On this special episode we have Dave Mckean and Pemba Sherpa of Sherpa Chai and Sherpa’s Adventure Restaurant in Boulder, Colorado. We dig into how Pemba went from growing up in a small village in Nepal to funding humanitarian projects and running several businesses in the US. Both Dave and Pemba weigh in on the restaurant industry during COVID and what it takes to persevere in times like these.
Date: December 9, 2020
Episode: 33
Title: Norman Farrar Introduces Pemba Sherpa, a Nepalese Mountaineer who Founded Sherpa Chai and Sherpa’s Adventure Restaurant, and his partner, Dave McKean.
Subtitle: “The purpose of a leader is to create more leaders, not more followers.”
Final Show Link: https://iknowthisguy.com/episodes/ep-33-chai-mountaineering-and-social-change-w-pemba-sherpa-and-dave-mckean/
In this episode of I Know this Guy…, Norman Farrar introduces Pemba Sherpa, a Nepalese Mountaineer who founded Sherpa Chai and Sherpa’s Adventure Restaurant, and his partner, Dave McKean.
Pemba grew up in poverty, but that pushed him more to help his community together with his partner, Dave. Pemba talked about his journey towards funding humanitarian projects and running several businesses in the US.
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Pemba 0:00
Sometimes you are dealing with people that are simply not happy in their life in general, no matter how good it is and how beautiful it is. When you’re guiding a group of people, you’re dealing with lots of people and it’s not always an easy task.
Norman 0:24
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of I Know This Guy, the podcast where we dive deep into the lives of some of the most interesting people I know. Before we get started, please like and subscribe to I Know This Guy, wherever you get your podcasts. By the way, my kids want me to say something about ringing a bell. What the hell’s a bell?
Hayden 0:59
So dad, who do we have on for the podcast today?
Norman 1:03
We’re doing something a little different today. We’re meeting two people, one Pemba Sherpa. The other one is David McKean and they have a company called Sherpa Chai. Now, we’re going to dive deep into Pemba’s background as a Sherpa, living in Nepal. Also his entrepreneurial spirit, and their brand culture, which is incredible. So wait to hear some of this stuff, wait till you hear the story and what this person’s done, not only for the company, but for his village back in Nepal.
Hayden 1:40
Amazing. Can’t wait to hear about it
Norman 1:41
Really is amazing. All right. So welcome to the podcast. Pemba and David.
David 1:48
Good to be here.
Pemba 1:49
Yeah. Great to be here. Thank you.
Norman 1:51
Oh, you’re very welcome. It’s awesome to have you guys on here. I was lucky enough to have David on another podcast that I have called Lunch with Norm, The Rise of the Micro Brands and he blew me away with the story of your product and your brand Sherpa Chai and when I heard it, I wanted to get so David is a really cool guy and he just spoke with so much passion. But then he kept talking about Pemba, Pemba, Pemba and I’m going well, I got to learn more about Pemba Sherpa. Because you have an amazing story, sir.
Pemba 2:29
Thank you.
Norman 2:30
I think that’s where I’m gonna start. But first of all, let’s just talk a little bit about the brand Sherpa Chai and anybody who’s ever heard this podcast before, I don’t promote brands, I usually just talk about interesting people, their accomplishments, what they do, and their brands are secondary. This one, I gotta switch it around. Because your brand, when I talked to David about it, stood out and I want to talk about really the brand and its culture, its story and I think it is surrounded by you. So first of all, the brand is Sherpa Chai. What is for those people that don’t know, Chai, what is it?
Pemba 3:18
Well, Chai is basically tea. Okay. So it’s a tea that people have been drinking in their part of the world for 1000s of years. So basically, the tea, Chai, is a tea.
Norman 3:34
It’s interesting, because I know that when we were talking on the other podcast, and we talked about tea, then we talked about Chai, but it’s different. It’s just a different type of tea than the regular tea that would be grown in Nepal, correct?
Pemba 3:51
Well, the tea leaves are pretty much grown the same everywhere in the world. I mean, basically, it all depends on the processes. Oh, okay, so whether you make matter or green tea, or black tea and the tea root and leaves are pretty much the same. It all depends on their processes and let me tell you the history of the Chai tea.
Norman 4:14
Sure.
Pemba 4:15
The Chai is a I mean, Chai literally basically means tea in the Mediterranean. Okay and when the British were in India, back in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the British were in India, and the British drink the tea before, the Chinese and the British and the British know tea has a lot of benefits to health and they were drinking all the times they were keeping the tea to do their server or helper to the Indian people and then the Indian didn’t really like the taste of the tea, and they don’t know and they don’t see the value and didn’t know the benefit of the tea they were drinking and the Indian really didn’t like the tea. So what they did was, they added milk, they added sugar, they added different spices, cinnamon and then it tasted better. So that’s how it actually became the Chai. That’s how the Chai started.
Norman 5:27
So, when you’re talking about Chai tea, are there different types of spices? It’s not okay and I’m trying to think of the best way to say this. So if I’m thinking of regular tea, milk, sugar, pretty simple. Would Chai have specific spices or if you add different spices, it would be a different type of tea.
Pemba 5:52
Well, more specific spices for example, like our cinnamon condiments, gingers, cloves. Yeah. All those spices are added, but not like chili pepper or anything like that. Right?
Norman 6:08
Who knows? Chili peppers might be good.
Pemba 6:12
Yeah. So.
Norman 6:15
Well, I wanted to just get that out of the way we’re going to be talking more about the brand and what it stands for a bit later on. But let’s get some backstory. So you’re originally from Nepal?
Pemba 6:28
Yes.
Norman 6:29
Okay. I asked every guest this, what makes Pemba Pemba? Can we go back and can you talk about some of the things that in your life are some interesting facts that made you who you are today?
Pemba 6:45
Well, my background is I’m really a mountain person. I’m a mountain guy and I grew up in a very remote part of a very, very poor, extremely poor village, where there’s no electricity, no plumbing, no running water, no roads. That’s where I grew up and when I had to go to school, I had to walk three hours to get to school in one way and my mom used to make me these products, which were serving, our brand Chai every morning, before I go to school and then when I was about, then later on, I started working for the tourism industry and then when I was about 17, or so I became a guide here, professional guide and full time guide and then I came to the US when I was about after guiding many climbers and clients there, I was kind of curious about the ways in which I finally come out here in 1991, which is when I was 19, with my background and connections, and I set up an adventure company, where I guided people around the world for 20 plus years and I was partner up with the Clutter Mountain Club, which is one of the oldest organization in the US. This year clubs, one of the largest environmental organizations in the world, the American Alpine Clubs. So I was kind of their main guide, guides for taking people in that part of the world. Yeah, and we had an office in Africa, we had an office in Bhutan. So my background really is I’m adventurous. I was a professional climber at one point in my life. I’m a traveler. So that’s really my background.
