MAD MAX Words by Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies // The highway is a perpetual a fever dream of construction and destruction. Dust, scattered pavement, clawed ridges of clay are punctuated with the idle carcasses of heavy equipment, thin herds of goats, and garish tractors bouncing between knee-deep ruts. When you don’t have any lanes, you’re always splitting lanes. Six days ago, Cory did what any responsible motorcyclist would do: he watched a YouTube video titled “How to Ride a Motorcycle in ONLY 1 HOUR,” which, it turns out, was only twenty minutes long. Cory then traced the backstreets of Santa Monica on a tiny café racer for five days before boarding a plane for Kathmandu. Now, eight hours of riding on Nepal’s worst and busiest highway later, the sun collapses across rice paddies heavy with grain. We still have hours to go. In this perpetual present, when you’re gripped, you experience the relativity of time. It slows to a game of seconds until, as if by magic, hours have passed.
MAD MAX Words by Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies // The highway is a perpetual a fever dream of construction and destruction. Dust, scattered pavement, clawed ridges of clay are punctuated with the idle carcasses of heavy equipment, thin herds of goats, and garish tractors bouncing between knee-deep ruts. When you don’t have any lanes, you’re always splitting lanes. Six days ago, Cory did what any responsible motorcyclist would do: he watched a YouTube video titled “How to Ride a Motorcycle in ONLY 1 HOUR,” which, it turns out, was only twenty minutes long. Cory then traced the backstreets of Santa Monica on a tiny café racer for five days before boarding a plane for Kathmandu. Now, eight hours of riding on Nepal’s worst and busiest highway later, the sun collapses across rice paddies heavy with grain. We still have hours to go. In this perpetual present, when you’re gripped, you experience the relativity of time. It slows to a game of seconds until, as if by magic, hours have passed.
MAD MAX Words by Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies // The highway is a perpetual a fever dream of construction and destruction. Dust, scattered pavement, clawed ridges of clay are punctuated with the idle carcasses of heavy equipment, thin herds of goats, and garish tractors bouncing between knee-deep ruts. When you don’t have any lanes, you’re always splitting lanes. Six days ago, Cory did what any responsible motorcyclist would do: he watched a YouTube video titled “How to Ride a Motorcycle in ONLY 1 HOUR,” which, it turns out, was only twenty minutes long. Cory then traced the backstreets of Santa Monica on a tiny café racer for five days before boarding a plane for Kathmandu. Now, eight hours of riding on Nepal’s worst and busiest highway later, the sun collapses across rice paddies heavy with grain. We still have hours to go. In this perpetual present, when you’re gripped, you experience the relativity of time. It slows to a game of seconds until, as if by magic, hours have passed.
MAD MAX Words by Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies // The highway is a perpetual a fever dream of construction and destruction. Dust, scattered pavement, clawed ridges of clay are punctuated with the idle carcasses of heavy equipment, thin herds of goats, and garish tractors bouncing between knee-deep ruts. When you don’t have any lanes, you’re always splitting lanes. Six days ago, Cory did what any responsible motorcyclist would do: he watched a YouTube video titled “How to Ride a Motorcycle in ONLY 1 HOUR,” which, it turns out, was only twenty minutes long. Cory then traced the backstreets of Santa Monica on a tiny café racer for five days before boarding a plane for Kathmandu. Now, eight hours of riding on Nepal’s worst and busiest highway later, the sun collapses across rice paddies heavy with grain. We still have hours to go. In this perpetual present, when you’re gripped, you experience the relativity of time. It slows to a game of seconds until, as if by magic, hours have passed.
MAD MAX Words by Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies // The highway is a perpetual a fever dream of construction and destruction. Dust, scattered pavement, clawed ridges of clay are punctuated with the idle carcasses of heavy equipment, thin herds of goats, and garish tractors bouncing between knee-deep ruts. When you don’t have any lanes, you’re always splitting lanes. Six days ago, Cory did what any responsible motorcyclist would do: he watched a YouTube video titled “How to Ride a Motorcycle in ONLY 1 HOUR,” which, it turns out, was only twenty minutes long. Cory then traced the backstreets of Santa Monica on a tiny café racer for five days before boarding a plane for Kathmandu. Now, eight hours of riding on Nepal’s worst and busiest highway later, the sun collapses across rice paddies heavy with grain. We still have hours to go. In this perpetual present, when you’re gripped, you experience the relativity of time. It slows to a game of seconds until, as if by magic, hours have passed.
