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| Two bikes, Two cities, 1200 kilometers, One goal: change the world by teaching kids to read |
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| Kids were everywhere |
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| When doing our research for the ride, we read that there were two things we had to be careful about: - Dogs - Stone throwing kids While we certainly had our trouble with dogs, kids were another matter. In the cities, like this group of teenagers we met at a monestary in Lhasa, they were friendly, happy and eager to test a word or two of English. Of course, there we also those, like the little girl below, who had mastered the art of looking adorable while tenaciously holding onto your leg until you gave her some money. |
| Once we started riding, we got into a bit of a routine. It worked like this. Ride down road. Stop and set up camp. While setting up camp, be surrounded by every single kid within (a long) walking distance. Be stared at while brushing teeth, talking, eating, playing cards, pissing, writing in journaly. Every single evening, without fail, there would be a group of kids hanging out and just... ...watching. We'd give them our empty water bottles, which would send them into a frenzy. While they lasted, we also handed out pens. At first, all the attention was kind of fun. But then it just got....well, uncomfortable! We started to understand what rockstars must feel like when they are watched everywhere they go. Of course, when it got too much, we just went into the tent, pulled down the zip and played cards. Photos on left: Nicolas setting up camp on day 1 while under the watchful gaze of every kid in town. Kids in uniforms pay us a visit on their way to school on the morning of day 2. |
| By our standards, the kids have nothing. One (dirty) outfit that they wear every day. No books. No toys other than rocks and garbage. Hands so dirty there is almost no point telling them to wash up. But the smiles....the enthusiasm...the obvious friendships and happiness....! Perhaps it's us, with all our things, that are missing something.... |
| Ran into this kid somewhere between nowhere and a bit further out. He was just walking down the road in his green sweather holding a pair of mittens. Fascinated by our bikes, and saying the one word he knew we might understand (Pen! Pen! Pen!), he watched us cycle on. I assume he then turned around and just kept on walking wherever it was he was taking thos mittens. |
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