so many girls out there to go out and
15:46
Speaker 2: explore the world.
15:47
Speaker 1: I love how it seems like from when I've been
15:50
Speaker 1: chatting with some other female motorcyclists that that time period
15:55
Speaker 1: is significant, not only in India, but in other areas
15:59
Speaker 1: of the world as well, with People like yourself from Pakistan,
16:04
Speaker 1: from Southeast Asia, you know, like Jovina and other riders.
16:09
Speaker 1: There are so many that it seems like a movement,
16:14
Speaker 1: not just in India, but in the broader scale of
16:17
Speaker 1: parts of the world for increasing mobility, travel and adventure
16:22
Speaker 1: and freedom for women.
16:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. That was the best time for us. to
16:28
Speaker 2: be on social media and to keep posting every day.
16:32
Speaker 2: Like I started my Facebook page only to inform my
16:37
Speaker 2: family members of my whereabouts and to send them pictures
16:41
Speaker 2: because at that time, like we did not have like
16:44
Speaker 2: internet that was free and we had to pay for
16:47
Speaker 2: every MB used. So I didn't want to individually send
16:52
Speaker 2: pictures to all my relatives and family. So I created
16:56
Speaker 2: an Instagram page and I told them, this is where
16:59
Speaker 2: I'm going to post everywhere and this is how you
17:01
Speaker 2: follow me. And at the end of that India trip,
17:05
Speaker 2: I grew to 10,000 followers because they were not just
17:09
Speaker 2: my family, but a whole lot of other people following
17:13
Speaker 2: the journey as well. So it just happened naturally and randomly.
17:18
Speaker 2: Like I did not, go out there to be an
17:21
Speaker 2: influencer at that time influencer wasn't even a word you
17:25
Speaker 2: know yeah we would write the whole day and click
17:28
Speaker 2: one picture and write about the whole day and that
17:32
Speaker 2: was perfect we had no stories no reels nothing like
17:36
Speaker 2: that it was just one picture and you write about
17:39
Speaker 2: it was the best time because it gave you so
17:42
Speaker 2: much of time to actually see the world talk to
17:46
Speaker 2: people write and be in the moment you know now
17:52
Speaker 2: with all these things happening on social media you're like
17:55
Speaker 2: constantly focusing on content creation and what people like and
18:01
Speaker 2: keeping up with the trends which is crazy.
18:03
Speaker 1: What kinds of trends are you seeing right.
18:06
Speaker 2: Now like I'm a bit upset is because for the
18:10
Speaker 2: last four years I've been stuck at the same number
18:14
Speaker 2: on social media is because I am not keeping up
18:17
Speaker 2: with the trends of dancing in front of a motorcycle
18:22
Speaker 2: or like doing all these crazy things. But I'm happy
18:26
Speaker 2: that even though I have the same number, it's genuine
18:31
Speaker 2: followers and I still get to work with brands. I
18:34
Speaker 2: still get to do the things that I love. So
18:37
Speaker 2: it's okay.
18:38
Speaker 1: I agree. I think there are some trends. I'm like,
18:41
Speaker 1: you know what? I'm good. I'm good. We're good at it.
18:46
Speaker 1: do our own thing in our own way and so
18:49
Speaker 1: yeah everything's different for for different people but tell me
18:53
Speaker 1: a bit more you've done some other trips since India
18:58
Speaker 1: obviously you've done lots of traveling in India but you've
19:01
Speaker 1: been to Europe you've been to the U.S. you did
19:04
Speaker 1: a ride to Australia what were some experiences during those
19:08
Speaker 1: trips that are that are memorable or interesting.
19:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to talk to you about the India
19:16
Speaker 2: to Australia ride because that was the biggest ride I've done.
19:20
Speaker 2: And that all happened to me so randomly is because
19:26
Speaker 2: one of my pictures from the India trip, I had
19:29
Speaker 2: submitted to the Overland Expo's Best Photography Contest, which was
19:35
Speaker 2: happening on Facebook. And I actually won that competition out
19:40
Speaker 2: of 15,000 people that applied. Wow.
19:44
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
19:45
Speaker 2: Which is how I got to the US and that's
19:48
Speaker 2: how I got to meet you. and meet all the
19:51
Speaker 2: other incredible people and while i was there alistair farland's
19:57
Speaker 2: parents who who used to come often to the overland
20:01
Speaker 2: expo had started a charity organization called His parents introduced
20:08
Speaker 2: the charity called Change Your World Charity. And at that time,
20:12
Speaker 2: I had not heard anything about it. And while I
20:16
Speaker 2: was at Overland Expo, everybody kept talking to me about
20:20
Speaker 2: Alistair Carlin, all his amazing work and about the Change
20:25
Speaker 2: Your World Foundation. And I had no clue about it.
