The Long Road Home

Whilst I’m here resting in Kyrgyzstan, I’m just writing to say a huge THANKYOU to all the people who have made donations to the charitable projects we are supporting. WE HAVE RAISED ALMOST HALF THE TARGET AMOUNT ALREADY - just under USD 60,000 - towards the target of USD 140,000. This is thanks to corporate sponsors especially Crosby Capital Partners, Deutsche Bank, Prudential, and Lloyd George Asset Management, and lots of kind invididuals who’ve contributed through JustGiving pages. THANKYOU!

If we manage to hit the fundraising target by the end of my journey home, it will mean the sports centre for 5000 street children in Cambodia, and playgrounds for 10000 children in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan can be built. Both of these charity projects which we hope to make possible through the Long Road Home adventur use sport as a means to help rebuild broken communities.

Thankyou to some great groups of people who got together to make group donations, especially the super team at Reuters Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong cyclists. And a big thanks too to ADM Capital, Beeline Bicycles, Kodak, and Virgin Atlantic HK who are also making invaluable in-kind contributions to the project.

On the next leg of this journey from Asia to Europe, I’ll hopefully go through the rest of Kyrgyzstan, into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and then into Azerbaijan and Georgia. Several other firms have expressed interest in becoming corporate supporters - well, NOW’s THE TIME to write to me and get involved!

Meanwhile, thanks again for everyone’s great support, and best wishes from Bishkek!

A couple more corporate sponsors have committed their support:

First of all thankyou to Kodak who are supporting the Long Road Home by supplying camera equipment, including the new Kodak EasyShare V570 - the world’s 1st dual lens digital camera. Thanks a lot to Alice Tee at Kodak Hong Kong and all the team. Also thanks for the lovely lunch last week - I will miss Hong Kong dim sum.

Also thanks to Virgin Atlantic Hong Kong, who are giving away two Economy Class flights (HKG to Sydney round trip) for the winner of an on-line game based around my ride. More on that later. Sorry for those folks not based in Hong Kong - but maybe you could come on a holiday here first… Angelina Wong, many thanks to you and the HK Virgin team!

Thanks very much to both sponsors for your generous support.

I am delighted to welcome Crosby Capital Partners to the Long Road Home project as a priority sponsor! Crosby, with dual headquarters in London and Hong Kong, was established in 1984, and is now Asia’s leading independent investment banking and asset management firm. Crosby has a substantial and diversified client base in Asia, the Middle East and Europe and is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market.

Many thanks to Rory Leader and the whole Crosby team. Looking forward to share the ‘Long Road Home’ experience with you!

I’m also very happy that Lloyd George Management HK has also made a donation.Thanks a lot! With such great support, it seems it will really be possible to build sports facilities and playgrounds for 1000s of underprivileged children in Pakistan and Cambodia.