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| Two bikes, Two cities, 1200 kilometers, One goal: change the world by teaching kids to read |
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| People: Great faces |
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| We met a lot of great people on the Ride. The moments we remember most vividly are ones that involve them. The people pictured here are not the only people we met, for sure. But these photos should give you an idea of the character and warmth in the faces of the Nepalese and Tibetens we met. As well, for more people pictures, check out the kids photo section. To the left: Mingmar's grandmother in the Kathmandu Tibeten Refugee Camp. |
| And here is the whole family...Mingmar has his arms around the two kids in red. |
| Pemba. Our driver. He didn't talk much. And the one phrase he did say was 'No Problem,' which Nicolas taught him. He was always ready at the top of climbs with our gloves and jacket, always had a powerbar ready for us if we needed it, and drove that Land Cruiser like a man posessed. On the night before Everest Base camp, Pemba and I sat next to the fire listening to Willie Nelson on my MP3 player and drinking Lhasa Beer. It was great. |
| Mingmar's mother. She gave us tea and cookies while we sat outside her house and spoke with her kids. |
| Lhakpa was one of the key guys in getting the Ride to Read our visas and connected in Lhasa. He's a highly experienced Sherpa who got us the equipment we needed, took care of us in KTM and even came to our end of ride party. One of the nicest people we ran into. |
| Tenzing, it has to be said, was THE MAN. The Ride to Read would not have been possible without the amazing attention, dedication, care and service of our guide, Tenzing. A real life compassion buddah if ever there was one. The man knew everyone in every town we stopped in (Ok, there weren't that many people to know), seemed to have a girlfriend in village, and spent more time in more people's kitchen than anyone we've ever met. Tenzing - if you ever see this, thanks again man, you are a saint. |
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| Norbu (at least, we think that was his name...we never quite understood it when we asked, and it got a bit embarassing to keep asking, so we just sort of talked louder - rather than saying his name - when we needed him) was our guide in Lhasa. He met us at the airport, presented us with Kata (the white scarf of welcome), and showed us around. He also has the honour of being the guy who introduced us toTibeten food for the first time. He didn't speak very good English and tended to say the same thing over and over. This is a typical Norbu phrase at a monestary: "This is the compassion buddah. Compassion buddah. Buddah of compassion. Very old. Compassion buddah. This buddah represents compassion. And this buddah over here is budda of future. Future buddah....." Ah, Norbu, we had fun with ya. |
| Medicine Man. In a small town a day from Kathmandu, we stopped for the night and had a few beers at an outside food stall. Nicolas was having trouble with his sinuses and was starting to cough. This guy came, sat down next to us, spoke enough English to realise that Nicolas was sick, clapped his hands, some kid ran over, spoke to him, then ran away, then came back with some cough medicine. It was a great evening. |
| We also met a few people out at the bars (on the very rare, of course, occassion that we went out to a bar) in Kathmandu. This guy was one of the most interesting. We went out onto the roof terrace of a bar and he was there with a friend of his. They were bartenders, Nepalese and quite willing to talk politics, unlike most people. We spoke of Maoists, the King, the government, the riots, living in Katmandu, where they would travel if they could (they never had), and more. |