20:30
Speaker 2: But the more I spoke to people, the more I
20:32
Speaker 2: read about him and the more I heard about him,
20:36
Speaker 2: I was like, whoa, we have so many similarities. And
20:40
Speaker 2: we were also the same age. So Alistair left on
20:46
Speaker 2: a world trip from Australia and he was coming to
20:51
Speaker 2: the Overland Expo as well. But then he met with
20:55
Speaker 2: an accident and he unfortunately passed away. And for any
21:01
Speaker 2: parent that is like, the worst thing that could happen,
21:05
Speaker 2: especially when you're on a world trip. And for any parents,
21:10
Speaker 2: it's like the most devastating thing. And like every parent
21:16
Speaker 2: would want their son to come back home and he
21:19
Speaker 2: couldn't do that. So when I heard about Change Your
21:23
Speaker 2: World Foundation and they were going to select four people
21:27
Speaker 2: from around the world to do projects together, that's impactful
21:33
Speaker 2: for the youth. And I was also very happy that
21:38
Speaker 2: Alistair's parents wanted to support youth from around the world
21:42
Speaker 2: because if it was an Indian parent, they would have
21:45
Speaker 2: told a hundred other youth never to touch a motorcycle.
21:50
Speaker 2: But Alistair's parents were still encouraging other youth to get
21:55
Speaker 2: on motorcycles and to see the world and to not
21:58
Speaker 2: let An incident like this stopped them from doing the
22:02
Speaker 2: things they loved, which was insane. I had never heard
22:07
Speaker 2: about this. And so when we had to submit our
22:10
Speaker 2: projects for Change Your World, there were four of us
22:15
Speaker 2: from different parts of the world. And I submitted a project.
22:20
Speaker 2: Like I wanted to ride from India to Australia, that
22:23
Speaker 2: is Bangalore to Sydney, because I wanted to finish the
22:26
Speaker 2: trip for Alistair and go meet his parents. And just
22:30
Speaker 2: do this big ride. Like at that point in time,
22:35
Speaker 2: I had never ever crossed countries by my motorcycle. I
22:40
Speaker 2: had only ridden in India. So it was the first
22:42
Speaker 2: time for me. But being at Overland Expo, meeting people
22:47
Speaker 2: like Sam Manekom, Ted Simon, Simon and Lisa, all these
22:51
Speaker 2: incredible people who are speakers, they gave me so many
22:56
Speaker 2: tips and they gave me the knowledge and the help
23:00
Speaker 2: to go out there and to do these amazing things.
23:04
Speaker 2: And also they helped me with how to prepare presentations
23:08
Speaker 2: to pitch to brands and companies. So it all worked out.
23:13
Speaker 2: And within the next three months, I had got one
23:17
Speaker 2: of the biggest sponsor in India, like a motorcycle company
23:21
Speaker 2: to sponsor the trip. And I had started on this...
23:25
Speaker 2: journey to ride from India to Australia. But in my
23:28
Speaker 2: planning stage, I thought I could do it in three months.
23:31
Speaker 2: But when I actually started riding, I realized that this
23:35
Speaker 2: is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I shouldn't
23:38
Speaker 2: be doing it so fast. I should experience everything on
23:42
Speaker 2: the way and help people. So because of that, it
23:46
Speaker 2: took me eight months to get from India to Australia.
23:49
Speaker 2: But I'm so grateful I did that. Like in Cambodia,
23:53
Speaker 2: I helped build a school. In Laos, I taught at
23:57
Speaker 2: schools where I was teaching English. And then when I
24:00
Speaker 2: came to Bali, I got this opportunity to do my
24:04
Speaker 2: dive course. And that's how I learned how to swim
24:07
Speaker 2: and did my scuba diving training. And they also asked
24:12
Speaker 2: me if I wanted to be a master, dive master,
24:16
Speaker 2: but I couldn't continue that because I had a ear infection.
24:20
Speaker 2: And then also when I reached Australia, a skydiving company
24:25
Speaker 2: wrote to me and I got to skydive for free.
