Financially Poor and Experience Rich

Tahverlee [00:00:03]:
Welcome to the Bike Life podcast by Warmshowers Foundation, where we will be sharing knowledge, experience, tools, and stories of touring cyclists and hosts from around the world. I'm Tahverlee, the woman behind the scenes at warmshowers foundation, the leading platform for cyclists looking for hosts and to connect with a passionate international community. Find out more by visiting us at warmhowers dot org. Now, onto the show.

Jerry Kopack [00:00:40]:
Hey, everyone. This is Jerry Kopec, the host of bike life coming to you from the mountains of Brecker Ridge, Colorado, where today it's snowing. That's right. We got our first snow of the season. Pretty excited about it. But I know it's not snowing where I'm finding today's guest. Scott Sherrick moved to Cambodia in 2015, and shortly thereafter, he had a stroke. But he used cycling to recover, and is here to share some stories of bicycle touring in Southeast Asia through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:09]:
Hey, Scott. Welcome to bike life.

Scott Sharick [00:01:12]:
Hi, Jerry. Good to be here.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:14]:
What time is it there in Cambodia?

Scott Sharick [00:01:16]:
It is 10 PM on Monday.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:18]:
Yikes. Well, thank you so much for staying up late and chatting with us today.

Scott Sharick [00:01:22]:
No worries.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:23]:
How's, how's life over there? Treating you well?

Scott Sharick [00:01:27]:
It is I mean, I don't work, so I can do whatever I want. So I can't complain about that.

Jerry Kopack [00:01:34]:
Good. What, I'm curious. What took you over there to Cambodia?

Scott Sharick [00:01:39]:
Back in 2014, I came over to Vietnam for a photography tour, and they had a 4 day add on to Cambodia. And I knew almost nothing about Cambodia. And I said, well, I'm coming all this way. Might as well do it. And immediately when I got off the plane, I just felt like I belonged here. And it was just like a great place. And so I spent the 4 days, went to Vietnam for 2 weeks, came back later that year for 3 months to kinda test things out a little bit. And then the next year I moved here with no long term intentions.

Scott Sharick [00:02:19]:
But I just said I'll see what happens. And here it is. That was 2,000 fifteen's September. And here it is 9 years later, and I'm still here for the most part.

Jerry Kopack [00:02:32]:
For the most part. What does that mean?

Scott Sharick [00:02:35]:
That means this is my home. Yes. But basically, back in 2018, 2 years after my stroke, I started my around the world bicycle tour. So my intention was to go maybe 4 or 5 years around the world. But then COVID came and that kind of split things up. And so I had to kind of fit things back in. And now I have kind of a part time, tour schedule. So in the winter time, I come back to Cambodia, and I'll spend that here.

Scott Sharick [00:03:08]:
And then I'll go back to wherever I was touring and continue when the weather gets better there.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:13]:
Got it. And I wanna get more into that, but I'm I'm curious. So you're an American. Correct?

Scott Sharick [00:03:19]:
Yes. Yes. Where were

Jerry Kopack [00:03:20]:
you living in the US before this?

Scott Sharick [00:03:23]:
I left I was living about 10 years in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:27]:
Okay.

Scott Sharick [00:03:29]:
And I'm originally from Rochester, New York, the northeast.

Jerry Kopack [00:03:33]:
Is there anything that surprised you that was maybe different between, say, visiting a country and actually living there?

Scott Sharick [00:03:42]:
That's always the case because I think vacation, everything kinda looks great and everything. And, you know, even Hawaii, they think, you know, oh, if you live there, it's paradise. But for some people, it can be a very tough place to live. It's very expensive. And also, you're pretty much isolated on a little island.

Jerry Kopack [00:04:03]:
Hawaii.

Scott Sharick [00:04:03]:
Luck Hawaii. Yeah. So luckily, I had a job that got me off the island a lot, and I traveled a lot. So I'd never felt the island fever part of things. But that tends to get people once they've realized they're stuck on that little dot in the Pacific Ocean. So it may be paradise, but living there is a whole different thing than visiting.

Jerry Kopack [00:04:25]:
Well, how is it different, or is it the same as, say, Cambodia? Obviously, you're not isolated on an island, but what's life like living there versus, say, holiday?