Norman 8:47
So I gotta ask you, you’re dealing with the public, you’re dealing with a lot of people that can come and afford to go and go on these adventures. But let’s think about like, were there any stories that stick in your mind that were really great, incredible and were there any, I’m trying to do this politely. Were there any just jerks out there that you just wish that you never met?
Pemba 9:19
Of course. I mean, of course, that happened everywhere and in every country. I mean, I like to say this but usually when I get a big group of people, there’s one or two people, usually one person always, they can cause a big problem.
Norman 9:40
Is there one thing in your mind that you were asked to do something outrageous when you’re on a trip like this, and you couldn’t put your mind around it like somebody asked you to, I don’t know go down the mountain and grab something or just to bring up something, as you’re guiding them? I’m just kind of curious.
Pemba 10:03
Yeah, it is. Yeah. I mean, it’s not an easy job. I mean, a lot of time, you’re dealing with clients who don’t have much experience being up in the mountains. There is some time for clients who are not physically fit enough to be there. Sometimes you’re dealing with people, they’re simply not happy in their life in general, no matter how good it is, and how beautiful it is. When you’re guiding a group of people, you’re dealing with lots of people in, and it’s not always an easy task and it’s not always that, and you also meet lots of wonderful people, which I have, but one thing is that, I grew up in the Buddhist community, where things are calm and since I was a kid, I’ve been taught to be how to be patient, how to deal with difficult things. I grew up in very harsh, extreme conditions and those kinds of things actually taught me well to serve in this kind of situation.
Norman 11:08
Because I was gonna ask about how did you get around those, I know that I have to deal sometimes with people that aren’t the nicest and usually, I try not to deal with those types of people. But there’s always the good ones that make up for it. Right, but patience and how you overcome somebody in your face or very demanding. Yep. You just take a breath, and just, okay, I just have to get past this person. How do you handle that?
Pemba 11:42
That’s pretty much it. That’s pretty much it. Yeah. But like I say, where I grew up. I mean, I grew up in a Buddhist community, where people are calm and patient, and let go some difficult things and I think that served me well in life.
Norman 12:08
So, I know David had traveled over to Nepal with you and when he said, Oh, yeah, the village was isolated. David, it wasn’t just isolated. Why don’t you talk about the trip that you had to walk or how long it took to get to that village?
David 12:27
Well, so for us, it was actually a little bit easier. Right? So I wanted to see Pemba’s village that was part of the whole mission on why I was going as part of this trip and so I was very excited to finally see this bridge that he had built so that the children didn’t have to spend three hours getting to school every day like he did as a child and the stories he told me about the old bridge and watching a friend get washed away when he was 11 and so I was very excited to see this. But then he said, we’re taking a helicopter to the village. I was like, Oh, great. Okay. I like going on helicopters. That sounds like a lot of fun and at another point, I asked him, I said, if we didn’t take a helicopter, how could we get here and whatever and Pemba’s answer to me was, there’s a bus and it’ll take you to this place and then it’s a seven day walk from the bus to the village and I was like, Wow, thank God, we have a helicopter.
Norman 13:20
Hearing about that bridge and Pemba. You were talking about your three hour trek to school. That was one way, wasn’t it?
Pemba 13:28
Yeah, that’s one way.
Norman 13:30
I know Hayden’s gonna probably pop up and say, oh, I’ve told them, when I was young, I had to, and his eyes roll, but three hours, six hours a day of going to school. My gosh, Dave brought up a good point. I wasn’t even gonna go there yet. But you actually built a bridge, because of a disaster that happened earlier on in your life and to make things easier for your village that would cut that down to 45 minutes?
Pemba 14:05
Half hour.
Norman 14:16
Half hour.
David 14:07
Norm, it was 45 minutes. It was the estimate for somebody like me to make that walk, I guess.
Norman 14:12
So it’s still three hours for me.
David 14:15
Probably actually closer to at least an hour for me, or you to walk it but for these kids in the village there they go up and down these mountains all day every day and they don’t think anything of it.
Norman 14:27
Oh, that’s great and again, Pemba. Can you tell us a little bit about that? You went back after being in the states and you just built this bridge?
Pemba 14:37
Yeah, actually, ever since I was a little kid because when we were going to school, back in those days, a friend of my colleague, I mean, my friend, he fell on the makeshift bridge and the body was drawn away, drown and ever since that I always want wanted to build a suspension bridge when I grew up, and I had that thing in my mind the sticking and then of course, I grew up and I moved to the US and I never forget that, looking, reflecting those days and that’s how I wanted to build this bridge and I was guiding a group of Americans, I believe, like, big group of Americans and one night after the dinner, we’re sitting by the fire center, we were chatting, and I was mentioning to the group that’s how I went to school like that and that’s how if we had this permanent bridge, how that will shorten the time. So I was mentioning to the groups and then there was a guy that well, there was a one guy in the group, his name is Ken Stover. He’s actually from Portland, Oregon and he asked me how much money I needed and I already know, I already did the calculation I had in my mind that regardless when I want to build this bridge, when I have some fun to win that makes some money or whatever. So anyway, I mentioned the group and Ken was asking me how much money I needed and the whole project cost about $20,000, which I already had an estimate and I mentioned to him that and when we got back to the US, he actually wrote the whole $20,000 check.
Norman 16:25
Wow.
Pemba 16:26
So and with the money, once I have the cash, I mean, it’s not a hard thing. So I went simply went back to Nepal, hired engineers, we will do all the material from India, and taken over to the village by helicopters and then we build the bridge and the project was done in about four or five months, and the guy who actually designed and build the bridge, the engineer, he actually worked for government and he was telling me that, if the government had to build this bridge, it would take about three, four years. But we were able to do it in like three, four months and then then I told Ken that, Hey, you got to go back and see this rich and I took him back to Nepal and show him the bridge and how that fund really helped build this bridge, and all the villager got togethers and we know the project was complete. So it was a beautiful moment for all of us. But anyway, my big thanks go to Ken Stover who actually funded the whole project.
Norman 17:38
So that makes up for 100 guys yelling in your face to do stupid things, right?
Pemba 17:42
Yeah.
Norman 17:47
Yeah. So let’s talk about, now you’re in the States, you’ve been in the States for a little while you’re doing some guiding with the Sierra Club.
Pemba 17:57
I have. I’m not guiding too much right now. Yeah.
Norman 18:00
But during that time, a little bit about your adventures? Or where were you going? What kind of mountains were you climbing? You free climb, don’t you?
Pemba 18:13
I used to. I mean, I competed with some of the best climbers in the world back in the 1990s. But nowadays, I just climb for enjoyment, and that’s my passion and says who I am and that’s what I enjoy doing.