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
I’ve known Ben Ayers @jetbutterflies for over a decade. He’s a Kathmandu staple and has called Nepal home for twenty some years. He came for the mountains and stayed for the people, starting and running non-profits for pieces of the community. At his heart, he’s an artist and filmmaker. He’s also a ferocious writer. I’ve been to Mustang with him before on assignment for NG. But this trip is just for us. The following posts are his words. Our other companion is Todd Hoffman. He doesn’t use Instagram. He’s one of those leather-faced legends of the eighties who lived hard and fast enough to know when to leave the racetrack. Even if you hardly know him, you want him on your team. At your back. If he looks familiar, it might be from that one time he took Pepsi to task over a Harrier jump jet. The following posts are from our motorcycle trip from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
The thing about earthquakes is that they impact poor and vulnerable communities the most. Those who can’t afford to reinforce their homes, or who don’t have a surplus of resources like family, income, or grain to weather months of rebuilding and trauma. In light of the recent 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Western Nepal last night – just miles from Mustang – and our hope to focus public attention on supporting relief efforts, we will postpone our travelogue until next week. Currently, there are 150 known deaths from the quake with many hundreds more injured and tens of thousands left without shelter as winter approaches. Please watch this space for updates on how you can help the families in Jajarkot and Rukum recover and build back better. With love, Cory and Ben
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
Our hearts remain with the thousands of families that have lost loved ones in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake in West Nepal. As winter approaches, tens of thousands remain without adequate shelter or warmth. If you’d like to contribute please visit Blinknow.org – these are friends of ours working tirelessly on the ground, and every contribution matters. We will resume our Mustang travelogue starting today to celebrate all the beauty, resiliency, and magic of Nepal in the faith that if we all work together, brighter days will come soon. // following words by @jetbutterflies Hoping for mountains, we find fog. Climbing towards Sarangkot, the city disappears behind us. Marigolds line the road that falls away into steeped terraces dotted by clusters of roughhewn homes. An hour in, we find the main highway again, paved and twisted into tight curls across the steep hillsides like a pig’s tail. Todd’s back wheel blows up, death-wobbling him across the narrow road and directly into a stable of split-open motor scooters under a corrugated tin roof held together with wire. The mechanic opens the rear tire, and leaves the parts strewn across the shoulder of the highway. A metal-handled hammer and broken screwdriver finish the job: a blown bearing. The mechanic isn’t much of a talker. He saddles a scooter and buzzes off to somewhere while the town gathers around us, sharing stories and children and a, most proudly, new iPhone 12 ProMax. They return with two bearings – “Japan” brand. “Best quality”, he says. Four hours of riding to go. @vacheronconstantin @aetherapparel
In these crucial first days after the quake, rescue efforts give way to the critical, and complex, process of providing impacted communities with food, warmth, and shelter. Rebuilding takes time, but helping provide these basic needs can make a tremendous difference in the long run. @maggiedoyne and @blinknoworg are on the ground at the epicenter and are focusing their efforts on vulnerable groups like pregnant women, and the most isolated communities that are typically the last to receive aid. Supporting their work is the best way you can help from afar. Donations of every size matter. Nepal has given us both so much, please help us in our efforts to give a tiny bit of that back when it matters the most. http://www.blinknow.org/earthquake 📷 @rushsturges @coryrichards
In these crucial first days after the quake, rescue efforts give way to the critical, and complex, process of providing impacted communities with food, warmth, and shelter. Rebuilding takes time, but helping provide these basic needs can make a tremendous difference in the long run. @maggiedoyne and @blinknoworg are on the ground at the epicenter and are focusing their efforts on vulnerable groups like pregnant women, and the most isolated communities that are typically the last to receive aid. Supporting their work is the best way you can help from afar. Donations of every size matter. Nepal has given us both so much, please help us in our efforts to give a tiny bit of that back when it matters the most. http://www.blinknow.org/earthquake 📷 @rushsturges @coryrichards
In these crucial first days after the quake, rescue efforts give way to the critical, and complex, process of providing impacted communities with food, warmth, and shelter. Rebuilding takes time, but helping provide these basic needs can make a tremendous difference in the long run. @maggiedoyne and @blinknoworg are on the ground at the epicenter and are focusing their efforts on vulnerable groups like pregnant women, and the most isolated communities that are typically the last to receive aid. Supporting their work is the best way you can help from afar. Donations of every size matter. Nepal has given us both so much, please help us in our efforts to give a tiny bit of that back when it matters the most. http://www.blinknow.org/earthquake 📷 @rushsturges @coryrichards
What’s better than art and true crime?! Just finished The Art Thief by my friend Michael Finkel @mike_finkel (the first writer I worked with for @natgeo) Go get it…it’s great! Mike has a way of finding incredibly complex and often dark characters in real life, and somehow making them accessible…even relatable. Stéphane Breitwieser, the character at the center of The Art Thief, managed to steal around 2 billion dollars of art before it all came crashing down. He wasn’t rich and resourced. He didn’t use guns. He stole in broad daylight and walked out the front door. Was is it narcissism? Was it kleptomania? Why did he never sell anything he stole, but instead kept it locked in his bedroom as a secret in plain sight? What is the pathology of the worlds most prolific art thief? No secret is forever and even the best make mistakes (often of hubris….like trying to unscrew 30 screws from a display while guards and tourists are moving around you.) Eventually cat becomes aware of mouse and the chase is on.