Scott Sharick [00:04:38]:
I remember when I first got off the airplane, it was actually, like, 10:30 at night when I first came for that visit. And I thought Cambodia, Hawaii, kinda tropical. But as soon as that plane door opened, boy, that heat and the humidity at 10:30 at night just hit me like a ton of bricks. And that really hasn't changed so much. I mean, I still sweat, in the heat, and I like when I see a little bit of sweat on a local people on their, upper lip or something because it's like, oh, you do sweat. But for me, just like walking down the street can kinda get me pretty sweaty.

Jerry Kopack [00:05:19]:
Are there, there's probably distinct months where it's rainy monsoon versus little bit cooler, not quite as not quite as hot?

Scott Sharick [00:05:29]:
Yeah. Right now is the monsoon season. It's coming to the end, probably another few weeks. And, like, today, I went for a 6 mile walk or hike around an ancient wall in the Angkor Wat Park. And about halfway through the sky just opened up. And then it got sunny again. And then 5 minutes later, it just poured again. And then it got sunny.

Scott Sharick [00:05:58]:
And then when I stopped for lunch on my way back home, by the time I got out of the restaurant, it was just pouring again. But we've had a few days of no rain, and then nighttime rain is kinda normal.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:11]:
Normal through the monsoon? For

Scott Sharick [00:06:14]:
through the monsoon. Okay. Dry season is dry as can be. Dusty and dry. And most people kinda come to can Cambodia to visit, like, beginning in November, December, January, February, March. Okay. But everything is dried out. The rice fields are all harvested.

Scott Sharick [00:06:35]:
It's all like dead stalks and brown. I really like the rainy season even though you get wet. But I I just come home and take a shower, and then I'm back to normal. So it doesn't matter that much.

Jerry Kopack [00:06:48]:
But to your point, it's not 72 or 96 hours straight of just dumping buckets of rain.

Scott Sharick [00:06:55]:
No. Like that It

Jerry Kopack [00:06:56]:
comes in waves.

Scott Sharick [00:06:57]:
Yeah. It would rain for, you know, 1 or 2 days

Jerry Kopack [00:07:00]:
Yeah.

Scott Sharick [00:07:01]:
Nonstop. And once in a while, you get a storm like that that comes through, so that's unusual. But generally, like, it kinda rains at night, and then maybe late afternoon, like 3, 4, 5 o'clock sometimes, it'll rain. But generally, it'll stop within 45 minutes or an hour.

Jerry Kopack [00:07:21]:
Oh, it's completely manageable then.

Scott Sharick [00:07:24]:
Yeah.

Jerry Kopack [00:07:25]:
Okay. So I know you're quite the photographer. I've looked at your Instagram page, and some of your images of Southeast Asia are incredible. And it reminds me of some of my trips through the mountains in Northern Vietnam and also Thailand. But I've never been to Cambodia. So tell me why I or some of our listeners should plan a trip over there.

Scott Sharick [00:07:46]:
I think the thing, I really used to be more of a photographer. Okay. And I kinda say that I was a photographer that liked to ride a bicycle, and now I'm a bicyclist that takes pictures. Ah. And basically, because on tour, I couldn't take my big cameras because they're just too big and heavy, so I had to get rid of them. And now, actually, I was, you know, touring the US, for 6 months this year, and I just came back from that. And I decided I have a now a mirrorless camera.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:24]:
Okay.

Scott Sharick [00:08:24]:
So it's a little bit, smaller, but it's still a professional grade. But I'm not even gonna take that with me when I go next time. It's just gonna be all my iPhone is gonna be what I'm gonna be taking pictures with because it's lighter, more convenient.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:41]:
And the lens and camera is actually quite good.

Scott Sharick [00:08:44]:
Yeah. And they get better and better.

Jerry Kopack [00:08:46]:
Yeah. So so what are the the charms? Without giving away all the local insider tips, the thing is that you can't maybe read and say, The Lonely Planet or other blogs. But, you know, don't don't give it all away. But what are some of the cool things about about Cambodia? Why should people come?

Scott Sharick [00:09:01]:
Well, to me, before I was, before I came here for the first time, I was a landscape photographer. I didn't take people pictures. And for some reason, literally, like the day I got here, I started taking pictures of people because they're just so open and friendly, and it's easy to take pictures of them. So I really turned into right now, I'm more of a people photographer than a landscape photographer. So the people are super friendly. Compared to me, they have a lot less, many of them. And some of them are just like dirt poor living in, you know, homes without doors and on dirt floors and everything. But they're always there to help no matter what happens.

