|
|
Martin and Anne Farndale “The Journey” Driving from Malaya to Britain in a
Ford Prefect January to March 1962
|
|
In due course this page will include a link to a converted cine film of the Journey.
Introduction
In two months from January to March 1962, Martin and Anne drove home from their posting in Seremban, Malaya. This was a remarkable 13,000 mile journey through Malaya, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and across Europe at a time just before the great age of large scale travel had started. They took photographs and a cine film of the journey. This is a remarkable record of a journey half way around the world just before the great age of travel, which provides glimpses of a world which has fundamentally changed since then.
Map
Leaving Malaya (now Malaysia)
After two years in Serenban in Malaya, we were seen off by a crowd of friends from the Sugei Ujong club, at the beginning of our journey home over land. It was early evening.
We drove to Penang where we stayed at the rest house by the sea for a couple of days.
The Ford Prefect
We were driving a Ford prefect with a box on top for spare
parts, The boot had luggage, and hidden under the back seat we had lots of tins
of Compo (army rations) which we needed in reserve.
We had the car loaded onto a British India ship which was to take us to Calcutta
Burma (now Myanmar)
On the way, we went to Burma, to Rangoon. We walked round
the glittering Shwedagon. Temple., and visited the
services cemetery. It was am immaculately kept, as they always are.
India
We sailed on to Calcutta and
it took five days and endless chaos to get the car off the ship. We went to the
Port Authority offices, and there were simply piles of files all over the
floor!
Eventually we got away, and
drove through India to Patna. We left the car in a car showroom window for
comparative safety, and luckily it wasn't sold in our absence! After waiting
three days because of bad weather, we took off for Nepal, for Kathmandu. While
we waited at Patna airport, a Hindu holy man arrived with many people throwing
garlands around his neck. Then the car which had come to meet him wouldn't start!
Eventually we flew over the
Himalayas in bright sunshine with a wonderful view of Mount Everest. As we flew
into Kathmandu, the pilot let us stand in the cockpit to get a better view.
Nepal
Katmandu
Kathmandu is a most lovely
place with what looked like all ancient buildings. It was unchanged by time. We
only saw one other couple of visitors at that time. The hippie era had not yet
arrived.
We were staying with the
military attache, Charles Wilie, in his bungalow. He had been on the famous
Everest expedition and showed his film of that. I had seen the same film during
a lecture given by him and a colleague at the Dome at Brighton.
We walked around the town and
saw the temples in the Durbar Square and the palace. The temple roofs have
bells, and some with explicit paintings.
We went down to the river to
see the burning ghats with bodies burnt, presumably by relatives, and then to
pattern.
We went to Badgaon, Bodnath, Swayambunat
which had Buddhist eyes all round, and here we saw some Tibetan refugees, tall,
fine looking men who are much taller than the Nepalese. The prayer wheels were
being turned.
We stayed in Kathmandu for
five days, and would have loved to have stayed in that fascinating place for
longer. While we were there, one day we went for a walk in the foothills,
hoping to see Everest, but unfortunately the clouds came down that time, so we
were unable to see it from the ground. Local people were carrying huge loads on
their backs, and everyone looked at me wearing slacks, which they were not used
to seeing. On the way back, we passed a little school, out of doors, under an
awning.
India
Benares and the Ganges
And then back to India (our
car hadn't been sold!), and back to the endless crowds of people, the narrow
roads, generally only one track of actual road, and to the many bullock and
horse carts.
We then went to Benares
and stayed at the Hotel de Paris, with different people to take your luggage
upstairsEveryone seemed to be given a job, however small. Most of the time we
were staying in DAK bungalows, (government bungalows) which were mostly clean
and quite comfortable with our sleeping bags, and a chaukidar guarding
the place.
We went out in a boat on
the Ganges and saw the crowds washing, and the women beating and washing
clothes in filthy water. On platforms, the sadus or holy men were
praying, and one very holy one was covered in ashes. A sight you often see in
India. In one place down river were the burning ghats. The women's dead bodies
were in coloured shrouds. It was only on one side of the Ganges that all this
activity was going on. The other side had a few sedate temples. In the midst of
it all, a dead donkey floated down the river, bloated.
Agra
And then on to Agra and the
beautiful vision of the Taj Mahal. It is equally lovely by day or by moonlight.
Sadly, now it is getting rather damaged by pollution from factories. The Taj
Mahal is, of course, the tomb of white marble built by Shah Jehan in memory of
his beloved and favourite wife, Mumtaj Mahal. There should have been an
identical black marble tomb on the other side of the river, for Shah Jehan, but
his son imprisoned him before he could build it. Now they are both buried
together in the Taj Mahal.
Jaiphur
We then went to Fatehpur
Sikri, the palace deserted after three years because the water ran out. then on
to the pink city of Jaipur, and the Palace of the Winds. The women wore the
most beautiful coloured saris in Jaipur.
