1958 Around the World in 10 Years - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1958 Around the World in 10 Years - 4-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
By ISSA and ABDULLAH OMMIDVAR
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
The Malayan jungle crowded around the
narrow, rutted road as our motorcycles
bounced and churned their way toward civil-
ization. We had heard stories of the Ma-
layan terrorists that hid in the jungle to
shoot unwary travelers as they went by,
then loot them of whatever they could find.
In fact, before leaving the last stronghold of
civilization, a British rubber plantation many
miles back, my brother and I were warned
that a person with white skin traveling on
such an unprotected vehicle as a motorcycle
was certain to be killed and robbed by the
bloodthirsty, Communist-led bandits. When-
ever the white plantation owners of Malaya,
venture out into the jungle they drive at
breakneck speeds in armored cars with their
guns poking threateningly out of slits in the
thick armor plate to discourage the bandits
from trying to stop them. Even then, many
go out into the jungle who never come back.
But we had to get to Singapore, and to do
so meant braving the terrorists. We dressed
ourselves in Malayan costume—Sukarno kef
and Lungi to try to look as much like
natives as possible, bid farewell to our Brit-
ish hosts, and set out. The jungle sped past
on either side of us mile after mile until
after a while my eyes became tired from
trying to squint into the dense forest of
trees and vines ahead of us. We had been
riding for a long way and nothing had hap-
pened even though we passed many spots
which would have been perfect for an am-
bush. My tight nerves began to relax. I
looked at my brother and grinned sheepishly,
feeling very foolish in my native costume
when I saw his face freeze into a mask of
fright. Ahead in the road was a felled tree.
A roadblock! We almost had to lay the
machines down to stop, there was no way to
ride around the obstacle. Immediately the
bandits swarmed out of the jungle and sur-
rounded us, their guns and machetes poised.
I tried to speak but my throat was dry. Just
then we heard the sound of motors and
some cars appeared around the bend behind
us. The bandits snatched one of our cam-
eras and a Persian blanket from our ma-
chines and fled into the jungle. They had
a healthy respect for the Britishers" guns.
The cars pulled to a stop just as I was get-
ting my voice back. It was our friends from
the British plantation who were worried for
our safety and had decided to follow us to
provide an escort. They drove along with
us to the end of the jungle where we said
our thanks and farewells and journeyed on
to Singapore.
When my brother and I had first con-
ceived of this trip several years ago we had
no idea of what adventures would befall us.
We were just 16 and 19 years old and the
travelers coming through our native Iran on
their way to Europe or Asia on their mo-
torcycles or in cars told us such tales of
their adventurous lives that we decided to
plan to travel all the countries of the world.
Since time was no object, we allowed our-
selves ten years for our Odyssey. Once we
had made up our minds to attempt the trip
we could think of nothing else, so we set
to work on the tremendous task of prepar-
ing for, the journey.
We made a “five year plan” of prepara-
tion which included a bicycle trip around
Iran to get more experience in traveling, a
six-month course at the Institution of Tech-
nical Mountain Climbing of Teheran, study
of engine operation and repair, courses in
first-aid, and courses in foreign language.
These language courses proved to cost more
than we could afford, so we finally had to
give up and rely on sign language like dumb
people. Even with five years to prepare our-
selves the job was too large, so my brother
and I divided up the studies between us.
Money was a big problem—The principal
problem of this century. We knew we could
count on little help from our father, who
would be somewhat less than happy to have
two of his youngest sons leave him perhaps
forever. To make matters worse, our equip-
ment would have to be of the best if it was
to last us for ten years.
After some mutual correspondence the
Dunlop rubber company promised to supply
free tires and tubes and the Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company furnished us with a letter to
Shell companies throughout the world ask-
ing them to supply us with free gasoline.
Thus two of the biggest expenses of our
trip were taken care of.
Family Suspects
During all of these arrangements we did
not mention a word of our plans to our
family, but as time passed by and letters
kept arriving from far-away places and the
lamps burned late in our room while we
pored over travelogues and geography books,
they began to grow more and more suspi-
cious. Finally, exactly three months before
our trip was to start, we announced our de-
cision clearly in a 3% hour speech in a
family meeting. When we finished they were...
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