Scott Sharick [00:09:53]:
And I have friends that have done more for me than I've even had the opportunity to do for them. So it's kind of a little bit different. And the people looking at me as a foreigner, white guy, if I come into a remote village on my bicycle or motorcycle, people are just kind of like hoard around you. And it's because they're not afraid of you because you're different. They want to be close to you because you're different. So that's a lot different than what other people around the world might see. So the people are very open and friendly. And, everybody, hello, hello, hello in Cambodia.

Scott Sharick [00:10:36]:
And Laos is a little bit, they didn't open up to tourism until later than Cambodia did. So there, the people are a little bit more reserved and shy. So you may have to be the one to say hello first. But as soon as you do, they just light up and they smile and they say, you know, they're at Sabaiddie. And, you know, they just say hello. Or in Cambodia, it's more you know, there's some days I go, I probably get people saying hello, like, over a 100 times, just riding my bike. Like kids and families, people on the motorbikes going by holding up their kids and waving their little hands and everything. So it's just a very friendly kind of atmosphere.

Scott Sharick [00:11:20]:
And also, over time, I kind of became a little bit of a minimalist. You might not think that if you look at my messy apartment. But there isn't that much that you actually need to be happy and to function in whatever you want to function with. And for me being a minimalist is very useful when it comes to bicycle touring because you can't carry everything with you. So you have to kinda limit. So the less I had in my apartment, the less I even think about taking.

Jerry Kopack [00:11:56]:
Got it. And so you talk about bicycle touring through Cambodia. People are very welcoming, very willing to help or eager to help. What kind of gear do you think you need to tour over there? Do you need to do you camp? Do you stay with, in in hotels? What about home stays?

Scott Sharick [00:12:13]:
Well, me, Southeast Asia, I generally tend not to camp. Number 1, it's too hot. So getting in a tent, I just spent, like, how many weeks in Florida in the summer, in a tent. So It's

Jerry Kopack [00:12:32]:
like a greenhouse in there. Right?

Scott Sharick [00:12:35]:
Yeah. It was kinda tough, like, getting to just like rolling to your side, I would just start sweating. It was awful. So but guest houses are very cheap. Generally, you can get a a very good guest house. Like, in Thailand, I always say $15 is kind of my average. And that's, you know, you know, it's not the Hilton by any means. But a lot of times, they're individual bungalows, and they have good Wi Fi, hot water, refrigerator, television, even though it's all in the Thai language.

Jerry Kopack [00:13:08]:
Do you, do you do you need hot water?

Scott Sharick [00:13:11]:
Well, hot water I mean, one thing when I went back to the US, let's see where I I started again in Texas. And the thing I noticed was I was freezing just washing my hands like in a gas station because the water in the US is cold, especially if you're in the wintertime or in the northern areas. But here, even the cold water isn't all that hot. Excuse me. Isn't all that cold. So I can take a non heated shower or a bucket shower, which, quite a few times I've had to do, but that's not a problem. But generally speaking, if I'm at a gas house or hotel with heated water, I may take a shower at night and in the morning just because I like it. But if it's not heated water, I don't take 1 in the morning.

Scott Sharick [00:14:05]:
Because when you come back from a bike ride, luke, lukewarm cool water feels good. But in the morning, it's just too cold.

Jerry Kopack [00:14:15]:
I, it reminds me of of my tour through Northern, Thailand in the Chiang Mai area. And it was in April, and I thought April would be a relatively pleasant time of year. But apparently, it was that's sort of when it gets really, really hot there and dry. And so I remember being very eager to take a cold shower. But as you mentioned, the cold water wasn't really that cold. Like, the first minute or 2 is like, oh, this is a nice blast. And then once the water that had been sitting in the pipes for the entire day comes through, it's pretty warm. So it's always a kind of a a rush to get that first bit of cold water before before the warm water came through and kind of warmed you back up.