Norman 18:28
I know that you’re addicted to it, because even on the last podcast, we’re talking with David and where’s Pemba and he goes, Oh, climbing.
David 18:38
Yeah.
Norman 18:41
How many days a week do you climb?
Pemba 18:42
Well, it depends. I mean, I climb as much as like, three, four days a week. Yeah. But I do some other activities. But usually about, if I get out like two days a week, or three days a week. That’s good for me.
Norman 18:58
Other than climbing, what have you been doing from being a guide? Is that when you opened up the restaurant?
Pemba 19:04
Well, that was back in like, I mean, back almost 20 years ago, I was really into technical climbing and I was competing with some of the best climbers in the world actually back then and then Boulder, Colorado, was the best place for me to be based at. Because all the good climbing started within a mile and at the same time, I was also looking for some business opportunity and I saw there’s a need for a good authentic Nepalese restaurant and for me, I saw a business opportunity and there’s a need for it and perfect place for me to be in and that’s when I start the Sherpa’s Adventure Restaurant in Boulder, and that’s where we actually start serving the Sherpa Chai first about 19 years ago and still today, I mean, we’re here, we stay with the same recipe and we’re one of the popular restaurant in town.
Norman 20:08
I had no idea until David came on the other podcast, what Nepalese cuisine would be. Hayden already knew and as soon as they started hearing some of these dishes, it was like, all right, I gotta go into Toronto and find. I got nine restaurants in my town here, and three of them are pizza joints. There’s only a couple of restaurants here. I got to get into Toronto and try something. There’s probably a lot of people listening right now, I hope I’m not the only person that doesn’t know what Nepalese cuisine is. Let’s go over a couple of dishes. What are they similar to?
Pemba 20:46
Well, I mean, the Nepalese dishes are somewhat similar to some similar to Indian dishes, but it’s a little less the spice, and less. Okay and then I’m a Sherpa tribe. My ancestors came from Mongolia and we eat a little different type of dish, which is like a noodle with the broth, and the dumplings with the broth and things like that and we serve that in the restaurant as well and yeah, those dish are very different from an Indian dish.
Norman 21:25
Hayden, one of our favorite restaurants. You know what I’m talking about, place with pool noodles. That was Mongolian too?
Hayden 21:37
Yeah, partially.
Norman 21:39
Partially? But yeah, they were incredible and David was telling me that his favorite was the thick noodle dish, sounds like what we were eating. What was it called?
David 21:51
Tokba. Tokba, it’s a thick noodle dish that Pemba makes in the restaurant and I have at least one daughter that goes out of her way for it. In fact, she goes down there with her high school friends on a regular basis and has meals at the restaurant just to go for that.
Norman 22:13
Well, I doubt very much if this is ever going to make the Food Network. But what I’d like to be able to do is in the show notes, if anybody’s interested. We’re going to have a couple of pictures of some of these dishes. I hear. It’s incredible. So we gotta check it out. I know I’m gonna check it out when I get into Toronto, and outside of my pizza joints here. Yeah. So all right. So you’ve got the restaurant, Sherpa Chai, we have developed within the restaurant, so just small batches that you were making primarily for your restaurant in Boulder and then it expanded out?
Pemba 22:51
Yes, I mean, this Chai was the first we served there. I mean, that is authentic, it’s a family recipe and, of course, we served at the restaurant and we are brewing like gallons and gallons of Chai everyday is serving to the customers and many customer they asked me like, Hey, your Chai is really good, you should bottle it and I didn’t really think about it, I thought about it and I was keep hearing more and more that then I actually went out there and did some research and study it. See, maybe there’s a need for it, maybe there’s a market for it and I went out there and do some study and surprisingly, I saw like a handful of Chai products and and then I also saw like a huge market where lots of people drink that and then I say, Wow, maybe there is a market, there’s a need for it and I went out there and I try all the products, all the Chai tea product out there in the market and I don’t like to put other people who put it down first and fortunately, I didn’t found one product that is authentic. I mean Chai should be like when you drink it should be relaxed and smooth and I saw there is spice or too much sugars, sugar or I didn’t see one that really authentic one and then that’s when I grabbed the attention. I’m like, hey, okay, there’s a need for it. There is no authentic Chai product in the market. We’re gonna go, we’re gonna start it.
Norman 24:41
I have a buddy that lives in Colorado, and I don’t know how we got on this subject, but I was mentioning that I was gonna do a podcast with you guys and his ears perked up. Sherpa Chai, he loves it. Yeah he’s, I think next town over something. It was just a coincidence. But interesting that you went in, and you probably saw a lot more processed products and yours is more authentic and that’s where your story starts.
Hayden 25:14
So Pemba, right now you’re involved with a restaurant, which is typically known to be like a risky endeavor and like any, any type of restaurant. Yep and you have this Sherpa Chai, which you’re promoting, in both situations, you saw these needs for the product, or for each to fill a niche. Where did you develop this business sense? Like, how did you go from being a climbing guide in Nepal to developing the sense and seeing, like, yeah, seeing two perfect niches for exactly what you do?
Pemba 25:52
Well, I do have a business sense since I was even since I was a little kid. I mean, I started my adventure travel company when I was in my early 20s and I was very successful with that, and after that, I did different things. So, really, I’m an entrepreneur, and I like doing business, and every time that I see there’s a future, there’s a need and I’ll go for it.
David 26:27
I think, selling it short to some guys, he’s done besides starting the adventure business and the restaurant. He’s also been an entrepreneur in the real estate market, he owns a lot of properties in Boulder County, which is enabled him to bring lots of people from Nepal to come and be able to go to school here and work at the restaurant and have a place to live and all the rest of this kind of stuff. I think, just my opinion. But I think something about the climbing mentality is kind of that go forward mentality, have no fear, if you will and take that leap of faith and start a business which rightfully scares many people, right? Clearly, it’s not an issue for Pemba.
Norman 27:11
Yeah, risk assessment. You were talking about a second ago, David, about bringing over people from Nepal over here. Pemba, when did that start and how many people have you helped out?
Pemba 27:25
Well, I helped out quite a few people. When you have a company, then you’re able to, I mean, it’s a process and it costs lots of money. Once you show them that you’re doing business and then you pay X amount of money to the government and you can prove that you can pay so much money to the employees, then they let you come but it is another easy task, these called bringing people here. It’s a process.
Norman 27:57
The employees that you have over to Sherpa Chai or over the restaurant, are they all Sherpa?
Pemba 28:05
Sherpa in Nepali. Yeah.
Norman 28:08
Okay. Oh, help me understand this. The difference between Sherpa and Nepali.
