Behind the scenes of "Holy Cow"

"Holy Cow" explores life in South Asia. Check the photos. Gallery

ESPN.com: Who all went and how did you pick this crew of people?
Wallner: The group was quite small for this trip because pretty much everyone bailed out. I was in talks with photographers and almost had people like Cairo [Foster], Nestor [Judkins] or [Brandon] Westgate coming, but in the end everyone wasn't sure if there would be any spots in South Asia. The safer choice was to probably just not come, and I don't blame them from the skateboarding point of view. In the end, we didn't even have a photographer come, just myself, Michael Mackrodt, Walker Ryan, Laurence Keefe and Kenny Reed were on board.

Where did you go and why did you choose those places?
For the past three years I been trying to do trips circling around the Eurasia peninsula all via ground transportation. So far, we have made it all the way from central Europe, through Siberia, Eastern Asia, Southeast Asia and I knew that South Asia would be next. I initially wanted to go from Bangladesh to Pakistan, but after Osama bin Laden got caught in Allahabad, it was just too sketchy to go. After taking the 'Maitree Express' into India, we just decided to head south and give Sri Lanka a visit, which wasn't as productive as planned. We were quite tired and just relaxed on a beach called Unawatuna. I love the name.

How did you travel and what were some transportation highlights/lowlights?
We mainly took train to get around, besides flying to Sri Lanka. Overall the Bengali and Indian trains were quite nice, but super dirty and packed. The highlight was definitely seeing people riding on the roof of the train. It is quite normal in Bangladesh (not too much in India nor Sri Lanka). It's just amazing seeing an entire family eating lunch on the roof of the train like it was just a ticket below standing class. South Asia still sticks with the cast system, so on trains, you could either have a bed, a seat, stand or be on the roof. Pretty insane.

Patrik WallnerKenny Reed throws a 360 flip at a school in Bangalore. Launch Gallery »

What were the best and worst stories of the trip?
The food was astonishing. We pretty much ate chicken curry with garlic naan bread everyday. Eating was probably the best part of the trip. The worst part was trying to skateboard. South Asia is not meant to be shredded. Trying to stop a crowd to form was almost impossible, so everyday we had to battle to keep our profile low and try to film as fast as possible. After ten minutes you would have the entire street looking over your shoulder.

Seems people were in total awe of the skateboarding. Talk about the local reaction.
They had no idea what was going on. I live in China at the moment and I am pretty used to people watching us skate, but Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka is the next level. Since they speak perfect English in South Asia, the people would just ask you all these questions. In the end, you were trying to film a trick but while walking back to the starting point of your line you would have to answer interview type questions from the local people. In Bangladesh, you wouldn't be able to walk down the street without someone asking you, "What's your country?" every two minutes. I am not over exaggerating.

How would you describe the skate spots in South Asia and would you recommend it for a filming mission?
We found some really exotic spots, but got kicked out by security with machine guns occasionally. Overall it's worth it going there to try to skate, but no one should go with the mindset of actually getting something. Skateboarding was just a good excuse for us to go there I guess.

The most important lesson I'm trying to teach my son about life is that you're able to balance anything on your head. I think it's a metaphor for life. What were some of the things that impressed you balanced on people's heads on this trip?
I remember seeing this man balancing a TV on his head. I think there is no metaphor for that one. Maybe that the television and movies are all just imaginations from your balanced head? I don't know. Funny question though.

For more of Patrik's work go to www.visualtraveling.com