Scott Sharick [00:14:55]:
Yep. And and I think it's the same in Thailand, most of the Southeast Asia. But the hot months are April May are the hottest. And over the past 2 to 3 years, the the hot part is starting sooner and sooner. Last year, it started in February, and it just never cooled down. And the hot season, April May, was the hottest hot season they've ever had. Luckily, I was gone on tour. So I leave for the part that I don't like, the hot season, and I get the tail end of the rainy season that I do like.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:36]:
Got it. Now I remember when I was in Thailand in April, they were starting to do their their field burning. I'm assuming that's, that's a common practice throughout Southeast Asia and also Cambodia?

Scott Sharick [00:15:49]:
Yeah. It's not like it is up in Chiang Mai. I think it's like the absolute worst.

Jerry Kopack [00:15:53]:
Okay.

Scott Sharick [00:15:54]:
And I think they start doing that in February. My niece got a teaching job up there, and they warn you upfront, you know, it's smoky. You can't see the mountains. And she has a little bit of asthma, so she had to be prepared for that. And she was able to live through it. But here, like, the first time I came to Cambodia was actually March ish. And I noticed that, like, everything was kinda hazy a little bit. And I didn't real realize why until I moved here, and it was the burning.

Scott Sharick [00:16:30]:
But the burning is getting less and less over time, and they're trying to get rid of it because it's bad for everybody. But, yeah, here is not like Chiang Mai. Okay.

Jerry Kopack [00:16:43]:
So regarding touring in, say, Cambodia, what kind of bike do you think is appropriate? Skinny tires, fat tires, road bike, gravel bike, mountain bike?

Scott Sharick [00:16:54]:
I I'm actually surprised at the number of people, local people in Cambodia that ride with $10,000 bikes and the full kit and everything and the skinny tires. Because the roads here are not, well, the roads in Laos are probably the worst of southeast they are the worst of Southeast Asia. Absolutely horrendous depending on where you are. A few years ago, I read a statistic about Cambodia that 8% of the roads in Cambodia were paved, which means 92% are not paved. So if you like that kind of biking, then this is a good place to go. During the rainy season, you can all of a sudden erode a dirt road is a lake, and it stays that way the whole season. And the locals, it doesn't bother them at all. They're just going through on bicycle and motorbike, but they know where the holes are underneath the water that you may not see.

Scott Sharick [00:17:55]:
But over time, for me, it's unfortunate when I see them building more and more roads. But I know it's better for them, for the locals, for the economy, for the country. But for me, I like the dirt roads and everything. So I personally wouldn't ride a skinny bike tire. Bike. Skinny tire bike.

Jerry Kopack [00:18:19]:
I'm with you.

Scott Sharick [00:18:20]:
Yeah. But but you can, and people do quite often. And like the major roads are generally pretty good as far as paved and everything, depending on where you go. They built a rebuilt a lot of roads, and they're actually quite nice. But if you want to get out into the country, then it's a little more fun. So for me, I ride a Surly Bridge Club, and I have 2.15 inches wide tires. And I kind of like that because I never know in Southeast Asia what kind of road I'm gonna be on, or it could actually be like a little bit of a a cow path too. Google isn't always the best at giving you the best routes, here.

Scott Sharick [00:19:05]:
So but

Jerry Kopack [00:19:08]:
I, I'm a I'm a I'm also a a surly bicycle traveler as well. I've been on a Karate Monkey for about 10 years now and wouldn't have it any other way.

Scott Sharick [00:19:18]:
Yeah. I started out with a long haul trucker.

Jerry Kopack [00:19:21]:
Uh-huh.

Scott Sharick [00:19:21]:
And, you know, that's, you know, the granddaddy of touring. But for me, the configuration of I had the Ogre before, and then I had to get the Bridge Club when I needed a new bike. But I like that kind of mountain bike configuration a little bit

Jerry Kopack [00:19:38]:
Yeah.

Scott Sharick [00:19:38]:
Better because let's say, feel better if I'm on trails or, you know, some places that I bike like Laos and Myanmar, which the roads are kinda pretty tough at some point, so I like it better.

Jerry Kopack [00:19:52]:
Yeah. It definitely opens up more opportunities for you, so you're not sort of relegated to just the freshly paved tarmac. Because I know that when I was in Chiang Mai area, the roads up in Thailand are immaculate. Like, I swear they sweep them. There there's not a grain of sand on them, not a rock. And I definitely felt like I had overkill with my mountain bike, but it sounds like maybe that's not the case in Cambodia.