Pemba 28:15
Well, the Nepali if you go to Nepal, okay, if you go to Film in Kathmandu, you almost gonna feel like you landed in India, because there are more people look like Indian looking and those are all migrated from India, okay, to Nepal many years ago and there’s a very small group of people like me, I look more like Mongolian or Japanese or Asian. Looking at, and my ancestor, I mean, they came from Mongolia over to Tibet, and then over the Himalayan pass to the to Nepal and then they settle in the mountain region in Nepal, and their group, a small group of people in Nepal and those are the Sherpas, which are, they have very different culture different, completely different language, different dress. Yeah, almost everything is different. But they live together, the Sherpa’s speak Nepali and they go to Nepali school.
Norman 29:14
Right. Another thing I wanted to talk about is all these social initiatives that you’ve undertaken. So, we talked about the bridge. But we haven’t talked about some of these other things. You went back to Nepal, and created a hydro dam. Tell me about that.
Pemba 29:31
Well, I mean, I’ve been doing this kind of project. I mean, I was, since almost about 30 years ago. I mean, 25 years ago, I think that’s when I built a bridge and then, my belief is like, the shortest path of meaningful life is service, acting for common good. So I had those kinds of things in my mind all the time. But as you know that Nepal had an earthquake in 2015 and that caused lots of problems in Nepal and after that I was kind of heavily involved and then I started doing a different project there. Where we raised money, selling Chai and different climbing communities. I mean, we raised $10,000, helped build 2082 houses, we built hydro powers and some other projects.
Norman 30:28
Is this common? You said to serve, basically serve people. Is that common within the Sherpa community?
Pemba 30:38
It is common, I mean, those who can and I believe if you can, it’s a great thing to do.
Norman 30:46
So, Pemba, I understand that, one of the other things, one of these really special things that you’ve done too is adopt, I think it’s four children. Oh three?
Pemba 30:57
I’ve adopted three girls. Yeah.
Norman 30:59
Okay and I’ve also heard other people and your company other Sherpa doing the same. Trait? Or does that come from seeing you doing something incredibly special and that kind of filters down?
Pemba 31:12
Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it is kind of, I mean, I’ve seen it like, once I start doing these kinds of things. I’ve also seen, like, my friends, or some other people are doing similar things, which makes me feel good. I feel that I’m kind of showing a role model for others.
Norman 31:33
Right.
David 31:34
Yeah. It’s to some degree to it. This is also a cultural thing for Nepalese and for Sherpa. Because, I mean, the attitudes that Pemba expresses here and talks about, I’ve experienced now with many, many people from there that I’ve come to know. I think it’s a cultural part of the culture of giving back that’s just so pervasive in everything that is part of the Nepalese and the Sherpa people and how they live their lives. They come from places in many cases of extreme poverty, but yet, these people still find ways to really help nurture others and support others and create community in ways that are, frankly, I think we lose a lot of that today in our modern Western culture.
Norman 32:25
While we have you here, where’d you come from? You were one of the original people in the company. How did you get involved?
David 32:37
I got involved because I’ve been an entrepreneur in other aspects and a friend that has an interest in Sherpa Chai kept giving me bottles of Chai to take home. I wasn’t a big fan of coffee or tea, didn’t really drink that much. But I mean, now I do. But I take it home and I have a wife and three daughters, and they just love the stuff and would be drinking it, like literally, I would turn around in the morning and one of the daughters would be at the refrigerator holding an empty bottle of Sherpa Chai and say, can you get another bottle Dad and so after three or four months of this, I said, I gotta meet Pemba. I’ve been hearing these stories and, after I met with Pemba, I was intrigued enough to want to get involved and invest in the company and one thing led to another and so now it’s doing a lot more than just investing. So back to 7-8 hours a week working to grow this business for the goals that we’ve all set out, which include also goals to help give back to the community from which this came. So we’ve been talking about building a scholarship fund for Sherpa children so that they can go to university for example, daily, our head Brewer comes from a little village and his goal has been to build a community center and urgent care for the older people in the village that he grew up in and and he kept talking about, One day, when I retire, that’s what I’m going to do and I was like, Well, why would we wait till you retire? Let’s get this thing going now. So that’s another thing that we have is a mission that we want to build for is to help to do that and I’m sure that frankly, a lot of other things will come up as we continue to do this because there’s a need and because that’s part of the the culture of giving that Pemba exudes and the kind of just it permeates everything that that takes place around here.
Norman 34:29
So are you an honorary Sherpa?
David 34:33
I hope so, one day at least, maybe never. I don’t know. We’ll see. Ask Pemba.
Norman 34:40
Let’s just go back to climbing for just one second. So how important is climbing in your life?
Pemba 34:49
Well, I mean, that’s who I am and that’s what I enjoy. Yeah and I think anybody, whether you’re playing golf or volleyball or soccer or I think it’s important to do what you enjoy doing and for me, I really enjoy doing it and I feel it is important for me to do it.
David 35:09
You can see the restaurant in all honesty, I wish we had pictures, because the restaurant is completely decorated with pictures of the Himalayas and mountain climbing gear and ice axes and crampons and Nepalese fly. I mean, it’s kind of a little mini museum to climbing in the Himalayas and other parts of the world. So it’s very interesting.
Norman 35:31
I got to come to Boulder just to check that out. So Pemba, I know nothing about climbing and if you saw the size of me, I would hate to have to burden any donkey, mule anything because I would crush them. But anyway, what has been your hardest mountain or cliff to climb and why? Well, I
Pemba 35:56
Well, I think mostly in the Himalayas.I’ve climbed almost 30 plus years in the Himalayas and I’ve been buried in an avalanche. I’ve been frostbitten.
Norman 36:08
You’ve been buried in an avalanche?
Pemba 36:10
Yeah and, my fingers sort of all my fingers got frostbitten and I think in the Himalayas, I think those are some of the hardest climbs I’ve done.
Norman 36:24
This avalanche. You’re buried in the avalanche, how far down were you?
Pemba 36:30
I got swept away. My tent was all ripped and whatnot, but luckily, it’s not dangerous enough that killed me. I was able to get it out. Yeah. Even though my gear was destroyed, but it’s fine.
Norman 36:45
Wow. Yeah. I wouldn’t even have thought. But I guess. Yeah, that’s one of the challenges too. Yeah. An act of God. Oh my gosh.
Pemba 36:56
Yeah, it’s the hardest sport. It’s a very tough sport and I like it. I mean, I think, if people can, I think everybody should do a little bit of tough sport. Yeah, I believe it teaches you. It also teaches you how to deal with difficult things in life.
