Ajit Gurung and Jay Khan of COA are on an epic hiking challenge designed to help the community stay fit both mentally and physically, and you can join them
2022 didn’t start on the best note in Hong Kong, with news of the Omicron variant and the subsequent domino effect of bar closures and tightening of social distancing restrictions. It was a stark reminder of what the city faced just over a year before, when outbreaks forced the F&B community, among many others, to close or halt dinner operations. While much of 2021 seemed more optimistic with near-zero Covid cases and a rejuvenated dining scene, the reality is that the aftershocks still continue to affect the industry today.
In past waves, we’ve seen how the industry rallied together to support one another during these tough and unprecedented times—from the F&B Run Club initiative to the various fundraisers and collaborations that have brought the community closer together—and the team behind COA, led by founder Jay Khan, have been doing their part as much as they can. In 2021 they started the Mezcal Mission initiative to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, while sharing knowledge of the underrepresented agave spirit. The concept came up during a hike—just like 14 Hikes in 14 Days (inspired by the journey of Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja) which sprouted as an idea during one of Khan’s journeys with bartender Ajit Gurung, who joined COA in December 2020.
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This January, they embarked on an epic challenge to hike the most difficult trails in Hong Kong, raising money and awareness in the process—and anyone, whether or not they are in F&B, are welcome to join. The duo, as of 31 January, are more than halfway through their checklist of trails, and have three more to go. Below, we sat down briefly with them to find out more about the challenge.
Tatler Dining Hong Kong (TDHK): How long have you been thinking about doing this challenge? What compelled you to start?
Jay Khan (JK): We came up with this idea while hiking together just recently. Hiking does wonders for you, it gets your creative juices flowing. Mezcal Mission (a charity initiative through Mezcal tasting) which we’ve been doing over a year now also started from a hike.
TDHK: 14 Peaks is a main inspiration behind this initiative, so what part of Nirmal Purja’s story resonated most with you? How did you get into hiking and how did your journey of Hong Kong hikes start?
Ajit Gurung (AG): 14 Peaks is a brilliant example of how much a human body can endure and teaches that nothing is impossible if you give your complete dedication and effort. His attitude of not giving up and rescuing people even in life and death situations gave us motivation for doing this charity initiative during this time of Covid.
Hiking, for me, was always a leisure activity. When the government started the regulation where we were forced to close after 6pm we started this initiative of #HK14peaks14days so we can challenge ourselves and keep us and people around us mentally and physically active during this period while raising funds for people with disabilities in Nepal.
My grandfather has been bedridden for almost five years, so we want to take this opportunity to raise awareness of the struggles that people with disabilities have to live through on a daily basis.