Scott Sharick [00:20:16]:
Yeah. I mean, Thailand by far has the best roads in Southeast Asia. And I cannot I mean, I I feel very safe in Thailand, and the roads are beautiful, and the people understand the traffic laws because they have to. Here, like the motorbikes, you don't need a license. So like I asked my friends, I go, what is that line right down the middle of the road? They go, I don't know. So they don't know that there's one side or the other, and it shows. And even the people that get driver's licenses don't necessarily have to pass a written test, so they don't know the laws. But Thailand is more cognizant of the laws.

Scott Sharick [00:21:01]:
And, like, they'll still have people if I'm riding my motorcycle or bicycle down on the left hand side. And if they're coming at me the wrong direction, they understand that they're wrong, and they kinda give you the leeway. In Cambodia, they're just coming straight at you, and you gotta get out of their way. So they don't understand that they're in the wrong. So Thailand has, like, the highest death rate, for vehicles in Southeast Asia. But for me, it feels the safest. So Interesting. I don't know where all these people are getting hurt.

Scott Sharick [00:21:36]:
But

Jerry Kopack [00:21:37]:
Yeah. I I remember cycling through Thailand, as you mentioned, very orderly, great roads, and it was such a different experience than going through Northern Vietnam. And there's, you know, there's no traffic signals. There's no stop lights. There's no stop signs. People just kind of almost like an amoeba. They all sort of just sort of weave and duck and dodge and meander their way through the intersection. So it's a very motorbike heavy country.

Jerry Kopack [00:22:02]:
So motorbikes are everywhere. You'll come through a four way intersection, and people just they all come at once. They all sort of just sort of make their way around each other.

Scott Sharick [00:22:12]:
And it works.

Jerry Kopack [00:22:13]:
And it works. Kinda like organized chaos. But to the average person, it may feel like chaos, but it's organized chaos.

Scott Sharick [00:22:19]:
Yeah. Yep. And those are the exact words that I use for, that situation.

Tahverlee [00:22:29]:
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Jerry Kopack [00:23:17]:
So I know that you had you've done some touring through Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. Did you do, like, a specific route over a couple of months?

Scott Sharick [00:23:26]:
When I first I did some kind of mini touring before I did my big tour. It started in 2018. And then I just never I'm not the kind of person that kinda goes straight or follows a route. I like to do my own route and wiggle around. So if you look at the map of what I've done, it's kinda like all over Southeast Asia. And I've done, like, a few tours throughout the area. So I basically just kinda do whatever I wanna do and kinda get where I'm going without any I don't wanna have anything. I don't in the US, one of my big things was this past year, I wanted to be in Texas for the eclipse.

Scott Sharick [00:24:11]:
And so that was literally to the minute I had to be at where I had to be. And I didn't like that at all. I liked just going with the flow. And, you know, I started my world tour in Cambodia. So within a few days, I was in Vietnam. And within a week, my favorite phrase became, when I would come down in the morning at a guest house, I would go, can I stay another night? Because I didn't know what it was like when I got to town. And then he started walking around looking for dinner. And then it's like, I need to stay here.

Scott Sharick [00:24:46]:
And I had, at the time, I think it was on a 1 year visa. They had those back then in Vietnam. And it was like, if I don't get going, I'm never gonna get out of Vietnam. So I kinda had to push myself to keep going because I liked it a lot, and I would just stay wherever I liked and, you know, move on, in the middle parts.

Jerry Kopack [00:25:08]:
Yeah. And I think that really is what appeals to so many people about the idea of long term, long distance cycling is this sort of the the free form ability to stay an extra day or 2 or change directions. I mean, it's always good to have a plan, but then kinda go with the flow. So is that what really appeals to you about long distance cycling?

Scott Sharick [00:25:29]:
Yeah. And I I'm very fortunate because I stopped working in 2015, and I made a cognitive choice. I was in the medical field. I was a respiratory therapist for 30 years. And it was like, I decided that so many people wait until they retire to do things, but then they might be too too sick, too old, too tired. So I said, I gotta get out now. So I decided to become financially poor and experienced rich. So I got away with not needing a lot of money.

