Pither and Tsering are back cycling again. Perched at the tops of hills are monasteries in Tibetan style with sloping walls. There are white stone shrines on the hillsides.
Cut to a mountain village in Nepal. The houses are of stone, the roofs are thatched. A crowd gathers around Tsering and Pither.
Nepalese man: We very much enjoy your friend's singing.
Woman (Chapman): Oh, yes… (The orchestral music begins to swell.)
Pither: No more of that! (Pither waves off music which dies down again.)
Man (Idle): We want to hear him sing!
Pither: No! We're on a cycling tour of…um…a cycling tour of the Himalaya.
An old man leaning on a cane totters up to Pither, pulls his sleeve.
Old man (Jones): We saw her win the Eurovision Song Contest, you know.
Children run up to Tsering with paper and pens to ask him for his autograph.
Child: Excuse me, Ms. Dion, would you sign my autograph book, please? (Tsering takes it, signs it and hands it back.) Thank you. Oh…Mother, this isn't Celine Dion!
Mother (Chapman): What?
Child: It's Che Guevara, the revolutionary!
Mother: But Che Guevara can't sing.
Man: Well, maybe a little.
Mother: No, you're thinking of Ho Chi Minh. Didn't he do a version of Whitney Houston's "Didn't we almost have it all"?
Crowd: Shush! He's going to sing.
Tsering quietens the crowd but instead of singing he makes a speech.
Tsering: As we journey into the heart of the Himalaya I see indigenous people who have lost their lands and their homes to ruthless landowners. I see people treated as little more than slaves by the multinational mining corporations. It is not work that enslaves man, it is his alienation from the means of production. It is the yoke of oppression that deprives him of the joy and dignity of work. I tell you, the only solution is a people's revolution, a revolution made by the will of the people for the people.
The crowd begins to cheer. They chant "Che!" in unison. They pump their arms and shake their fists.
Woman: He's right, you know. We must mobilize the whole people as an armed unit!
Man: We must confront imperialist aggression and its puppets!
Child: We need to build a new society in which the individual disappears into the collective effort.
Old Man: I'd still like to hear him sing though. (Crowd shushes him.)
Guevara: The government does nothing for the people of the countryside! There are no roads, no schools, no electricity and no medical facilities! The only sign of a government presence is the post office. Comrades, what shall we do about this, I ask you!
Demented-looking man (Gilliam): (shaking his fist and looking slightly demented) Burn down the post office!
The crowd turns to look at him disapprovingly and he shrugs.
Old Man: He's a Maoist, you know. (The crowd again shushes him.)
Woman: We must take up arms and overthrow the monarchy!
The crowd cheers. They surround Che, touch him, and pat him on the back. He returns to Pither's bicycle and they ride off. Andean music begins to play, with flutes, pan pipes and those little guitars.
Demented-looking man: I still think we should burn down the post office.
Tsering (voice-over): Dear Mother. My friend Mr. Pither and I have set forth to travel the length and breadth of this land. We go with an inquiring mind and a humble spirit to learn from that great source of wisdom that is the people.
Caption on the screen reads: "Pokhara, Nepal… 3571 ¼ kms."
Cut to Tsering pedalling the bicycle with Pither riding behind. Tsering now has on green combat fatigues and has the beginnings of a black beard.
Pither (voice-over): What a strange turn this cycling tour has taken. Mr. Tsering is convinced that he is the Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara and he has completely forgotten about his plans to enter "American Idol".