Written By: Will Yap
Photography By: The Motorgrapher
The Wandering Wasp

While the words of her dear friend, “It’s the rider, not the bike” resonated with the crowd last night, the 15^th of November 2017 at The Handlebar, Juvena Huang shared her experiences from her trip with family and close friends, who supported her before, during and after her trip in one way or another.

Having finally announced her return to Singapore to friends and supporters, marking the end of her brave solo trip through Indochina, across South Asia, The Balkans, the Mediterranean and Central Europe, Juvena Huang, The Wandering Wasp shared her story in brief with a crowd easily numbering 50-60 on her experiences, while fellow travellers present added to the inspiring vibes at the venue. During this time, other restaurant patrons present too joined in once they realized the scale of her journey.

25 countries, 44000km, these were the figures on many minds for the night. I’ll admit, even I failed to grasp achievement in its entirety when the figures alone are dizzying. I’ll implore you readers however, to pick up your phones, open Google Maps and zoom out of your country, whichever part of the world you may be. Trace your fingers along the route, from Singapore, across Indochina and into North East India. Now draw your fingers across and into Nepal and make a beeline for Pakistan. The sheer distance thus far is dumbfounding once you realize this was all done with nothing more than her very first set of wheels for company, before factoring in that this was only half the distance.

Bringing her sources of inspiration to light, Juvena touched on global traveller Goh Mia Chun and his wife Samantha, who spent 2 years and 8 months on their round the world trip starting in 2008 as well as Daniel Lim, who walked from Singapore to Nepal in 2014. While they served to inspire and encourage her on her trip, Juvena’s 2 points of the night were how accommodating the people she met were to her, although she was a stranger, wherever she went. She found many willing to help her find her way, repair her Vespa for close to nothing or provide her with safety and creature comforts, even with the simple living they could afford. Food and lodgings were almost never a problem with homes open for her to couch surf. The other point she drove home was that with all the fears instilled in us by both ourselves and others, never let anybody douse your dreams in cold water.

With that, as the night wound down and the crowd thinned, the buzz lingered on. A handful staying, asking, reflecting, seeking to bring life to their own dreams, amidst the patrons who slowly filtered out. – TGA

There will be more to look forward to as we sift through content collected from The Wandering Wasp’s journey. Stay tuned!

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