Tuk Tuk Goose is a team of three fearless adventurers, Seema Shah, Chris Maliwat, and Rommy Ghaly, setting out to do the impossible, driving a tuk tuk 2000 miles from Nepal to southern India in just two weeks as part of The Rickshaw Run in January 2010.
Seema Shah
Seema
Age: 30-ish
Website/Blog: http://eseema.wordpress.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/eseema
Hometown: Chicago, IL, USA
Current Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Your greatest trip to date: The following three come to mind. 1) Freshman year of college…tripped over my own foot and went down in front of the entire dorm cafeteria, 2) Walking down the stairs with an eBay exec after a meeting…my heel caught in my pant cuff and I went face first down the stairs, 3) Was at the AIF Gala with my boss and his wife last year, elegantly draped in a sari…as we proceeded to the main event, I tripped walking down the stairs and fell on top of my boss.
Your thoughts about Seema: Awfully clumsy.
Your thoughts about Chris: With all due respect, Michael Jackson has nothing on Chriso Mariwato
Your thoughts about Rommy: No Rommy, I will not make out with you.
What you bring to Team Tuk Tuk Goose: India experience, some native language skills, female vocals, class.
What you hope to get out of the Rickshaw Run: Three truths and an indiscernible lie.
Your biggest fear about Rickshaw Run: Bathroom and sleeping arrangements.
Random video of Seema post-diss at Sundance 2009:
Seema in line at The Egyptian from rommy on Vimeo.
Rommy Ghaly
Rommy
Website/Blog: http://freerommy.com, http://rommy.se
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ozo
Hometown: Northport, NY, USA
Current Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Your greatest trip to date: A couple stand out (and I will not be as witty/sarcastic as Seema here). In December 1999-January 2000, I traveled through Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria with my two friends Brian and Steve right after we graduated. It’s a trip full of crazy stories that we still laugh about today. And last summer (2008), seven of my close friends from SF, spent their summer vacations with me in Provence seeing me off as I started a new life in Europe. It was an incredible vacation.
Your thoughts about Seema: Seema insists that she won’t make out with me, but she won’t be able to resist her urges once she’s stuck in a tuk tuk with me for 2.5 weeks.
Your thoughts about Chris: You’ve never truly experienced Chris until you’ve seen him wearing a dress, wailing on drums in front of a crowd of hundreds.
Your thoughts about Rommy: I don’t know how God was able to pack so much sexy into one human being.
What you bring to Team Tuk Tuk Goose: Organization, sense of humor, negotiation, damn good looks, pop culture knowledge, darker skin
What you hope to get out of the Rickshaw Run: The experience of a lifetime, baptism by fire (it’s my first trip to Asia), stories to tell my kids (the illegitimate ones), and hopefully to come out alive.
Your biggest fear about Rickshaw Run: Rickshaw breakdown in the middle of the desert. And getting assaulted by a pack of wild monkeys. And Seema trying to make out with me.
Random video of Rommy staring at Sundance 2009:
The Stare from rommy on Vimeo.
Chris Maliwat
Chris
Age: 34
Website/Blog: http://chickennutbread.blogspot.com, http://www.maliwat.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/maliwat
Hometown: Missouri, USA (just outside Kansas City)
Current Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Your greatest trip to date: A few years after college, I spent a month traveling through South Africa along the Garden Route from from Capetown to Grahamstown for the world’s second largest arts festival. epic. From singing in the townships with the Amy Biehl Foundation to visiting Nelson Mandela’s prison cell and bunjee jumping off a bridge, it was a pretty amazing trip. Second best is prolly a three-week jaunt through Sao Paulo, Rio, and Salvador Brazil.
Your thoughts about Seema: She is amazing on the mic and brings flavor to the dance floor…as long as she’s exfoliated.
Your thoughts about Rommy: Best. Rockband. Singer. (in drag). E. Var. (Hot Tranny Mess 4 ever)
What you bring to Team Tuk Tuk Goose: We Filipinos are a musical people. I tend to bring that and my Amazing Race obsession to bear. I also like to think that I have camera skillz… so I’m in charge of the A/V.
What you hope to get out of the Rickshaw Run: I’ve found that you sometimes have to get lost in order to find yourself. I will have just turned 35 when we start the trip, so maybe it’s about time I found myself (or maybe just get totally lost).
Your biggest fear about Rickshaw Run: How much darker can my skin get.
Random video of Chris reviewing the film Black Dynamite at Sundance 2009:
Chris on Black Dynamite from rommy on Vimeo.