24:29
Speaker 2: And at that moment, I did not really understand why
24:32
Speaker 2: all these crazy things are happening to me. But when
24:36
Speaker 2: on the final day at the Sydney Harbour Bridge and
24:39
Speaker 2: the Opera House, when I met Alice Farland's parents for
24:44
Speaker 2: the first time, and I thanked them for giving me
24:48
Speaker 2: me this opportunity and this idea to explore the world
24:52
Speaker 2: and to meet them and I also got to stay
24:55
Speaker 2: in their house and to get to know Alistair more
24:59
Speaker 2: that's when I realized that Alistair used to used to
25:03
Speaker 2: scuba dive he used to skydive and he had big
25:07
Speaker 2: pictures of all of this in his house and It
25:11
Speaker 2: was crazy. It was literally like I was finishing the
25:15
Speaker 2: ride for him. I also got to meet his best
25:18
Speaker 2: friend and his close friends along the way through Australia.
25:22
Speaker 2: So it was really awesome. They were all following the
25:25
Speaker 2: journey and they were all telling me how thankful they
25:29
Speaker 2: are that I'm doing.
25:31
Speaker 1: This for them.
25:31
Speaker 2: So it was very, very cool to do. it worked out.
25:36
Speaker 2: And I'm so glad that I took eight months to
25:38
Speaker 2: do the journey because after I did that ride, nobody
25:42
Speaker 2: has ever been able to do that same route again
25:45
Speaker 2: because the war started in Myanmar. The borders have been
25:49
Speaker 2: closed ever since. The small ferry that I took from
25:53
Speaker 2: Malaysia to Indonesia has been closed now forever. So it
25:59
Speaker 2: was the best thing that I could do at that time.
26:03
Speaker 2: And I'm so so grateful that I was able to
26:06
Speaker 2: ride from India to Australia through 10 countries yeah.
26:10
Speaker 1: Wow what did it feel like to arrive in Australia.
26:16
Speaker 2: Yeah like like it was a dream moment like like
26:22
Speaker 2: growing up I would always see the opera house and
26:25
Speaker 2: Sydney Harbour Bridge and all the photos but and There
26:29
Speaker 2: would be a lot of Indians that actually flew there
26:32
Speaker 2: and took those pictures. But being there on an Indian
26:35
Speaker 2: motorcycle with an Indian number plate felt like I had
26:40
Speaker 2: finally accomplished something. And there were almost 60 people waiting
26:45
Speaker 2: for me and all clapping when I arrived. So there
26:50
Speaker 2: was a very good feeling, yeah.
26:54
Speaker 1: Plus the significance of the trip that you did for
26:58
Speaker 1: on behalf of or in the spirit of Alistair as
27:02
Speaker 1: well to be arriving. I'm sure that was quite powerful.
27:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I was just super grateful to have made
27:11
Speaker 2: it there like alive and in one piece because along
27:15
Speaker 2: the way there were a couple of challenges. Like in Thailand,
27:20
Speaker 2: I kind of broke my wrist, but I still continue
27:23
Speaker 2: riding like that. In Indonesia, I missed one of the
27:28
Speaker 2: smaller tsunamis by one day. The day before where I
27:32
Speaker 2: was camping, the tsunami hit and about a thousand people died.
27:36
Speaker 2: So there were a lot of crazy misses and I
27:40
Speaker 2: was like, Really happy just to be alive and finish
27:44
Speaker 2: the trip, you know.
27:45
Speaker 1: There's this overland magic that I have experienced from time
27:50
Speaker 1: to time where you're like, ooh, this one thing or
27:54
Speaker 1: you meet one person and they tell you some information
27:57
Speaker 1: or something happens or you just have all these serendipitous
28:01
Speaker 1: little things seem to happen to set you on this
28:05
Speaker 1: path that helps you. And this has happened to us.
28:09
Speaker 1: And it sounds like you as well. It's like the
28:11
Speaker 1: overland magic of serendipity.
28:13
Speaker 2: It happens all the time. And sometimes you'll be riding
28:19
Speaker 2: for like five days and you see no one on
28:21
Speaker 2: the road. But then when you actually have a breakdown
28:25
Speaker 2: and you really need help, someone will be there in
28:27
Speaker 2: five minutes to help you.
28:31
Speaker 1: Yes. Overland magic.
28:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:36
Speaker 1: Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Very cool. Well, congratulations on that.
28:41
Speaker 1: I know you've done other rides since then. Tell me
28:45
Speaker 1: a little bit about how you went to Europe as well, right? Yeah.
