Meet Ric, The Man of Hit the Road: Cambodia

Meet Ric Gazarian, one half of the duo behind Hit the Road: Cambodia – a soon to be released film about two fearless guys who participate in Large Minority’s grueling Cambodia tuk tuk challenge. Ric is here to share with us the best of times and the worst of times through his most recent adventure in Cambodia.

(If you are not familiar with the documentary and why we’re featuring it here on Travel Massive, here’s the 30 second lowdown: Ian and Ric met last year shortly before TBEX Bangkok, and came up with the idea of screening Ric’s film at Travel Massive chapters around the world (cool huh?) and sharing how the film was created with our members. Ric put some stickers on the tuk tuk and spread the word about Travel Massive on his adventure. Way cool!)

As part of our Hit The Road: Cambodia series, in this article we interview Ric and ask him how we got the idea for the documentary and about the background to the film that started it all – Hit The Road: India.

What sparked your interest to create Hit the Road in the first place?

There is a bit of a history to this.  I completed a rally titled the Caucasian Challenge in 2010, which started in Budapest and 17 days later ended in Yerevan.  Yerevan is a special city for me.  I am ethnically Armenian, and ten years ago I volunteered at an after-school group for 4 months in Yerevan.  At the end of the rally in 2010, I met with one of my former students who had now become a 23 year old professional film maker.  As I shared stories with him about my amazing adventure driving through 11 countries; the creative juices began to percolate.  A couple of beers later, we committed to creating an adventure-travel documentary.

“Driving 7000 km in a 1993 Jeep Cherokee”

The more we researched, the more we began to discover these diverse and challenging rallies around the world.  We settled on the Rickshaw Challenge (http://www.rickshawchallenge.com/trips/mumbai-xpress/), a 2000 km rally across India, in an auto-rickshaw.  Less than two years later we were filming in India.  And the film, Hit The Road: India was released the following year.

Is there a unique story of how the team was formed? 

The film crew and my partners are two brothers, Gor and Moosh Baghdasaryan.  I met them over 10 years ago volunteering at an after school group in Yerevan, Armenia. Gor and Moosh were students at the after school group. They were just kids at that time. I ended up visiting Armenia every year after 2003 and would always meet up with them again. As kids they were passionate about filmmaking and today they’ve transitioned into professional filmmakers.

When I signed up for the Rickshaw Challenge in 2012, none of my friends wanted to join me. So I reached out to the organizers of the rally who paired me with a random guy who also needed a partner.  We spoke a couple of times, and then he just disappeared, stopped responding to my emails.  

“Training with the rickshaw in India”

In the meantime, I had met Keith, my driving partner in the film.  We met in Phuket at a Muay Thai Gym and he expressed interest in the Rickshaw Challenge.  I immediately asked Keith to join me when the other guy backed out.  

What has been your biggest success or accomplishment with Hit the Road so far?

The biggest accomplishment was that we pulled this off.  We were able to make a professional full length documentary.  Hit The Road: India became the #4 best selling documentary on UK iTunes and we even had our film licensed by KLM and Virgin Australia Airlines.  That was pretty cool to us.

Here is the trailer:

This success allowed us to film our second documentary, Hit The Road: Cambodia.  We just filmed it in October, 2015.  It will be released sometime in 2016.  This event, the Cambo Challenge, had Keith and me racing a tuktuk for 1600 km across Cambodia.  Another incredible adventure.  

What was the biggest challenge of the trip?

The Caucasian Challenge was 7000 km and 17 days.  When crossing 11 countries you end up facing a lot of challenges.  Same for the Rickshaw Challenge and the Cambo Challenge. You are always battling some sort of obstacle. Weather, police, getting lost, traffic, accidents, and every other thing you can imagine. Some days were quite long, driving 15 hours and then being ready to do it again the next day takes a lot out of you.

“One of those challenging days in India, when the rickshaw ended up in a ditch”

What issue in the world do you wish to see change in?

I would like to see more stability and sustainable growth.  Globally, there is a tremendous amount of instability with more refugees now than in the the last 70 years.  It would be nice to have some sort of peaceful outcome in countries like Libya, Syria, and Ukraine.  I would also like to see global economic growth while protecting our environment.  There are 100s of millions who still need to be lifted out of poverty, yet we need to protect our planet.  

Tell me about the charity aspect with these rallies?

For the Caucasian Challenge, we were encouraged to raise money.  My team raised close to $10,000 which was donated to an orphanage, an after-school group, and help install heating units in unheated apartments where young, low-income adults were living.  The rally ended with a visit to an orphanage where we donated toys and sporting goods and hung out with the kids.  The Rickshaw Challenge was partnered with Round Table India (RTI)(sort of like the Rotary Club).  We had many visits across the route to RTI sponsored schools and orphanages. These interactions really made the trip special and memorable.

And for the Cambo Challenge we homestayed at Chambok.  Chambok is a traditional Cambodian village that is transitioning into a sustainable village.  Part of this change is working with tourists and setting up homestays and outdoor activities while developing alternative revenue streams.

“The wonderful family we stayed with in Chambok” 

What sparked your interest to travel in the first place?

I spent 2 weeks visiting Brazil and Argentina with two college friends, and the next year I visited Armenia with my dad. Both of these trips for different reasons were a catalyst for me to start traveling overseas.  The final push was getting laid off after my trip to Armenia.  This free’d up a lot of time!  

“Inspiring Mount Ararat in Armenia”

Are you planning on continuing the Hit the Road films? What’s coming up next?

This is the dream and goal, we have been very lucky to have made two. We hope there will be a third.  There are some other amazing events around the world including Siberia, Central Asia and Western Africa. If we film again, it won’t be until 2017, so we have plenty of time to figure out which one.