Norman 37:17
Let’s say that you don’t get it the first time, second time, fifth time. Yeah. You keep doing it. One of the things I hear all the time on this podcast is to be resilient and yeah, a challenging sport like that? Yeah, I can see how that could help people. Now let’s bring Dave and Pemba back on. I want to talk a bit more about these social initiatives. So we’ve talked about a possible community center that you guys are doing right now. Anything else planned for social initiatives right now?
David 37:49
We are working on one initiative, which is in the early stages. So we have to kind of, we have to wait and see because of the Coronavirus issues about whether we’re going to get back to Nepal, there is a gentleman who we want to sponsor on an Everest expedition in the spring and part, what we want to do is do this to raise money for ideally for a scholarship is what we’ve been talking about, that would be for Sherpa people, or for the children of Sherpas who want to go on to go to university etc. We talked about the idea of trying to build some schools in the Gumbo or in these regions but it’s very isolated remote and it would be difficult to do and and so I think better than that would be to provide funds so that when these kids want to go that there is money that they can go to university and this can be a game changer clearly for the kids of this region, they’ll be able to go to school and get degrees in information technology or become nurses etc. Dealy has adopted a girl very early on who at least as I understand came from a caste that would probably never been able to pay for school and now because Dealy adopted her, she’s actually a nurse in Kathmandu, and married with a child and having a successful life and so that’s one of the goals of what we’re working on for this project for the spring and if that works, then hopefully we’ll have a nice big pool of money that we can put aside to to help fund educational stuff for for children who Sherpas.
Norman 39:28
You let me know and we’ll do anything we can to promote it as well.
David 39:31
I’ll talk more about it but there’s a lot of other moving parts and the people involved and until we get things finalized and actually know for sure that we’ll be able to go that the a lot of Nepal has been closed because the Coronavirus has been devastating, obviously to the people all over the world but Nepal as well and they certainly don’t have anywhere near the kind of infrastructure to take care of sick people that we have in this part of the world. But everybody seems confident that things will be okay by the end of the spring, which is when this would take place.
Hayden 40:05
Hey guys and gals. That’s it for part one of our interview with Dave and Pemba. Make sure to tune in later this week to hear the rest of the interview. If you like what you’re hearing, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and like and share us on all the social media channels, all of them, every single one. Anyway, that’s enough for me, and I’ll see you later this week.
Hayden 0:02
Hey guys and gals, this is your humble producer speaking. Welcome to part two of our interview with Dave and Pemba. If you haven’t heard part one yet, make sure to go back and check that out or keep yourself in the dark. It’s up to you. Make sure to keep yourself up to date by subscribing to the podcast. We also have a Facebook group to help create some discussion around each episode. Let us know your thoughts. That’s enough for me and enjoy the rest of the episode.
Norman 0:31
So with the restaurant, Coronavirus, how has that affected your business?
Pemba 0:37
This is, I mean, this is probably the toughest thing that I went in the last 19 years. I mean, I don’t know about where you at. In our county, they just announced that we can want to serve outside or to go, and that’s hard. It’s very hard right now, because of the Coronavirus.
Norman 0:59
So you were allowed, people were coming back to the restaurant?
Pemba 1:03
Yeah, and people can do for take out or sit outside on the patio. That’s about it. Yeah.
Norman 1:12
Yeah and I guess the patio situation was kind of similar throughout Canada. But you know what? I don’t know if you’ve ever seen this, but I’m not sure which state it was. It was okay to be out, can be inside. But you could be on a patio. But you had to be in a tent.
David 1:30
Yeah. It’s crazy all over the place. Like and for us in Boulder, the outside dining is actually, the weather’s nice. Of course it works. But the problem is, we’re heading into the winter, and yeah, and it snows quite a lot and it certainly gets cold at night to sit outside. Yeah and so we have, our industry is just as in I’m sure in Canada and the rest of the world, the restaurants have taken it on the chin far worse than anybody else and it’s just been, it’s been devastating.
Pemba 2:01
Yeah.
Norman 2:02
Yeah. I haven’t talked to anybody who owned a restaurant about this. But marketing wise, I do get in and I’m not again, I’ve never talked to anybody with that owned a restaurant curious. How do you market out of this? But do you just sign up with Uber? Or do you have billboards up showing that you can order from or get on radio ads? What are you guys doing to help promote the restaurant and getting food delivered I guess?
Pemba 2:30
Well, we don’t really promote and I mean, I’ve been in business for over 19 years. We have our regular customers, and they know, they understand, we’re in the situation where we can’t have people in. So, I mean, they order, they do phone call orders or they call the Ubers, or their others deliver services out there and they call one of those services.
Hayden 2:59
Yeah. What’s your relationship, like with the delivery services? I know here, there’s been some tension between restaurant owners and Uber Eats or Skip the Dishes, and the pressure that those can put on restaurants?
Pemba 3:13
Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s not easy. But, there are quite a few services that we work with and so far, it’s okay, not too big of an issue.
David 3:25
The state of Colorado has actually just enacted some legislation about 10 days two weeks ago, that will provide funds to these delivery services. So they, therefore, aren’t going to charge the restaurant owners for the delivery service. So basically the state will pay the delivery fees, which will help, of course, but the problem is, these restaurants, especially in Boulder, it’s very competitive, and it’s very competitive rate rents and so, Pemba has been blessed in many ways. He’s, as we said, a wise businessman, he owns the building that his restaurant is in, which is a unique thing. Most restaurant owners are renting, which means they’re basically closed, they’re done. That’s it. But it’s still, it’s killing a lot of people in a lot of businesses. One of our other good friends owns a pizza place here in Boulder, and I’ve had lots of conversations, he was down 40 50% of his his business and as he said to me, when we were talking about this a couple of weeks ago, he said, I’m down 40% or 50%, but as soon as the winter comes, it’s done. We’re gonna have to close, because there won’t be any business anymore.
Norman 4:37
Well, what about climbing? Has COVID affected your climbing?
Pemba 4:41
No, that did not affect me at all.
Norman 4:43
No?
Pemba 4:44
Yeah.
Norman 4:45
Okay, so you can still go out with a group or is it individual when you go climbing or is it just yourself?
Pemba 4:50
Usually I don’t go with a group, usually with one climbing partner. Here, now I have a few good friends that I climb with regularly. So usually there’s two people who can attend.
David 5:01
Yeah and occasionally he goes out by himself. We all tell him not to do that.
Pemba 5:05
Yeah.
David 5:06
Go out by yourself and take a fall.
Pemba
Right. Yeah.
David
You can’t climb by yourself.
Pemba 5:13
Yeah. Which I did last month and I was hurt, but I was okay.
Norman 5:19
Oh, yeah, you had a fall?
Pemba 5:20
Yeah. In fact, last month. Yeah. But I was okay.
Norman 5:25
See, that’s when you said I should have listened today.
Pemba 5:28
Yeah.
David 5:32
Everybody at that restaurant tells it bad. Yeah.
