Key Points
- In 2019, Prerana Malla and her father Prem Malla took a nine-day bike ride through Upper Mustang
- The father-daughter duo say the ride challenged stereotyping of women.
- Prerana encourages more women to undertake adventurous bike rides.
Five years have passed since Prerana Malla travelled to Nepal to reunite with her family and fulfil her long-standing plan of taking a trip through Upper Mustang.
The remote Himalayan region is known for its challenging terrain and stunning scenery so is a popular destination for dirt bike enthusiasts eyeing off multi-day adventures.
Prerana, a resident of Melbourne, said she was driven to undertake the ride after initially being excluded from a bike excursion with her male cousins.
“I was coming back from an Annapurna Base Camp trek when I received a call from my cousin, who said 'since you will be the only girl on this trip, the boys might make silly comments that could make it uncomfortable for you'," she recounted.
Prerana said she was disheartened by this remark.
“I was upset and told my dad what happened. And straight away he said, let’s ride to Upper Mustang together then,” she said.
Father-daughter duo
Without any in-depth research for their trip, the father-daughter duo packed their bags, prepared their bikes, and set off on their adventure.
Source: Supplied / Prerana Malla
But Malla said she soon realised that what seemed normal to her was seen as inspirational to others.
She recalled a moment when they were riding through a village being chased excitedly by a group of kids, and a little girl’s face lit up when she realised it was “a woman" riding a dirt bike.
I could see it was a big deal for her, but how I wish that wasn’t the case, and it was normal to see Nepali women ride dirt bikes up in the mountains.Prerana Malla
She also remembered a moment when she was mistaken for a woman from another country.
“At one point we had stopped to have lunch, and I overheard a man say, 'these women can ride amazingly'. I asked him which woman, brother? Hearing me speak Nepali, he was surprised. and said he didn’t expect me to be a Nepali."
She said she couldn’t decide if it was a good or a bad moment.
Prerana Malla says during the Upper Mustang ride they had numerous falls. Source: Supplied / Prerana Malla
Changing times
According to Prerana, the situation is slowly changing in Nepal, as she has noticed more and more women riding dirt bikes.
Recalling her trip, she said they encountered countless falls from the bike and difficulty navigating the route.
But they succeeded to complete their journey in nine days, passing such lofty landmarks as Lo Manthang - altitude 3,840 metres - along the way.
Prerana Malla completed a bike trip through Upper Mustang in nine days. Source: Supplied / Prerana Malla
“As a dad, I have never felt like my daughter might not be able to do this, even when we were riding on some very rough roads,” he said.
The duo's exploits even garnered headlines in some Nepali media outlets.
“This journey was more meaningful for me in how it ended – a father stepping up and saying, 'Let’s do this,' and us taking a bike ride together, challenging our patriarchal society," Prerana added.
