Old Chinese Couple Make Their Own Solar Powered Car and Travel the World

As I wrote this title I realized that it sounded fictitious - like the storyline of a novel perhaps, but it is true. On my bike ride this morning I was hoping to again run into the Cambodian Para-Olympic athletes that I met last weekend, but they were no where to be found in the Diamond Island area where I last saw them training. As I made the loops around the Independence Monument - Diamond Island area, however, I spotted an unusual vehicle. From a distance behind it I thought that it looked something like a food cart - with the heavy tarp roof and bike wheels, but this one had two seats side-by-side and a center mounted steering column. As I rode closer I could see that the writing on the back of the vehicle's roof read, "Chinese old couple's low-carbon travel around the world". I was riding hard, timing my laps, and this one was on my fastest lap of the day, but after I passed them I thought that this was really a once-in-a-lifetime sighting and so I slowed to a stop and turned around to see where the couple was. At the intersection I had just gone through they were turning away from me. So, I turned around, rode hard to catch up to them, passing them, then quickly stopping and taking out my phone so I could snap a picture. They saw me and stopped.

 

They did not speak English, but they smiled and nodded as I quickly took a few pictures, smiled back at them and gave them a thumbs up.

This couple made this solar-powered vehicle themselves and they are traveling around the world in it. Pictures that were mounted on the vehicle showed that they sleep aboard this vehicle, pulling down a bug net around the perimeter of the vehicle.

You can see that there is a map attached to the back of this vehicle and on that map (not clear in this picture) is an outline of their route. You can also see that there is laundry hanging out to dry and a cooler mounted on the back right side.

I just think that this is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. What an adventurous couple these two are and what a great way to see the world!