We aimed to travel in the
morning and see the sights and have a meal in the afternoon, sometimes stopping
for a cup of coffee on the way using our little gaz cooker. This was mostly in
the desert, as in India there were always people who gathered around as soon as
you stopped. Once we stopped to photograph two mahouts on elephants, but
they hemmed us in and tried to stop us getting away; presumably they wanted to
rob us. Martin quickly got in the car with me, and we managed to back out fast.
Dehli
Then Delhi and the Red Fort.
We didn't stay there long as it was so crowded.
Amritsar
Then onto Amritsar with its
exquisite Sikh temple. On the way we saw a group of vultures eating a dead
donkey. They appear as from nowhere at the sight of anythingb dead.
Pakistan
On to Pakistan and Quetta
where we stayed in a rest house. While we were there, we took the car to a
garage to have it checked over, and there were three cars there that had just
come across the Bam desert from Iran. This was where we were about to go. There
was a Land Rover and two other quite tough looking cars, but the garage
mechanic told us that they were all in quite a bad way, after travelling over
thousands of miles of rough tracks with no proper roads at all. We were quite
concerned, but our car was fitted with spring leaves, which apparently made a
difference. Our amazing car went right across the Bam Desert and Iran into
Turkey with no trouble. We carried petrol with us at the front of the box on
top of the car, and very occasionally we found somewhere where we could get
more. At one stage when we left Quetta, we were blinded by sandstorm, and sand
covered the car.
At the Dalbandin rest house we were showed
into a room with several beds. Luckily we only occupied two and the rest were
empty!
Iran
We travelled through hundreds
of miles of desert over the corrugated bumps. We found that travelling at 30
miles an hour worked fairly well, as you could negotiate the bumps.
Isfahan
Then, we suddenly came out of
the desert to the most beautiful city of Isfahan. It has a square in the
middle, the Maidan, and a lovely skyline of mosques in brilliantly glazed
tiling. The King’s Mosque and the Queen’s Mosque were there, and we took a lot
of photographs as there were so many fascinating things to take. We saw a Zoroastrian
temple and a shaking minaret.
Then back to the desert
again, and mile after mile of bumpy tracks. Sometimes we would pass nothing all
day, or perhaps a single lorry. We went through Tehran.
Turkey
We then wernt on to Turkey
and Mount Ararat, where the Ark was reputed to have landed. By now it was
getting much colder and the snow was piling up. Luckily, a snowplough had been
through as the snow in places was piled up over 6 feet high on each side of the
narrow road. We might have had to wait for days if the road hadn't been
cleared. At one stage on the car radio, we heard news of Yuri Galgarin becoming
the first man in space. We felt rather strange hearing the news in this
landscape through which we had travelled. We felt a lot of what we had seen had
been a moon landscape.
In north Turkey, coming up
towards the coast, we drove into a military prohibited area. Here we had two
guards squeezed into the back of the car, who stayed with us for a long way.
Then we drove along the Black Sea coast to Istanbul. Along the coast we
negotiated a flooded river, but just managed to get through. The Turkish people
were dressed in a much more western way, and from Istanbul onwards we felt we
were nearly home!
Istanbul
We stayed in Istanbul and
visited the mosque of Saint Sophia, though I thought those big mosques were not
nearly as attractive as the ones in Isfahan. Then our long-suffering car was
lifted onto another ship, and we called at Ephesus en route for Athens. We were
very fond of our little car. It had done so well, and we kept her for a year
after we got home.
Ephesus
The famous ruins at Ephesus
were very interesting. Ephesus played a large part in Saint Paul's life and it
is where the Virgin Mary is reputed to have died.
Greece
Athens
At Athens, we disembarked at Pireaus.
Then we saw the Acropolis, the cariads, and later Delphi.
Delphi
Yugoslavia
In Yugoslavia we drove
through a great storm in the mountains, before going down to the coast.
Italy
Then we drove to Italy and
down to Venice.
Venice
Austria
We went through the Brenner
Pass, over the Alps and to Salzburg.
Salzburg
We drove through Europe,
Austria, Germany, France and Belgium.
Germany
Belgium
We had hardly had any trouble
with our car at all, but when we stopped for the night in Brussels, the tyres
had all been let down. I imagine this was a prank, though rather tasteless
after all our adventures.
England
Then, crossing the channel we
saw the White Cliffs of Dover, and knew we were nearly home. As we drove along
the coast we saw sheep with lambs playing and knew that spring had arrived.
We drove to the South Coast
and to the village of Findon. Then we drove up to the South Downs and to the
Mill House, with its lovely views in every direction, to where my parents were
waiting to greet us.
It was wonderful to be home
and to have made it, and it was a great trip that we shall always remember. We
had travelled 13,000 miles in two months.
