A small group of tour guides from Nepal, France and Vietnam – and a journalist from Australia – have banded together to stage an epic motorbike rally from Hanoi to Kathmandu to raise funds for earthquake victims in Nepal.
The rally will cross seven countries – Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal – and cover nearly 5,000km of terrain over four weeks.
“Shortly after the earthquake in Nepal, I was having dinner in an expensive restaurant with my old friend Herve in Paris,” says Ahn Tuan of Mototours Asia in Hanoi.
“The moment we started talking about the earthquakes in Nepal we couldn’t swallow our food. So Herve suggested we organise a motorbike rally from Hanoi to Nepal, and that we try to raise money to rebuild some of the villages his company worked with in Nepal over the year years.
“We became very excited, our appetites returned and we started putting together a team.”
THE TEAM
Tuan Anh Nguyen, founder of MotoTours Asia, Vietnam, 20 years experience leading motorbike tours and expeditions in Southeast Asia.
Hervé Pichoux, president of AMA Voyages, France, UIAGM qualified mountain guide with 30 years expeditionary experience in Europe and the Himalayas.
Furba Tamang, co-founder of Pike Peak Trek, Nepal, a Sirdar (leader of a group of Sherpas) with a lifetime’s mountain-guiding experience.
Isabelle Montégudet, associate with AMA Voyages, France, professional team builder, qualified accountant, accomplished painter and traveller.
Ian Lloyd Neubauer, journalist and photojournalist, Australia, 15 years experience creating motorbike content for BBC, TIME, Travel + Leisure and motorcycle and inflight magazines.
Funds raised will be used to rebuild camping facilities at villages and hamlets on the Pike Peak trek in the Lower Solu Khumbu district of Nepal. The rally’s official partner, French-based NGO AMA Solidarite Nepal, can rebuild a toilet, hot shower and kitchen for as little as US$1,500.
Once several such sites are rebuilt, the Pike Peak trek – and the hundreds of villagers that normally worked on it – will be back in business.
CHIP IN
Donations can by made directly to AMA Solidarite Nepal amasolidaritenepal.org/fr/faire-un-don/.
This post was published on travelweekly-asia.com