28:52
Speaker 2: Soon after the Australia ride, I wanted to continue this
28:56
Speaker 2: ride around the world, but I had to come back
28:59
Speaker 2: home and figure things out, how to get the funding,
29:03
Speaker 2: where to start working. And as soon as I came
29:06
Speaker 2: back to India, I thought maybe I should work as
29:10
Speaker 2: a manager at one of the motorcycle companies so I
29:13
Speaker 2: can make some money. But then I realized that that's
29:16
Speaker 2: a stupid idea because if I do that, I'm going
29:19
Speaker 2: to be stuck in the office again and the same
29:25
Speaker 2: desk job. And And then a lot of enquiries started
29:30
Speaker 2: coming on Instagram and Facebook saying you've done all these
29:34
Speaker 2: wonderful trips and we would like to see India and
29:39
Speaker 2: why don't you take us there? us on a tour
29:41
Speaker 2: of India and I was like that's not a bad
29:44
Speaker 2: idea and I can also earn in dollars so that's
29:49
Speaker 2: when I actually started doing the tours and I started
29:53
Speaker 2: the leading foreigners in India like I would take them
29:57
Speaker 2: to South India to Rajasthan to Ladakh and they absolutely
30:02
Speaker 2: loved it and then and then the very first group
30:06
Speaker 2: that I led through Rajasthan they loved the tour so
30:10
Speaker 2: much and this group of people would go to different
30:15
Speaker 2: countries every year So the next year they were going
30:19
Speaker 2: to South Africa and they were like, why don't you
30:21
Speaker 2: lead this tour for us in South Africa? And I'm like,
30:24
Speaker 2: I've never been to South Africa. How can I even
30:27
Speaker 2: lead the tour? They were like, don't worry, you go
30:30
Speaker 2: 10 days in advance and you prepare the route when
30:33
Speaker 2: we'll arrive and you lead us. And I thought they
30:37
Speaker 2: were mad. But then I was so grateful for the opportunity.
30:41
Speaker 2: And I flew there. And I did this trip with them.
30:45
Speaker 2: And it was amazing. And now it's been 12 years now.
30:48
Speaker 2: We ride every single year together. But that was just
30:52
Speaker 2: the start of it. And I realized that I could
30:55
Speaker 2: lead Indian people to foreign trips. And that's basically how
31:00
Speaker 2: my company began for almost 12 years it was called
31:04
Speaker 2: india on a motorcycle but i just changed it and
31:08
Speaker 2: now it's called grinning monkeys so we do tours in
31:12
Speaker 2: seven different countries right now and i have a business
31:15
Speaker 2: partner which is super cool but yeah so that was
31:19
Speaker 2: basically it i i started earning money out of my
31:24
Speaker 2: my passion and then um then But then COVID hit
31:30
Speaker 2: and then I was like, no, travel. But I used
31:36
Speaker 2: the time at COVID to spend time with my parents
31:39
Speaker 2: because for almost eight years, I did not see them
31:43
Speaker 2: for very long. I was continuously traveling, trying to build
31:47
Speaker 2: a business, which is why for seven months I stayed
31:51
Speaker 2: with my parents and it was an amazing time just
31:54
Speaker 2: to be with them. And then once the borders opened,
31:58
Speaker 2: I started traveling again. And then because of COVID and
32:02
Speaker 2: because I had lost so many years of international travel,
32:07
Speaker 2: three years ago, I decided to do a Europe trip.
32:12
Speaker 2: And the idea that I pitched to brands in India
32:16
Speaker 2: was doing 25 countries in six months. And I was
32:21
Speaker 2: super happy to be starting off the ride at the
32:24
Speaker 2: ABR festival, which is like... one of UK's biggest festivals,
32:28
Speaker 2: and I was invited there as a speaker. So I
32:30
Speaker 2: was like, why not start at the festival, do the
32:34
Speaker 2: entire ride and head back? But being a single Indian woman,
32:42
Speaker 2: it's so difficult to get visas. So even though I
32:46
Speaker 2: wrote multiple letters to the embassy and stuff, they only
32:50
Speaker 2: gave me a three-month visa. So now I had to
32:54
Speaker 2: do the six-month ride in three months. And it was
32:58
Speaker 2: the most hectic ride of my life because it was
33:02
Speaker 2: 25 countries, about 20,000 kilometers in three months. And basically
33:10
Speaker 2: it was like four days in each country. I know
33:13
Speaker 2: that all the countries are together and stuff like that.
