The Grasshopper Crew
Meet the people that make it all happen...
Jason - Grasshopper Master...
Company founder Jason Williams has a long association with cycling having fallen off his first bike at age 4. It wasn't until after university that Jason finally managed to leave his homeland of Australia to explore the world on two wheels. He has since ridden tens of thousands of kilometres, mostly in Asia, the place he now calls home.
Fed up with the same same of tourism Jason started Grasshopper Adventures in 2004 to be able to run the tours that he wanted to operate. Little did he know that starting a tour company would take over his life and see him having to balance being office bound and out leading tours. If you have any contact with Grasshopper Adventures, chances are you'll come across Jason.
Adam - From banking to bicycle...
Adam Platt-Hepworth first started as a customer of Grasshopper but it soon become apparent that Adam was concentrating more on his next biking trip rather than his banking job. So he threw in the cushy lifestyle in Melbourne, sold his car and moved over to Thailand with his bike to be in a place that suits him much better than a bank.
Adam now lives in Cambodia and manages our Cambodia operations as well as Myanmar and the Luang Prabang to Hanoi tour.
Myanmar Magic | 13 day Bike Tour in Myanmar (Burma)
Northern Indochina Trail | 12 day Bike Tour in Laos & Vietnam
Ewen - Photographer Man...
Photographer Ewen Bell is addicted to travel. Anyone who receives emails from him will notice that they come from all over the world - one week Greece, the next Japan. Sometimes he even manages to go home to Melbourne, Australia to repack.
Ewen is the backbone of our Photography Tours filling the instructor role on all our tours in this range. A widely published photographer and writer, Ewen has also worked in a wide range of jobs in the toursim industry so he brings a wealth of knowledge to our tours. In 2007 Ewen was awarded the Australian Travel Photographer of the Year title by the Australian Travel Writers Association.
China Photography Tour | 14 day Photo Tour in China
Checkout Ewen's website
Simon and Tot - Taiwan and beyond...
Simon Foster first started tour leading in the Middle East in 1997 and has subsequently led groups in India and China. He is also a travel writer for the Rough Guide and Frommer’s and has just completed his first solo guidebook to China. He has lived in China for two years, Taiwan for three and has jsut moved to South India. When he’s not leading tours he writes for local travel magazines which allows him the excuse he needs to search out every last nook of his various homes. Simon first met Tot whilst they were both tour leading in India and subsequently they have worked together on tours and guidebooks in Asia, Europe and Australia. They divide their time between Taiwan and India and when they’re not leading tours, guidebook work allows them just the excuse they need to search out new destinations for tours.
Simon's personal website
Simon's China Guidebook
The Other China | 15 day Adventure Travel Tour in Taiwan
Nok - Jack of all trades...
Nok, a native of Thailand, works in our office providing operations support for all the tours. You have probably already received an email from her. Nok has also travelled extensively internationally and used to escort Thai groups to Australia. But now Nok is an accredited Thai tour guide and will be your escort on the Bangkok Urban Active tour and take you riding on our Bangkok Bike tours. Nok has lived in Bangkok for more than 20 years so I guess you could say she knows it fairly well. If you want to make her really happy bring along a sample of your country's sweets - you'll have a friend for life!
Nok manages and guides our Bangkok Urban Active tour.
Bangkok Urban Active | 4 day Urban Active Tour in Bangkok, Thailand
Sam - The Mountain Man...
For some it may seem strange that Sam who seems so at home in the mountains is originally from Belgium, where the closest thing they have to a mountain is a pile of chocolate. While still a chocoholic, he left Belgium behind to seek out some serious altitude. Sam has been drawn to mountain ranges all over the world; from his first love the Andes, to the Alps and now the Himalayas. He is a keen traveller, having travelled through over 50 countries and been lucky enough to combine work with something he truly loves. Having worked within the travel industry since 2002 he was eager to use his passion and experience to customize his own tours that capture the essence of what travel ought to be. Pairing up with like-minded Grasshopper gives him the ultimate opportunity to share his affection for the places with fellow travellers, since every tour goes somewhere very close to his heart.
Sam manages and leads our trekking Nepal and Tibet Adventure Travel Tours. Here's a taste:
Embrace Nepal | 16 day Trekking Tour to Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal
Ride the Himalayas | 12 day Mountain Bike Tour in the Himalayas, Nepal
Marlo - Samba on a bike...
Marlo is probably the worlds worst dancer, nevertheless this rhythmless Australian decided to make South America her home after she first travelled the continent as a teenager. In between her first impressionable visit and her relocation she gained a degree in Ecotourism and spent four years group leading in South East Asia. Her two left feet are much better suited to bikes than dance floors
and she now spends her time cycling the backroads of South America searching for the Lost City of Gold and a very patient samba teacher.
Marlo had designed and leads our very first South America tour to Brazil.
Brazil's Beaches by Bike | 9 day Bike Tour in Brazil
Brenton - ride on...
Brenton is our newest (and youngest) member of the team. Hailing from Oregon, USA, he worked as a backcountry ranger for the National Park Service before moving to Sydney where he lived for a year and learnt how to understand the locals. A love of cycling and travel has brought him to South East Asia where he is based out of Phnom Penh and leads cycling trips in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Join Brenton in Cambodia on the next Karma Cambodia tour.
Karma Cambodia | 13 day Bike Tour in Cambodia