A night alone in the wild amidst thunderstorms and wildlife, landing up in a billionaire’s home in Switzerland, sharing rides…
Sievituo Solo (PHOTO: Facebook)
A night alone in the wild amidst thunderstorms and wildlife, landing up in a billionaire’s home in Switzerland, sharing rides with a Korean scooterist, relishing Naga food in Croatia, stranger’s kindness and the curiosity of Balkan kids— these were the memoirs of Sievituo Solo’s journey on a bamboo cycle to Europe and the USA, says a report in the Dimapur-based Morung Express.
Riding on his self-made bamboo cycle, Solo for 210 days in 24 countries covered 13,000 km from May 2016 to January 2017. He is now back to his Project 72 Hours. Sharing his experiences on his fourth expedition he said, “The whole point of the journey was to bring back something and educate and share the knowledge with our people.” His first three expeditions with Ruokuo Kire began with a tour of Nagaland in 2011, followed by South Asia and India in 2013, and South-east Asia in 2014-15.
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The bamboo cycle, which he learned to build from Manipur, was redesigned and restructured by Richard Belho and together with the team of Project 72 Hours they built the bike. To undertake the journey, Solo partnered with Zynorique, Dream Corp, NBRC, IDBI bank, Project 72 Hours and the Nagaland government which helped him in obtaining his visa.
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The people in Europe could not believe that the cycle was made of bamboo. In his first journey his impression was that world outside has hardly heard of Nagaland and Nagas. He said “We Nagas take so much pride in our hospitality, but in actuality our’s is just ‘another’ hospitality.” The hospitality he experienced in foreign countries was something real and heart-warming. He narrated how even strangers welcomed him in their homes, and offered food, lodging, essentials and some even offered money. He said outside people take care of public property and do not waste time on candy crush.
He mentioned how on occasions he experienced fear especially the time when he was off road in Croatia, and landed up in the wild with no human in sight except wild animals. His next trip will be through Africa.
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