33:17
Speaker 2: But me being me, I love to explore. I love
33:20
Speaker 2: to like, talk to people I love to do all
33:23
Speaker 2: the activities available so every day I was riding from
33:28
Speaker 2: around 6am in the morning till 10pm in the night
33:32
Speaker 2: so I could fit everything I would go hiking swimming
33:37
Speaker 2: doing everything possible just to like cherish the time that
33:42
Speaker 2: I had over there so yeah I completed 25 countries
33:48
Speaker 2: in three months and that was another big trip that
33:51
Speaker 2: I've done in my life yeah.
33:54
Speaker 1: And then you needed a vacation yeah Europe's tricky like
33:58
Speaker 1: that that's not very much time and I think yeah
34:03
Speaker 1: it's difficult because there's so much to see there as
34:06
Speaker 1: you know so it's not very long but yeah I
34:10
Speaker 1: want to talk more about India with you. And I've
34:14
Speaker 1: never been, so I'm wondering what are your tips and
34:18
Speaker 1: advice on coming to India as an overland traveler? And
34:22
Speaker 1: I know that's a very general question, but I will
34:25
Speaker 1: get into the details.
34:26
Speaker 2: When are you coming to India? Because you have to
34:30
Speaker 2: come here. Because India is definitely like a continent. It's
34:34
Speaker 2: not like a country. We have everything from snow-capped mountains
34:39
Speaker 2: to the desert to the awesome beaches. We have everything.
34:48
Speaker 2: The wildlife is amazing. The things that you see on
34:52
Speaker 2: the road in India is insane. The elephants, if you're lucky,
34:56
Speaker 2: you see tigers, leopards, so many things. Every day in
35:01
Speaker 2: India is like a new experience. And Every few hundred
35:06
Speaker 2: kilometers that you ride, everything's different. You know, the language changes,
35:13
Speaker 2: the way people dress change, the food is different, the
35:18
Speaker 2: way people, like everything is so different, which is why
35:22
Speaker 2: I say that India is more like a continent. And
35:26
Speaker 2: even though I've ridden through it like so many times,
35:30
Speaker 2: I think I've done at least 15 or 16 times
35:34
Speaker 2: of the entire country. Still, it's never enough because there's
35:38
Speaker 2: so much to see, so much to do, so many
35:42
Speaker 2: places to go to. The waterfalls are incredible. Everything has changed, though,
35:50
Speaker 2: from the last 12 years. Everything has become more touristy.
35:54
Speaker 2: There's a lot more hotels. It's become a lot more
35:57
Speaker 2: safer because of the internet. But yeah, there's a lot
36:01
Speaker 2: of change. Wow.
36:04
Speaker 1: So what time of year would you suggest? Because the north, obviously,
36:08
Speaker 1: high elevation, mountainous, other areas are going to be hot.
36:12
Speaker 2: The mountain areas are usually open between May to October
36:19
Speaker 2: because the rest of the time there's crazy snow, like
36:23
Speaker 2: at least 20 or 30 feet of snow, so the
36:26
Speaker 2: passes are closed. So that's when you would want to
36:29
Speaker 2: do the north. And South India, you can do like
36:34
Speaker 2: almost throughout the year, but only avoid the rainy season
36:37
Speaker 2: because sometimes the rainy season can be really rough. In
36:42
Speaker 2: some parts of South India, it rains the entire day.
36:46
Speaker 2: But most of the time, we have like sunny weather,
36:49
Speaker 2: good for riding, and it's perfect. A few people struggle
36:54
Speaker 2: with the heat and the humidity. But that's why I
36:58
Speaker 2: would suggest riding in South India between the months of
37:02
Speaker 2: October to Feb.
37:05
Speaker 1: Great. And what kind of resources should visitors use for
37:09
Speaker 1: route finding, camping, or is it sort of more suitable
37:15
Speaker 1: to choose like a guest house or a hotel? And
37:19
Speaker 1: I'm thinking motorcycle, but also 4x4 overland vehicle.
37:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, so iOverlander does work in India, but I would
37:28
Speaker 2: suggest not camping in India because it's not very safe
37:33
Speaker 2: because there's so many people everywhere you go and people
37:37
Speaker 2: are always curious about who is in the tent or
37:40
Speaker 2: who is in this vehicle. So they will come and
37:44
Speaker 2: check on you and you wouldn't want to do that.