Scott Sharick [00:26:06]:
And like, my apartment here is $200 a month. So I can't complain about that. So that gave me the opportunity to start going on a bike tour and not worrying about the time. And a lot of people have maybe a couple of weeks or a month or even a year, but they're constrained by that. And my first big delay was COVID. And it's like, yeah, it doesn't matter how long it lasts because I'm not on a timeline. So I'll just wait out COVID and then start again, you know, when it spits us out the other end.

Jerry Kopack [00:26:44]:
Yeah. I I love what you said, and I'm I'm paraphrasing, but to be financially poor but experience rich. I I think that is such an amazing perspective because me, personally, I used to run a hospice for 10 years. When you see people who pass away at 90, 95, I can somehow make the rationalization like, well, I think they probably or I hope they probably had a really good life. Mhmm. But then you see people who maybe don't have that opportunity, who aren't there fortunate, who maybe die in their forties or fifties. And you think, wow, you should pay attention because if you think you're gonna work until your sixties, 65, 70, and then start living your best life, Well, tomorrow is not promised, and you may not get the opportunity. Which which kind of brings me to my next question, and I wanna pivot, and I hope you're okay with this.

Jerry Kopack [00:27:37]:
You had a stroke. Right?

Scott Sharick [00:27:39]:
I I did.

Jerry Kopack [00:27:40]:
And I I had a friend who recently suffered from a stroke at 53. But fortunately, he got really quick medical care, in a sense, made a full recovery. So tell me what you remember about that stroke.

Scott Sharick [00:27:53]:
The luckily I mean, I don't wanna say it was a minor stroke because I woke up in the middle of the night, and I thought I slept on my arm. But then I soon realized that the whole right side of my body was paralyzed. Oh my goodness. My arms, my legs. And I'm in Cambodia. So it's like, okay. You know, I tried to call the ambulance. And I called 3 times, and they never answered.

Scott Sharick [00:28:26]:
But then I said, you know, I don't even know if they speak English, and I don't even know where I live. I can't give them an address. You don't like, we don't get mail here, so I don't have, like, a specific address. So how am I gonna tell them how to get there? And then their front gate is locked, and my front door is locked. So how are how are they gonna get in? And I tried to message my friends who were British, and they lived upstairs, but they had to work. This was Sunday night, Monday morning. And so they were sleeping and it's like, well, I gotta get out of here on my own. So I had to like get out of bed, grab my phone, put some clothes on all with one hand, and then crawl out.

Scott Sharick [00:29:12]:
And I didn't quite think, okay. So I get out the door, but then what am I gonna do? But I heard the housekeeper who doesn't speak any English, but she was outside talking to somebody through the fence at 1:30 in the morning. So I only had to get out the door. And I'm laying in the front door with the door open. I'm going, hello. And she looks at me like I'm drunk, but she cleans my apartment so she knows I'm not a big drinker. And then I just lifted up my arm and it fell down, and she started crying. And she knew what it was.

Scott Sharick [00:29:46]:
And then she woke up, the guy next door, and he was local and spoke English. And then he got the ambulance and everything. And so then I get to the hospital, and they don't have the medicine that you get when you have a stroke. And they don't have an MRI, so they can't definitively, you know, diagnose it. And so after like a day and a half, they flew me to Bangkok. And I did transport for 25 to 30 years, mostly pediatric and neonatal. But I did some adults. And back in 2006, I actually flew from Hawaii to pick up a stroke patient in Bangkok to fly him back to Canada.

Scott Sharick [00:30:39]:
And I ended up in the exact same ICU with a stroke 10 years later. And I didn't realize that till a couple months later, and I looked back at my pictures from 2006, and I realized that. So I was very lucky. And I actually had to ask my neurologist, I said, Did I actually have a stroke? I mean, because I came out pretty good on on the other end. And he said, yeah. Based on the time and the coming and going and the findings in the MRI and everything, I did have a stroke. So you can look at the MRI and see the dead tissue in my head. You know, it's not the biggest by any means.

Scott Sharick [00:31:19]:
But for some reason, being in a third world country with you know, everybody at the hospital is very nice, but they weren't like up to par to what I'm used to until I got to Bangkok.

Jerry Kopack [00:31:32]:
Wow.

Scott Sharick [00:31:32]:
And so I I'm extremely lucky that I came out the way I did, not having the best care like if I was back in the US.