Norman 5:36
So Hayden, I’m sure you got a couple questions.
Hayden 5:39
Yeah, I mean, it’s still just kind of like mind blowing to me that you’re able to go from a poverty stricken village and create this whole infrastructure, and now you’re even creating more change and just paying for accosted. Like, it’s pretty amazing. I’m curious, like, did you ever think that you’d be in this situation growing up where you grew up?
Pemba 6:03
No, no, I never thought about being in this situation and I mean, it’s one of the extreme poverty in the world in very harsh conditions. But you know what, I’m glad I grew up here, despite the poverty and the hardship, because it taught me lots of different things in life. Yeah and it was a beautiful place and it was a big, beautiful community, where people have little things, but they share each other’s and I actually missed those things, those community.
Hayden 6:37
What was your first impression of America? Like, when you first came over here, did you take a while to adjust?
Pemba 6:46
Yes, I mean, it was very hard, because, I was pretty much illiterate, I didn’t know much, but I’m an entrepreneur, and I have visions, and I have sense and I know there’s opportunity for me here, and I can go to school, and I can learn and I can do things. So I saw that vision and opportunity.
Norman 7:15
Was it something somebody said, when you met them guiding, about coming to the US? When did you say, Aha, I want to go to the US?
Pemba 7:26
That was when I was 19 and what I mean, when I was about 18, I really wanted to come here. I was very curious about the West.
Norman 7:33
What drove that curiosity? What was it?
Pemba 7:38
It’s simply because the people I’m guiding with talking with them, like, the country and of course, like, different things and I know, in this part of the world is developed and a lot more opportunity and yes, I simply, I really wanted to come out and check it out, see what’s out here. Yeah.
Norman 8:05
Where were you originally when you landed in the US? Where did you stay?
Pemba 8:11
I first came to San Francisco. There are people I know that I met in Nepal. Then I came to Colorado. Yep. It was really good. I knew lots of people that I guided in Nepal. Once I got here, and before I even came here back then there was no really telephone or email or anything. We exchanged a letter that I was coming out here and help me find a job or whatnot.
Norman 8:43
Okay, so now I’m interested in talking about your Chai recipe. Hayden knows I am a foodie and I want to know why so many people love your product. So it’s your grandmother’s?
Pemba 9:03
Grand grandmother. I mean, it came from like, yeah, who knows? I mean, many family generations. Yeah.
Norman 9:08
Yep. So it passed down, passed down, passed down.
Pemba 9:11
Yep. That kind of stuff. Yeah. People have been drinking this product in that property world for 1000s of years.
Norman 9:21
What makes it so different than I hear a lot of people going and having Chai, the difference I hear when they have yours. They love it.
Pemba 9:29
I mean, I think the amount of the product that you need to put in where you process the brewing. It’s like any other product, it’s like anything else, once that done perfectly is the one that can be good. Whether you’re eating steak or I mean you’re talking about pizza. I mean, if you put too much cheese, maybe not that good and be good in the pizza. If you burn the pizza it’s not gonna be good, and those people who have been in the pizza business for a long time who know how to make pizza properly, they’re the one who can make a piece of best.
Norman 10:12
I guess it’s still made in small batches, because it’s not available throughout all of the US correct?
David 10:19
No, we have distribution throughout all of Colorado, and a little bit into the peripheral states around Colorado and then now we are being carried in Washington State and in Oregon as well and we continue to look to expand and we will, but we do make this in small batches. We’re here at the factory, where we’re sitting behind the office I’m sitting in is the warehouse where they brew the kitchen where they brew the Chai, and we operate 200 gallon kettles and they basically start at 7:45 in the morning and brew until 5:30 at night and that’s the amount we can produce. So we’re looking to expand so that we can increase our production. All the guys who work back, they’re all Sherpa or Nepalese mostly Sherpa, and in fact now, we actually have, our head of IT is Sherpa. He came over to work for the restaurant for Pemba, and has gone on and got a degree in Information Technology and he’s now our IT guy. So it’s been a lot of fun.
Norman 11:32
So a lot of the people that are employed, you’ve sponsored coming over Pemba?
Pemba 11:37
I have. Yes.
Norman 11:39
That’s super. I wish there were more people like you. The world doesn’t have enough really good people that are service based and yeah, it’s hard to find. So congratulations. The other thing that I really want to say, again, we don’t talk brand. I think that Sherpa Chai is an incredible brand story. It’s got everything, all the moving parts are there, all the stars line up with the planets and this is one of the only products I’ve seen that I know, I do know a bunch of people that have tried it and David, I mean, just like you, they tried it, and they love it, they don’t switch. Well, I guess it’s almost like Coke and Pepsi loyalty, right? But there’s nothing like it on the market
David 12:30
Really isn’t. I mean, and to some degree, I proved this to myself in the course of the last year, because on a regular occasion, I’ve done these blind taste tests, like when I hired some new sales guys. I figured, well, these guys are gonna be out there trying to sign up more coffee shops to carry our product. So we lined up all the competitors in a blind taste test with our products and in every single situation, every single one, the Sherpa Chai products are always the top three, and nobody else is even close and and I’ve now done this, and done this at least two dozen times over the last year and it’s always the same. So I know for a fact that this is a unique product. On top of that, I have a wife who is a big Chai drinker, always has been and when she found Sherpa Chai, her first comment to me was, this is really different. This is not at all like anything I’ve ever tasted before and, and so that was one of the reasons also that convinced me that this is unique, this is really something unique and special and so now the goal is that we share this with as many people as we can.
Norman 13:36
So your wife said this is really unique and then her second comment was get out of retirement and go work with Pemba.
David 13:46
Something along those lines. Yeah, but I will tell you in all honesty, we had a birthday celebration for one of the guys for Deeley a couple of months back at a local another Nepalese restaurant nearby and they’re Domino’s, these guys they’re all interrelated. Some have worked at his restaurant, some actually have part ownership at Sherpa Chai, one of the guys at the other restaurant. So we had the party there and Pemba was there and he had been talking about the daughter city had just adopted and then Deeley was talking about it and Holly, my wife is hearing these stories over the course of the whole night and that night when we’re driving home from the party, that’s when she turned to me and she said, this is why this has been put into our lives and she fully wants to get involved with the sponsoring children in Nepal to help them with their education, etc. I’m certain that once she gets the chance to go in the spring, hopefully that we’ll probably be doing some of that, and my family, which I think is awesome and I’m very excited for it. I think I told you, Norman, in the last conversation. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve lived in other parts of the world. I’ve lived in Europe. I’ve lived in Germany, England, France, etc and spent tons of time in places in Latin America as well and they’re all great places, and I love them all in it and I would move in a heartbeat to many of them. At the end of the day, I find myself going back to places because it’s always the most important thing. It’s the people. A lot of cultures have great history and have great food and all this other stuff. But at the end of the day, it’s the people that make the place, a place you want to visit again and and when I came back from Nepal, what I told my wife is, we’ve been spending a lot of time I told you in Italy in the last years, and we love it, because of all the friends we’ve made in Italy and I came back and my comment to Holly was the Nepalese people and the Sherpa people, these people are Italians on steroids, these are the most welcoming, friendly people I’ve ever been around in my life and it just was, it was kind of game change for me. So it was a wonderful experience, and I can’t wait to be able to go back.
