By Jack Hawkins
Photos: Shirine Taylor
At the time of our interview, Shirine Taylor was cycling in the far Western reaches of Nepal, Now, after sixteen months on the road, Shirine and her boyfriend Kevin, are now cycling in Georgia, in Eastern Europe, and will be leaving Europe to cycle the Andes in South America very soon! Follow her journey on her website. She takes some pretty amazing photographs and publishes thought-provoking and interesting blog posts.
* * *
I first became interested in Shirine’s story several months ago, as I
was searching for-round-the-world cyclists, and her blog came up. I
was intrigued and amazed at how a young woman of just twenty - when
most would be sat in classrooms or university lecture halls, decides
to up and begin an epic cycling journey around the world.
Shirine
has been cycling between the Indian Himalayans and Nepal since July
of 2013. She sought to escape from the ‘ordinary’ path that one
follows in one’s life - graduation from high school, go to
college/university, graduate - get a job, buy a house, get married,
etc… And so, she bought a bicycle and set off to cycle around the
world.
Shirine
spent much of her early life travelling back and forth from Sudbury,
Ontario, to Europe, New Zealand and Israel, as her father often
travelled overseas for work. Then, at age sixteen, Shirine was given
the opportunity to go on a year-long school exchange trip to Belgium.
That year away from home, in a whole other country, speaking a whole
other language was all it took to light the fire within her for
travel and a yearning to see the world.
Immediately
after she graduated, Shirine purchased a one-way ticket to South
America, and spent a year backpacking around South America, working
with monkeys in jungles, and experiencing new cultures, countries and
languages.
But
Shirine was far from done with seeing the world…
“This
time, I knew I wanted to do something different, something with more
purpose and more independence, more of a way to see the locals. Not
just tourist attractions, as I’d done the touristy-thing a lot in
Belgium.” She knew she wanted to do something different, now all
Shirine needed was a mode of transport…
“The
cycling just came up from reading other people’s blogs, and I
figured if they can do it, then so can I!”
Shirine says that she drew inspiration from people like Friedel and Andrew Grant - “The Travelling Two” - two round-the-world cyclists from Canada, and Alastair Humphreys, an English round-the-world cyclist, adventurer and author. She did her research, too.
Shirine says that she drew inspiration from people like Friedel and Andrew Grant - “The Travelling Two” - two round-the-world cyclists from Canada, and Alastair Humphreys, an English round-the-world cyclist, adventurer and author. She did her research, too.
“I
would just type in, ‘cycling around the world’ into Google, and I
wouldn’t even read their stories, I would just read the “Trip”
and “About” sections, and I just kinda figured that people
actually do cycle around the world.” On top of her research about
bike touring, Shirine spent hours researching what type of touring
bicycle to buy, and eventually settled on the world-famous touring
bicycle - the Surly Long Haul Trucker.
Shirine
had no previous experience with bike touring, and so she set off from
Canada to cycle to Mexico down the Pacific Coast of the United
States, a journey of 2900 kilometers, as a “warm up” for her
round-the-world ride. Other than her Pacific Coast bike tour, Shirine
didn’t really plan much of her round-the-world ride at all.
“You
don’t need to plan. Like, even now, starting out again, I wouldn’t
plan anything more. You really don’t need to at all. It is better
unplanned.” And so, sans-plan, Shirine left her home in Bend,
Oregon, in July of 2013, and flew to India, where she would begin her
remarkable journey.
In
order to fund her round-the-world bike trip, Shirine worked as a
babysitter. “So, I wasn’t making much, I was making you know -
ten bucks an hour. But I was living really cheap, living in a cheap
apartment, only cooking for myself, I don’t go out, I don’t drink
- all of my money was going towards saving for this trip.” She was
going through a Nursing programme at the time to get her degree in
that field, but has now put that on hold indefinitely, in favour of a
life of constant adventure and a constantly changing environment.
She’s been living on-the-cheap constantly, even as she cycles
around the world. Living on an average budget of around five dollars
a day...
“Five
dollars a day looks like cheap guesthouses - like the one I’m in
now, with leaky-plumbing bathrooms. A lot of camping in your tent. In
third-world countries like this, you can often afford guesthouses,
because they’re often only a dollar or two per-night. It’s a lot
of cooking for yourself, or eating at cheap, local restaurants -
which are also only a dollar, a dollar-fifty for an all-you-can-eat
meal. I don’t go to touristy restaurants, I’m not buying special
coffee or anything. But once I get into Europe, it’s going to be
tent-camping only. Unless I stay with families.”
Shirine’s
budget will increase as she goes West, but for now, she’s living on
an average of five dollars a day in Nepal. And, with only living on
such a small amount a day, being brought into homes by welcoming
families in the area, comes some very strange meals..
“All
they have in Nepal is rice and dahl, which are like lentils. And I
eat that - every
single meal.
Like, I’ve gone months without eating anything else besides that.
The weirdest thing I’ve eaten - and it wasn’t something I liked,
but it’s something that they drink a lot of in India. It’s what
they have up in the mountains, and it’s a tea. Kinda like what they
call a chai tea - so it’s a milk tea. But up there they call it
“ghee”. It’s made from a special kind of butter - it’s very
strong, it doesn’t taste like our butter. And then they put it in
your drink, and then you have this buttery, salted sweet tea. It’s
really weird, and it’s really strong and it’s really heavy. It’s
supposed to keep you warm, and it definitely does, and it adds fat to
you, but it’s definitely not my favourite food.”
On
the opposite side of the same coin, Shirine reflected on what her
best culinary experience has been thus far. This culinary delight
came from Western Nepal, as she was staying with a family.