37:47
Speaker 2: And you will find a stay in India, like a
37:51
Speaker 2: very decent stay for $ 10 or like $ 30 which is
37:56
Speaker 2: very reasonable so I think that's a better option to
38:01
Speaker 2: get a hotel to stay or if you're in a
38:03
Speaker 2: truck it's absolutely safe but I wouldn't suggest people to camp.
38:08
Speaker 1: Gotcha right on another question I have is about like
38:14
Speaker 1: planning your route and where how do you know what
38:18
Speaker 1: should What should you go do? Sort of, should you
38:21
Speaker 1: do north first and then set? Like, I don't know.
38:26
Speaker 1: What would you do?
38:27
Speaker 2: If you're like an adventurous soul and if you want
38:31
Speaker 2: to get away from the people, then you do the
38:34
Speaker 2: north first because there's very few people up north. And
38:39
Speaker 2: especially when it's colder months like September, October, there's very
38:45
Speaker 2: few tourists. So it's perfect to do the Himalayas at
38:49
Speaker 2: that time. But then if you come to South India,
38:52
Speaker 2: the people are much more friendlier. There's a lot more
38:56
Speaker 2: food options. But there's a lot of traffic. That's the
39:01
Speaker 2: only thing about South India. But it always depends on
39:06
Speaker 2: what you prefer. But I would say if you go
39:08
Speaker 2: up to the Himalayas first and then get an idea
39:12
Speaker 2: of how the traffic works how people works and then
39:16
Speaker 2: make your way down i think it's better but yeah
39:20
Speaker 2: i haven't done a lot of riding through the central
39:23
Speaker 2: part of india because there's still a few like Naxalite
39:28
Speaker 2: areas and even in the northeast. But it's a lot
39:32
Speaker 2: safer now because of social media and stuff. But I
39:35
Speaker 2: wouldn't suggest camping in certain states like Bihar and Jharkhand,
39:41
Speaker 2: which is what I tell most of the overlanders. But
39:45
Speaker 2: some of them do not listen and they do it anyways.
39:48
Speaker 2: But yeah. I would say no camping.
39:52
Speaker 1: What are the threats or concerns in those areas for camping?
39:58
Speaker 1: Or is it just the number of people that are inquiring,
40:01
Speaker 1: like coming over to chat with you?
40:02
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. There's just way too many people. And like,
40:07
Speaker 2: if you're just one person or two person, you're still
40:12
Speaker 2: vulnerable because there's like 10 or 20 or 30 men.
40:17
Speaker 2: So you never know what's going to happen. It's just
40:20
Speaker 2: best to avoid being in that situation. And even when
40:25
Speaker 2: I was traveling, every time I would stop in those
40:29
Speaker 2: areas to buy a bottle of water or something, there
40:32
Speaker 2: would always be like 20 or 30 men surrounding me.
40:36
Speaker 2: But it was always just out of curiosity. They wanted
40:40
Speaker 2: to know what a woman is doing all alone by
40:43
Speaker 2: herself here on a motorcycle. They would never try to
40:47
Speaker 2: harm me or anything. They just wanted... And the problem
40:51
Speaker 2: with them is because they don't know the language, they
40:54
Speaker 2: would just stare at you and just think stuff in
40:59
Speaker 2: their head but never really talk to you because they're
41:02
Speaker 2: really scared. But then once you talk to them and
41:06
Speaker 2: tell them what you're doing, they're so happy and they
41:09
Speaker 2: invite you to their homes to have lunch or for
41:13
Speaker 2: a tea. So stuff like that. So not everybody you
41:18
Speaker 2: meet on the road is there to harm you. But
41:22
Speaker 2: then sometimes because of a few people, the whole country
41:26
Speaker 2: gets a bad name. Yes. Yeah, but I would also
41:31
Speaker 2: say that every time that a media person or a
41:36
Speaker 2: reporter came to interview me, the first question that they
41:40
Speaker 2: would ask me is, did something bad happen to you?
41:42
Speaker 2: And if I would say no, they would say, okay,
41:46
Speaker 2: the interview is not even happening, you know. And even
41:51
Speaker 2: recently when I met with an accident in the northeast,
41:55
Speaker 2: a monkey ran into my motorcycle and I couldn't do
41:58
Speaker 2: anything about it. It threw me off the motorcycle and
42:01
Speaker 2: I hit my knee and I injured real bad. There
42:08
Speaker 2: were 25 media people at the hospital in less than
42:12
Speaker 2: half an hour because someone had informed them that a
42:15
Speaker 2: woman by car has met with an accident and she died.
