Community: Real Life

Tuk off


Ants and Jo

Taxi for two from Bangkok to Brighton? Ants Bolingbroke-Kent and Jo Huxter aim to cross 12 countries by tuk-tuk, and raise £50,000 for mental health charity Mind.
Entry: 1
Date: 28/05/2006

Here, the three-wheeling travellers share their hopes and fears before hitting the long road ahead.

Hatching the plan

Girls on tuk-tuk

Ants and Jo get set to tuk off

Jo: I was travelling in Thailand four years ago with two friends when a tuk-tuk driver let me sit in the front seat with my friends in the back. A tuk-tuk is basically a three-wheeled motorbike with a bench and a cover on the back. That's when the plan was hatched, at the end of the Khao San Road in Bangkok.

Ants: Raising the cash to fund it has meant writing letters, letters and more letters. We also approached companies we have personal contacts with, or companies who we believe our trip and ethos will appeal to.

Why Mind?

Jo: I suffered from depression in my adolescence and spent over two years in psychiatric hospitals, so I know how frightening and debilitating it is to suffer from mental health problems.

Ants: A close friend of mine committed suicide in November which finally made me decide to go with Jo on the trip.

Getting ready to go

Ants: I gave up my job in January and we've been flat out ever since; learning Russian, getting our motorbike tests, doing wilderness medical training, going on survival courses, getting sponsors on board, building our website, researching the routes, sorting what equipment we need, writing millions of letters cajoling people into giving us money, making sure we have all the right documentation. Oh, and choosing what shade of hot pink we want our tuk-tuk to be.

Big up your tuk-tuk

Ants: Our tuk-tuk is called Ting Tong and she's been pimped to perfection in Bangkok by a tuk-tuk manufacturer called Anuwat and his merry men. She's got roll bars, higher suspension and the usual throttle control has been replaced by an accelerator pedal.

"TT is two-tone pink with lots of disco lights inside."

Jo: TT is two-tone pink with lots of disco lights inside. She has a sound system too but her engine has not been pimped.

Sights to be seen

Jo: We leave Bangkok and then head north to the Laos border to the Friendship Bridge, visiting Ayuthaya and the Khao Yai National Park on the way. Once in Laos we will head north via Luang Prabang and meander through the mountains up route 13 until we reach the Chinese border. Our main highlights in China include the Leshan Budda, Xian and the Terracotta Army, before heading west down the old Silk Route before crossing into Kazakhstan...

Ants: We'll then spend about two weeks in Kazakhstan, travelling via Almaty, Lake Balkash, Lake Burabay and Astana before tukking into Russia at the West Siberian Plain. We'll then turn west, passing over the fabled Ural mountains into Europe. From here it's down the Volga Delta, through Volgograd, into The Ukraine - where we'll tuk through Kiev and Lviv - through the Czech Republic, tea with the British Ambassador in Prague, Poland, Germany, swim in a friend's pool in Brussels, whip across a small corner of France, and home. Phew!

Support or scorn?

Ants: We've been bowled over by the kindness of friends and strangers. So many people have given us advice, help and lashings of enthusiasm. Of course there has been some disbelief, too, and the odd bit of scaremongering, but we prefer to listen to the positive stuff.

Jo: Amazing. Everybody I have told is really interested and excited about our adventure. If only all of those people would donate to Mind, we may have already reached our target.

Share five funding secrets

  • Never take no for an answer;
  • Persistence does pay off;
  • Meeting people is always better than phone or email;
  • Never forget your sense of humour;
  • Be passionate about your cause.

Will the girls ride home in glory, or wind up on the hard shoulder of failure? Catch up with their diary and find out for yourself.


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