Austrian Cycleing Couple At Coimbatore
Austrian Couple Philipp Schaudy (left) Valeska Schaudy on a world cycling tour, at Coimbatore. An Austrian couple Phillip Schaudy (35) and Valeska (30) are on a tour of the world covering 39,000 km on a bicycle. The mode of transport is by choice, as they believed in travelling using their own power avoiding fuel and emission. The couple told in Coimbatore recently they liked many things in India, especially the food but what really annoyed them was the traffic and motorists’ behaviour. “We wanted to have a feel of the world instead of being carried away by reports in the media about certain countries, especially the developing ones”.
The couple admit that media reports, especially because of the biased factor, often distort the original image of a country, its people and their living conditions. It even scared people from visiting a country. The tour of the world is just not to visit places, learn the culture and heritage but to spread a message that concerns humanity especially issues such as global warming. The couple who began their journey from Northern Europe after Africa, Cape Town and Australia, landed at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
Within the country, especially on land, they travel on bicycle and to cross oceans they fly taking their bicycles along with them. Through friends in Austria, they establish contact with friends and hosts in various towns in various countries who take care of their domestic travel. In western Tamil Nadu and in some parts of India, Roots Industries Limited played the role of a host organising the stay and logistics.
“We loved the Indian food and the costumes, Kathakali dance of Kerala”. The couple who work in Austria take vacations to undertake the journey and on completion of the vacation they return to work. After working, for the next vacation they resume the journey. The journey across the world that began on October 9, 2006 is expected to be completed by 2010, said the couple shortly before pedalling their way out of Coimbatore. The couple on exploring India have plans to visit Nepal, Tibet, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.