Norman 15:57
Now, with a micro brand, a lot of people don’t know the brand, they never heard of the brand and you’ve got to very quickly build a brand story so they can check it out, make sure that you look like you’re a trustworthy source to buy from, and then get them on board. How do you get that story out there? There’s so much but, the brand story? How do you get it out to the public?
David 16:27
Well, it’s a good question and it’s certainly a challenge for us being that we are, as described, a kind of a microbrewery here micro Chai tea maker. What we’re working on is, we have hired a couple of young guys who have been doing sales in coffee shops and growing us that way, so that people will find us in their local coffee shops hopefully tasted and want to buy it at the grocery store. We also work with the grocery distribution channels to increase our distribution and in this case, the grocery challenge has been of course, we’ve got to have proof of concept, if you will, right. So we’ve been able to demonstrate because our sales numbers have been so phenomenal, that they are actually the distributors who are coming to us and asking us to go to other regions, for example, Washington, Oregon, with most recently. The product in many ways, has grown organically and almost grown despite any efforts on the part of us because it’s such an amazing product. But also, we’re working very hard to increase our social media platform, performances and presence and we’ve hired a team of people who know how to grow a consumer packaged goods product, that CPG product and so the only thing we can do I think is, the best thing we can do is find some really smart people who can help us in strategic ways to grow the brand, kind of systematically, as we don’t want to grow too fast. Because if you get too far out over your skis, then we’re going to end up with, the product will suffer, the flavor profile will suffer and I really also feel strongly, a lot of people in this industry have talked about the idea of what they call co packing, which would be moving to another production facility, a big producer, right? Who would then produce our Chai in their factory and help us to distribute it and of course, that would allow us to increase our volume dramatically. I am adamant that I want to make sure that this is a place where the Chai is being made by Sherpas and that way, it stays authentic, and it stays true to the mission and that flavor profile has, we can’t let that be damaged by this. There’s too many examples in history, I mean, I can think of half a dozen, most famously the famous Schlitz beer in the 50s and 60s, the number one beer, they took over production somewhere else, change the flavor and it disappeared and this is what cannot happen with this, it has to be the Sherpas that make this and brew this Chai and so as long as we can do that, I think we have a product that will be in high demand and then it’s just a matter of being able to grow our production facility and keeping keeping true to our original plan.
Norman 19:18
Alright. What about ingredients? So you’ve got certain ingredients, let’s say a ginger. There’s all sorts of different types of ginger. How do you make sure that you get a specific type of ginger? I know like I used to live in Hawaii. So Kona coffee is a lot different from other coffee around the world. If you don’t have that specific bean, you’re going to have a different flavor. What happens with ginger?
David 19:45
Yeah, so we have a lot of key ingredients. So the first is the most basic is the Nepalese black tea that we use. This actually is grown on a tea farm in Nepal, the company that produces it is a family owned tea producing company that’s been making tea in this part of Nepal for more than 10 generations and it’s actually called the Nepal Tea Company and they make a special black tea blend specifically for us. We have run into challenges with how we get that out of Nepal especially in the COVID era. So initially, we had a big shipment that was due to leave Nepal in March and fly from Kathmandu to us here and that got cancelled because the airports got closed. Eventually the tea manufacturer figured out a way to get it onto a ship to bring it to us but he said the only way that works is if you take a whole container and we don’t have the budget to take a whole container at one time, that’s a year’s worth of tea so to speak. So what we did is he said not a problem, I’ll send you the container, you pay for it as you use it which works so we were able to get it. It took five and a half months by ship to get it here. But it got here just in the nick of time because we were about to run out of our earlier orders. Ginger is a really tough one because of course it’s seasonal between the northern and southern hemisphere. So in the wintertime, we typically get our ginger from the southern hemisphere from Peru, and in other parts of the year, it’s coming from China. All of our ingredients are sourced organically including all of the spices, the cardamom and the cinnamon and all the other ingredients that we use in this product and so that’s part of it, making sure we have the best ingredients and so it can be, as I said it can be a challenge, we will we have run into issues with getting product especially because of the pandemic. But so far we’ve been able to stay ahead of that curve and been able to get the ingredients that we need. One of the other things about our Chai that is very unique is we fresh grind all of the turmeric and the ginger that goes into the product. They actually grind this every single day in huge vats that then go into the Chai and I think that that’s a large element of why this is; they don’t use a powdered ginger for example. So you get all kinds of the natural ingredients and goodness from it and the flavor on the ginger is unlike the ginger you get in your grocery store. It’s much more powerful and flavorful than anything I’ve ever tasted.
Norman 22:25
So I’ve got a question for Pemba. I don’t know if this is true or not. But my wife came in with a bulletproof coffee and I believe I read that bulletproof coffee, the founder of bulletproof coffee actually got the idea while visiting Nepal, where he was basically starving getting to this village and somebody gave them a I think it was a coffee. I think it was a coffee with some form of butter in it and it was a natural drink that they would give to stabilize fats.
Pemba 23:02
I think the butter tea maybe, they drink a butter tea.
Norman 23:06
Yes, yes. The butter tea. So it wasn’t just part of his brand story. It really happened.
Pemba 23:12
They drink butter tea. Yeah, yes.
Norman 23:14
I am a huge fan of bulletproof but yeah. Okay, so interesting story, incredible story. Your story is incredible. It’s an incredible brand story. I must have said that way too many times during this podcast. But now I want to talk about two different things. I want to talk about some hurdles, I want to talk about some struggles. What have been your biggest hurdles? What did you learn from it and how did you get out of it?
Pemba 23:46
Okay, well, I mean, I went through, like, different places and as I was telling you, I was in the adventure business and 9/11 came in with the Twin Tower and whatnot, and 99% my clients were all American that I took in around the globe and when that came out, when the 9.11 happened, I mean, that was the biggest hurdle I think. That was a lesson for me, I didn’t also just give up, I study and do different things. So, yeah, that was one of the biggest hurdles and second biggest hurdle is be honest with this right now with the COVID. As far as the business goes.
