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Marek and the Good Scooter. On a scooter in Asia

The traveler Marek Jelínek made a journey from New Delhi to Malaysia on a scooter last year to meet the world and support a project for educating Bangladeshi slum children at the same time. He crossed nine states, ascended thousands of meters to Annapurnas, sustained week-long rains in the Laos monsoon, and after seven months successfully ended his pilgrimage up in Singapore.

Marek, now back in Prague, is already planning a crossing of Africa and is making a book from his travel diary. Some of his notes can be read already now.

Everyday adventures

I never know where I'm going to sleep, what I'm going to eat, what´s the weather going to be like, what to expect and what will happen to me. But one thing I know for sure: Every day will be completely different! I always look forward to what new things are going to happen to me.

The Good Scooter

Marek helped to make the project for educating  Bangladeshi slum children known in his unique way. Thanks to the Good Scooter, he managed to provide a teacher for a year for children from Chalantika.

Why I'm a scooter-rider

No matter whether in Nepal, Vietnam or Cambodia, the scooter can open human hearts and make thousands of eyes laugh on every spot throughout the world.

Have you ever been to a slum?

I've always been wondering how these people could live in these slums ... I was thinking about it each time I had watched a documentary. I also wished to see them with my own eyes. And suddenly I'm here standing on these prickly planks, balancing so that I wouldn´t  fall down there where I really don´t want to get.

Now I´m walking through rooms that are made out of sheets of tin, with the afternoon sun beating down. When I see a four-member family living in one room, I'm “stunned“ and recalling my memories of South America, where I saw similar living conditions on the Amazon in Iquitos.

If someone still keeps complaining about the difficult life in Europe, I recommend visiting one of the slums, or better the whole Bangladesh. But my dears, it´s not such a disaster at all, and do you know why? Because these people keep laughing in every situation! It´s kind of miraculous.

Intuition

Sure, it's very demanding here, temperatures above 50 degrees and 97 percent humidity. I´m riding through unpaved roads full of holes, breathing dust, making my way through rickshaws, cows, people, dodging buses  in the opposite direction. At the same time, checking wheather a freak´s driving behind my back, or an elephant is hurtling toward me from my side. It's a part of it, but you wouldn´t believe how intuition awakens in such cases – it comes completely automatically and I take it immediately as a matter of course. I perceive travel to be one huge mental shift, in which direction it goes, it´ll be seen in time.

What's going on in your head is going to materialize!

Thailand is the 24th country in which I´ve found myself riding on a scooter. During the past two years of traveling, it has never happened to me that I would feel like tasting orange juice, only today. Well, and suddenly, two guys jumped out of a car and handed me two chilled bottles of orange juice! I didn´t even have time to get the earplugs out of my ears at what speed it was. Thailand! What's going on in your head is going to materialize!

Why my bike doesn´t have pedals

Everywhere it´is the same, whether you are in South America or here in Asia. I make people happy - just by riding by I make them laugh. Every day I explain at least 150 times why my bike doesn´t have pedals, then all crack up and emotions flow through the air. New friendships appear which I value so much.

Kissing prohibited

You know, we are very fortunate that despite all the ideologies that our country has gone through, we can express love to each other in public, we can touch, kiss, hold hands and so on. In Laos it is forbidden. There are signs of Kissing prohibited everywhere!

Why I do this

When I browse the map and see what I´ve already done, it seems incredible, but yeah, I'm just at the South China Sea!
Lots of people ask me why I do it, or what makes me to.

It´s easy. When I said I would ride on my scooter all the way to the Andes, nobody believed it, and then it became reality. When I said it´s possible to get to the Himalayas on a scooter, nobody believed it again. It's hard to grasp, as much as to get to this sea on a scooter.
But I think you can do anything you can imagine at least a bit. I'm just an ordinary kid who wants to know everything about the world, but I know I won´t know it from my sweet home. The real world is waiting behind the door and it doesn´t matter whether you are riding on a scooter or other means of transport. And yes, it's sometimes hard, but then you have the feeling that you´ve done something for yourself ...

That's what I meant to say, don´t be afraid to travel alone, or to travel more, whereever you are heading. Don´t worry just because someone told you it was a terrible place, or that he himself couldn´t do it, or that .... And that's what it's all about, there´s no need to adopt other people´s opinions, let alone to live them. I used to do it once, and I think we all do it every now and then. Good luck to you!

Marek and the Good Scooter around the world

More photos and information about upcoming lectures can be found at Marek's facebook pages www.facebook.com/marekadobrobezka.

Wall calendar

Thirteen unique Marek's photos arranged into a wall calendar can accompany you throughout the whole year 2019. By purchasing the calendar you support Marek and his journeys and charity projects with 150 CZK.

TAKE ME TO E-SHOP.

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