Jerry Kopack [00:31:43]:
Wow. But you have since made a full recovery? Nothing residual?

Scott Sharick [00:31:49]:
Sometimes I look at maybe my balance is off a little bit, but maybe I'm just older. So I you know, that goes away with age too. So I think yeah. And I think that if I had to put the reason behind it, it would be hereditary and high blood pressure and too much sugar in the form of, like, Coca Cola. And when I was in Hawaii, I would hike the mountains and I would bike. So I was very fit. But when I came to Cambodia, it was like, you know, I would sweat just by blinking. So like, I can't ride a bicycle here.

Scott Sharick [00:32:37]:
But after my so I think, like, I was kind of on the edge and my activity kept me okay. And then I stopped the activity and it's like, okay. Now you have a stroke. So I said I have to get more healthy, and I got back into biking. And the first time I got on the bike, I was off the bike about a year. And so I bought a cheap bike, like $300, and I did 10 miles. And I said, I'm in trouble because I have no job. I have no commitments.

Scott Sharick [00:33:10]:
I can just get on this bike and go wherever I want. And so I over time, I kind of planned on I was gonna do a 3 month trip from Siem Reap, where I live, to Bali and back, going up and down Malaysia on both sides. And but then while I was waiting to do that, I I discovered YouTube. And before you know it, it's like, oh, I gotta go all around the world. There's too many things out there to see, too many people doing it. So and that's how it, part how it changed over time.

Jerry Kopack [00:33:45]:
Got it. So having that stroke actually kinda motivated you to get back into cycling, maybe change your diet a little bit and just become more active.

Scott Sharick [00:33:54]:
Yeah. And I I do believe that if I didn't bike, then I could be dead by now. So I think that activity has kept me healthier and alive. So, you know, I don't think like if I stop biking, I'm going to die next month. But I think if I stop biking any kind of long term, then, you know, who knows what's gonna happen? So it kind of motivates me. Like, don't forget, that was kind of a low physical point in my life. And so let's not get close to that again. And, of course, a lot of people when when I said I was gonna go around the world, they said, well, what if you have another stroke? And I said, well, what if I don't? If I sit on my ass for 5 years and I don't have a stroke, I'm gonna be mad.

Scott Sharick [00:34:46]:
So it's like, I'd rather you know, if it happens, it happens. And, you know, maybe it'll be worse, maybe it'll be better. You know, I have no idea. But I knew do know by traveling around the world that the vast majority of people are like unbelievably nice. And it's like, they're not gonna just let me die on the side of the road. Somebody's gonna help me as long as I'm near people. So I can't worry about that. And, you know, the paperwork that they gave me at the hospital said, basically, stroke patients die within 5 years.

Scott Sharick [00:35:22]:
And I said, you can't be talking about me. And I think maybe people that become debilitated, like they might be bedridden, they might be the ones that die within 5 years because you're not supposed to be in bed for 5 years. So but for me, that basically had everything back. It's like, yeah, I'm just like a normal person with a little check mark that I just have to keep remembering is there.

Jerry Kopack [00:35:48]:
Wow. That is that is incredible. I want to thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with me today. It has been incredibly inspirational. So for everyone who's out there listening, how can people find out what you're doing or maybe learn more about Southeast Asia? Do you have an Instagram page or something you keep updated?

Scott Sharick [00:36:11]:
I I'm pretty bad at, like, committing to things. But Instagram is probably the best way that, you know, I'll upload the pictures. And then when I'm on tour, I'll upload. And this is October, November, December, January. So in about 5 months, I'll be back on the road, on a tour. So I'll have some pictures from the tour. And until then, I'll I'll do little trips here and there to keep me busy. But I'll Instagram is probably the best way, and that's under my name, just Scott Sherrick.

Jerry Kopack [00:36:45]:
Got it. And we will include that in our show notes at the bottom of our page. So thank you so much for taking your time, and that's a wrap, everybody. So thanks for listening to my conversation with Scott Sherrick. If you enjoy our show, give us a like, a share on your social channels, or just tell your friends. These stories hopefully will help you to ins to set off on your own bicycle adventure and maybe make the world feel a little bit smaller, 1 pedal stroke at a time. My name is Jerry Kopack, and until next time, keep riding.

Tahverlee [00:37:18]:
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