“It
always had a base of rice and dahl, and it always had different
curried vegetables, and it always had a different sauce. My favourite
dish they ever served me was actually a dessert. It was rice, with
brown sugar and ghee, and it was all melted together in this amazing
dessert. That
was, by far, the best thing I’ve ever eaten here.”
It’s
not just the food that Shirine has found both challenging and
delightful. She’s learned a lot about herself and the world around
her, too. Shirine now has a greater appreciation of where she comes
from, and - although she has only seen two of the world’s many
countries, Shirine has learned quite a lot - both the good, and the
bad.
“It
goes kinda two ways for me. So, like, in the States when I was
cycling, within the first day, I was like, ‘Oh my God, the world is
an amazing place!' People would help me, people would take me in, I
had someone buy bike tyres for me, buy bike gear for me, take me out
to lunch… I mean, everyone wants to help you, and it was crazy! It
was unusual a bit - how differently people treat you. But then, in
India, I saw a different side of the world. Although I did have a lot
of amazing homestays, and I did have people help me, there’s also a
very male-oriented culture there. So I think I’ve seen the best of
the world, and the worst of the world in terms of people. And I think
the thing I’ve learnt most is just how different our world is. And
not just the cultures, or traditions, or, you know - food. But also,
the literal moral being of humans seems so different in these
different parts of the World.” She says that while being half a
world away from the experience that she had in the United States,
India was by far the most unique culture that she’s experienced on
her journey.
“Everyone
says that it’s crazy - and it is. There’s really no way to
describe it, it’s so loud and there’s just so many people! The
overpopulation is just scary. You never have a moment alone. As I was
cycling, I’d go through a Buddhist area that was super nice in the
mountains - totally calm and the people were amazing. And then you’d
hit a Hindu area that was vicious and hard, and then a Muslim area,
and then you’d go through a Sikh area, it was just how the
religions and cultures changed so quickly throughout the place makes
it pretty chaotic.” In a similar vein, Shirine reflected on her
encounters with men in India. “In India, the men were the most
challenging part - I kept getting harassed by men, I was throwing
rocks at them constantly, just to get them to stop grabbing me.”
Despite
the challenges throughout India, the northern part of the country has
been her favourite thus far, particularly the northern region of
Ladakh, which has been tough hiking - with passes over 5,000 meters
high! “Northern India was really diverse, but particularly the
Himalayan region - that was favourite so far.”
Throughout
her travels, Shirine has never had a moment alone in some countries,
she’s had everyone from the village staring at her from their
mud-hut rooftops - because they’ve never seen a white person
before, much less a cyclist! The approach-ability of people in these
remote regions came as a surprise, and their openness and kindness
allowed Shirine the opportunity to bond really well with the families
that she encountered - in both India and Nepal, as they often
welcomed her to stay in their homes for a few days. Her best
homestay, she says, was in far Western Nepal.
“My
best homestay was in far Western Nepal, which is a totally
undeveloped region, they'd never seen tourists before. It’s not at
all like the rest of Nepal, and I ended up kinda hiking out there
just to see what was out there, and the people would run away from
me, because they’d never seen such white skin before. It was like a
totally alien experience. But then I ended up sitting down near some
people making sugar out of this big huge steaming cauldron, and they
gave me some in a leaf. And then they gradually kind of invited me
in, and then I ended up staying a few nights with them. And that
village was probably the coolest one I've seen, ‘cause it was
totally rural, there was no plastic, there was nothing man-made. It
was little mud huts for housing, they didn't have electricity or
water. It was very different lifestyle than where I come from and
where a lot of the world comes from.”
In
her ten months on the road - as with anything in life - there comes
various lessons that you learn. Shirine’s biggest lesson, she says
was that plans always change. Her original plan had been to set out
from Nepal and head East, travelling through Asia and eventually
reaching Australia. But, now, she plans to head West, back through
Europe, all the way back to the US. She says it’s best to “keep
an open mind, and see where it goes. Don’t buy your plane ticket
too far in advance!”
So,
what is next for this cherry-blonde Canadian, after all of her
triumphs, trials and tribulations and undoubtedly an experience that
she will never forget - what is next?
“I
plan to go back through India, actually. And then keep going West
through Georgia and Turkey, and Eastern Europe and the Alps through
Western Europe and then down through part of Africa, from Spain and
Portugal. And down a bit, before I run out of money, ha, and then
across the US, then cycling home.”
She
has one last piece of advice for anyone aspiring to travel the
world…
“Just
do it! There’s no planning you need, there’s nothing you need -
you’ll learn everything on the road… People will always be there
to help you. Just do it, and you know, it’s one of those things
that you’ll never regret doing but you’ll always regret it if you
don’t start now. So, yeah - anyone who has the idea should just do
it! Go buy that bike and start pedaling.”
About the Author
Jack Hawkins is a freelance travel writer and touring cyclist. Originally from the UK, he swapped one seaside town for another in 2006, and has been living in Canada for eight years. Jack has always had a fondness for writing and after graduating from Bonar Law Memorial High School in Rexton, Jack decided to pursue a freelance writing career, and implemented his love of cycling into his work shortly after a chance-meeting in 2013 with a fellow Englishman who had cycled across Canada.
Jack currently writes for this webzine, but is also a monthly contributor Mike's Bike Shop's E-Magazine, "The Rider's Edge". He recently worked on and published a series of thirty-one articles for revered bicycle touring guru, Darren Alff, for his website: http://gobicycletouring.com/. Jack also writes articles, journals, gear reviews, and interview pieces for his own website - http://jackonabike.ca/.
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