42:18
Speaker 2: And I think that was the biggest news ever and
42:23
Speaker 2: I just came out of the hospital after an x-ray
42:27
Speaker 2: and I flipped out and I was like I've been
42:31
Speaker 2: riding for 12 years now and you never wanted to
42:35
Speaker 2: cover the story you never want to talk to me
42:39
Speaker 2: when I'm healthy and happy and exploring your side of
42:43
Speaker 2: the world you want news when something has happened to
42:46
Speaker 2: me so that you can make a big headline saying
42:49
Speaker 2: how a woman's The writer doesn't know how to ride
42:52
Speaker 2: a motorcycle and she met with an accident. You know,
42:55
Speaker 2: that's how crazy the world is right now. They only
42:59
Speaker 2: want all these spicy topics and they never want to
43:04
Speaker 2: cover the good parts of the story. Yeah.
43:08
Speaker 1: What is not cool when you're in a situation where
43:13
Speaker 1: you're vulnerable and in pain and coming out of the hospital?
43:17
Speaker 1: You know, like, whatever. Come on. By the way, how
43:22
Speaker 1: is your recovery going? Sending you all the best for
43:27
Speaker 1: a rapid heal. I know it's been a process. Maybe
43:29
Speaker 1: you can share with us if that's okay, how that's
43:32
Speaker 1: been going. And obviously you can't ride. And I'm sure
43:35
Speaker 1: that's been very tough for you.
43:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, after 12 years of being on a motorcycle and
43:42
Speaker 2: riding like 11 months every year, this is the longest
43:47
Speaker 2: time I've been off my motorcycle ever. is because I
43:51
Speaker 2: tore my ACL, MCL, PCL, and both my meniscus. So
43:57
Speaker 2: one of my knees was completely gone. And the doctor
44:01
Speaker 2: said I won't be able to get on a motorcycle
44:05
Speaker 2: for at least a year. And I would take at
44:08
Speaker 2: least seven or eight months to start walking. And I
44:13
Speaker 2: think that was one of the toughest things for me
44:15
Speaker 2: because being on the move all the time and and
44:19
Speaker 2: changing places every three days. Being in one place was
44:23
Speaker 2: the hardest thing that I could ever do. But I'm
44:27
Speaker 2: glad I had supportive parents who looked after me for
44:31
Speaker 2: the first three months. And then my boyfriend who was
44:36
Speaker 2: riding through Africa, he flew down to India and then
44:39
Speaker 2: he started looking after me and just helping me walk
44:44
Speaker 2: again and helping me go to the gym and to
44:47
Speaker 2: get back on my feet. And luckily now it's less
44:50
Speaker 2: than six months and I'm here in Bali and on
44:54
Speaker 2: the Gili Islands and I'm going swimming every day, going
44:58
Speaker 2: to the gym every day. And I'm just so, so
45:02
Speaker 2: happy to be on the move again. I just started
45:06
Speaker 2: riding a quad bike and started riding a scooter. So
45:11
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to take much time for
45:13
Speaker 2: me to get back on the motorcycle.
45:15
Speaker 1: I'm so glad to hear that. Do you have any
45:18
Speaker 1: sort of words of advice or wisdom to somebody else
45:22
Speaker 1: who has experienced maybe they're in the early stages of
45:25
Speaker 1: an injury? And I think keeping that mental space is
45:30
Speaker 1: probably tricky, but you've probably learned a lot from the experience.
45:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, the first couple of months are the toughest because
45:39
Speaker 2: you feel like giving up. You feel like why is
45:43
Speaker 2: this happening to you? Like I would constantly question myself,
45:47
Speaker 2: saying that why did this happen to me? Because it
45:50
Speaker 2: wasn't my mistake. What did I do wrong? Why do
45:56
Speaker 2: I have to go through so much pain? But then
45:59
Speaker 2: I think sometimes things like this happen in your life
46:03
Speaker 2: to make other things in your life better. You know,
46:06
Speaker 2: you just got to trust the process for 12 years
46:09
Speaker 2: of my life I was riding all alone solo travel
46:14
Speaker 2: it was very difficult for me to find love to
46:18
Speaker 2: start a family stuff like that but I think because
46:23
Speaker 2: of slowing down I was able to I am now
46:28
Speaker 2: able to be in a proper relationship with somebody that
46:32
Speaker 2: does the same things as me who is so supportive
46:35
Speaker 2: and in the beginning I did not understand why all
46:39
Speaker 2: this is happening but now I do and sometimes you
46:43
Speaker 2: don't understand the bigger picture but then when you just
46:46
Speaker 2: go with the flow and you try to be strong
46:49
Speaker 2: and you know that this phase is gonna pass things
46:53
Speaker 2: will get better the pain is insane I know that
46:58
Speaker 2: I would cry every single day but It definitely gets better.