Norman 24:44
So, they’re similar, all of a sudden people stop traveling with 9.11, everything came to a standstill. Yeah, and then the same thing with COVID. COVID on a larger scale, and I don’t know when that’s gonna lift, those are some tough ones. But resilience and like you said, back to the working with mountain climbing, you’re a resilient guy, you’re studying, you’re doing other things that you can come back from this and one of the things I tell a lot of people, especially younger entrepreneurs, they have struggles or students, they have struggles, and what keeps them awake at night, sweating and not getting any sleep. I went through all of that and then I found out 30 years later, 40 years later, that those same things if they were to come up today, I could kind of just brush them off my shoulders, I wouldn’t lose any sleep and that is, I mean you can’t imagine the world in any worse situation as it is right now. But when we live past this, and we know how to survive, it’s just going to be one of those struggles that, Hey, we stressed about it, we didn’t have to, we got through it. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would end up and we pushed forward. But anyway, two very interesting struggles that you have, they’re parallel. Dave, what about you?
David 26:19
I mean, if I was to say anything that was a big struggle in my life was when I started my first company and we started a software company. We had no money, we basically did his own on a bootstrap and so the challenge was generating enough revenue to support myself, my brother and our families. I was at that time, a dad of two young children, a three year old and a less than one year old and there were a lot of days and a lot of months, when I would have to come back to the house at the end of the day and say, we’re gonna have to do something about the mortgage, because we can’t pay the bill this month. I mean, these were certainly tough times. But, we were young and resilient and we were able to get through it and in all honesty, we didn’t have that many expenses, etc. So in hindsight, it was terribly difficult to do being of the age that I am now with a lot more children and a lot more experience. I think like you Norm, I don’t sweat the kind of things that I used to sweat. But that was probably the biggest challenge in my life is getting through that first five years of the first company that I did, and then after that, there’s a level of kind of financial security that comes from surviving that kind of thing that allows you to realize, you know what, we’ll get through this. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. Right, etc. But, that was probably the biggest challenge for me, personally.
Norman 27:57
All right, Pemba, David, I’m not sure who wants to go first. But we always ask our guests, if they have any quotes that they live by.
David 28:06
I have always thought about it and I think I mentioned this to you before Norm. There are two quotes that come to mind for me. One is about being kind of a leader in a company, a CEO and and that is a quote by a guy named Ralph Nader, who probably everybody would be familiar with and what he said is that, “The goal or the purpose of a leader, is to create more leaders, not more followers” and I firmly believe that should be the goal of anybody who wants to be a leader in any organization. Create more leaders, it’s going to make your life a lot easier, it’s going to help your company to grow and you have to be willing to, obviously, delegate as much as you can as a leader, and that creates more leaders because people take on responsibilities that they otherwise might not know that they could do and therefore, it makes the job of of the original leader a lot easier. So I would definitely say that’s one of my favorite quotes.
Norman 29:12
Great. Yeah. Be a leader, act like a leader.
Norman 29:17
All right, Pemba, what about you?
Pemba 29:19
Well, I know, I think in life, I think two things are important. It’s patience and the vision. Yeah, I think those two things are very important.
Norman 29:40
So having the patience and the vision.
Pemba 29:43
Visions, whether you’re going to get a degree to be something are you doing business or, climbing a mountain so I think you gotta have, anything what you do in life, I think those two things are very important.
Norman 30:00
Like it.
David 30:01
Very true.
Norman 30:02
Yeah, I agree. Now I understand too, Pemba, that you are an author, can you talk to me just a little bit about your book?
Pemba 30:11
Yeah, I mean, I’ve been guiding in the Himalayas for the last 30 years, and I’ve seen good things, bad things, and mostly bad things as far as the environment goes, and how many inexperienced climbers they go to climb Everest, and how that jeopardize not only their lives, but also the guides who are helping them and also the local villagers and whatnot and of course, in Nepal, it’s a very poor country and in there, I believe that the reason to be poor because the country been in corruption for many, many 100 years and I basically put it everything together and put it out there, see, and I believe that those who are going to the Himalayas and go in that part of the world, by reading this book will benefit them, and maybe give them some awareness, as far as the environment and the safety nets and that’s the main reason I put the book together. Okay.
Norman 31:18
Yeah. What’s the name of the book?
Pemba 31:19
It’s called Bridging Worlds.
Norman 31:23
Bridging Worlds and where can you get it?
Pemba 31:25
You can get them from the Sherpa Chai website and we’ll be on Amazon soon, too. But yeah, you can put yours on the Sherpa Chai website.
Norman 31:33
Okay. Very good. Sounds like an interesting book. Yeah. So what’s that, David?
David 31:39
It’s a very good read.
Norman 31:41
Great. All right. Well, I think we’re towards the end of the podcast. Guys, It’s been a pleasure having both of you on. How can people get their hands on some Sherpa Chai or get in contact with you?
David 32:00
So they can go to sherpachai.com, which is our website and there’s a shopping page where you can order, not only Sherpa Chai product, but also t shirts, Pemba’s book is there as well and that’s the easiest way to get the product if you’re not living in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and then if they want to get in touch with us, they can send an email to media@sherpachai.com and that would then come to us directly.
Norman 32:32
Alright. I guess the only bad news there is you don’t ship to Canada yet.
David 32:35
Right. Yeah. I’m hoping that we can have some orders going to Canada before the end of the first quarter of next year. That’s what we’re shooting for right now.
Norman 32:46
All right. Well, Hayden and I will be on that list and we’ll be ordering some Sherpa Chai. All right. So at the end of every podcast, I always like to ask our guests if they know a guy.
David 32:59
I do know a guy who would be interesting. I have a friend. He’s a surgeon and he has written a book called The Invention of Surgery. He’s one of the top shoulder guys in the country and he actually replaced my shoulder completely with all these metal pieces. But he’s also a history buff and he has studied all of the history of modern medicine and he wrote a book, like I said, called The Invention of Surgery and he gave me a copy of it right before it was published and it is a real page turner. It’s super interesting, all of the technology developments that went on over the last 250 years to create the modern world of medicine that we live in today. So that’s a guy you might want to talk to.
Norman 33:45
Great and his name?
David 33:47
His name is David Snyder. Dr. David Snyder. I can provide you with contact information if you’d like.
Norman 33:54
Yeah, that would be fantastic. All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for being on today. It was very interesting. Again, we went down a path we don’t normally go down, but I loved it. So have a great day and we’ll talk to you soon.
Pemba 34:10
You too. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Hayden 34:14
That concludes part two of our interview with Dave and Pemba. Tune in next week to hear our interview with Brazilian composer, arranger Dori Caymmi. He’s someone who’s worked his entire life in the music industry, both in Brazil and in Los Angeles and odds are you probably heard his work without even realizing. Anyway, that’s it for me, and I’ll see you next time.