47:03
Speaker 1: So speaking of moving forward, what is next for you?
47:06
Speaker 1: I see you have some tours coming up.
47:09
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'm so excited for my Mongolia trip. Because
47:15
Speaker 2: for the last 15 years, my dream destination was Mongolia
47:19
Speaker 2: and Japan. And next year, we're going to be launching
47:23
Speaker 2: Japan tours, which is why soon after Bali, I'm going
47:26
Speaker 2: to Japan to design a new itinerary. And then... In September,
47:32
Speaker 2: we have my first Mongolia ride and I'm super excited
47:36
Speaker 2: for that. And in November and December, we also have
47:40
Speaker 2: South India tours where a lot of people from the
47:43
Speaker 2: US and the UK are flying down. And I will
47:46
Speaker 2: show them the best parts of South India that I love.
47:50
Speaker 2: And then me and Mark are also planning to ride
47:55
Speaker 2: in South America. at the end of the year and
47:58
Speaker 2: make our way to North America. So hopefully next year
48:03
Speaker 2: I'll be there at the Overland Expo and I get
48:06
Speaker 2: to see you. And hopefully we can come to all
48:10
Speaker 2: the three Overland Expos that happen through the country.
48:15
Speaker 1: That'd be awesome. Amazing plans. Oh my gosh. Yay. That
48:20
Speaker 1: sounds so incredible.
48:23
Speaker 2: I hope that goes through.
48:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes. Oh, that's wonderful. Before we wrap up, for
48:31
Speaker 1: people coming to India, what are some phrases that we
48:34
Speaker 1: should learn to say hello or... It's.
48:38
Speaker 2: Just namaste and then danyavad. That's like, thank you. But
48:46
Speaker 2: like I said, every state has a different language. So
48:49
Speaker 2: it's better when you land in India. you ask the
48:53
Speaker 2: local people for four or five different words so you
48:56
Speaker 2: understand their local language and not know just one language.
49:01
Speaker 2: But everybody in India knows English, so you wouldn't have
49:05
Speaker 2: a problem with that.
49:06
Speaker 1: I bet you have a big book of words after
49:09
Speaker 1: coming to India for each region with the different greetings
49:13
Speaker 1: and everything. Wow.
49:16
Speaker 2: And I would love for you to come and stay
49:19
Speaker 2: at my place place when you're in South India. I
49:22
Speaker 2: have a farmhouse called the Boulder House. And there are
49:26
Speaker 2: like five doggies and cats. And you could also park
49:30
Speaker 2: your truck there and camp for a few days.
49:33
Speaker 1: And it's awesome.
49:35
Speaker 2: We sometimes even have elephants coming. Wow.
49:41
Speaker 1: Thank you. That sounds so great. And I'll start to
49:45
Speaker 1: learn my different words for different regions before I show up.
49:48
Speaker 1: Thank you, Candida. Oh my gosh, it's been so great
49:51
Speaker 1: to see you. So great to chat. I am stoked
49:54
Speaker 1: for all the things that you have going on moving forward.
49:57
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see you in person. And where
49:59
Speaker 1: can the Overland Journal podcast listeners find you online?
50:03
Speaker 2: On Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, I'm known as Candida Lewis.
50:08
Speaker 2: And my motorcycle tour company is called grinningmonkeys.com.
50:13
Speaker 1: Fantastic. Great stuff. Thank you for joining me virtually via
50:20
Speaker 1: Indonesia and Mongolia. It's been great. And yeah, I can't
50:24
Speaker 1: wait to chat with you again.
50:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, same here. Thank you so much for having me
50:29
Speaker 2: on the podcast. And I can't wait to see you soon.
50:35
Speaker 1: And a shout out, big shout out to the Overland
50:38
Speaker 1: Journal podcast listeners for tuning into today's episode. I hope
50:43
Speaker 1: you enjoyed it and we'll catch you next time.