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THE CHINA --MAIL:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER, · 1956.
AROUND THE WORLD WITH PETER TOWNSEND
'There were seven puitcases, two containing Му clothes, another to keep my papers and map in, diet another for mw
1 had a cas for hardwaru cooking things and tools, andi another in which hud packed hundreds of films.
ព
Finally there was a eise my provisions and a boillo two of wine. 1 have opened this case daily.
First step over the German border from Belgium, and Pater Townsend visits a cafe to change his money.
The evening was gloomy and cold, with fog heavy over the countryside.
But I was on my way.
On the morning of the sixth day I revoke at five in my hotel a Graz, in Austria.
A fine breakfast of ham and eggs and then the young hotel owner, dressed in Styrian cos- lume, led me out of the town and act me on my way to the Yugoslav frontier,
The Yugootov officials wero kind and helpful,
As 1 prepared to leave thèm I tollend a swarthy fellow with who
П Renite countenance, seemed interested in me.
I asked him who he was. He said: "Greco.
Oh the contrary, they end beauty to it by their bearing and simple way of life,
I reflected "How different i am to them in speech, manner, and thought."
Yet God created us, them and me, often wonder what for, but that is the mystery of life which each one of us, in his own way, has to solve,
I took dozens of photographis, encouraged by the co-operation I go from the country people.
I had one retback, however,
I passed a small wagon drawn by two good-looking horses going at a sponking trot. They Joolted to implendid that I stopped and took them.
I SET OUT ALONE...AND BUMP
UP AGAINST THE IRON CURTAIN
T
HIS in Tehernu, Europe is far be hind. Now
LIM
deep in Asia and
MOOR I move
40%
towards
Pakistan. Afghanistan, India, and the East,
Yet,
} sabeonserousky expected along things have not gone verording to schedule
Į have bumpNÍ ugattist thr Iron Curtat but filled to kvi through,
I have had to serup all my plans for the Arab countries be cause of the Middle East erlis. I have sweater over quite a few punctures. I've worried over the dust in my Land-Rovers engle
I've hot a best of fun, I've felt terribly lonely.
And
Then i must keep a log. There tae still and movie camerve to be worked. Car checks. Food. Cip before dawn. Finding a bed for the night. Visa worries. And san and so forth,
I havt been resting a few days from the Journey in Teherin and from a sharp attack of flu. But even that has been fun.
I spent a delightful afternoon looking at the Stub of Perslu's herm I particularly liked Brie Arub stallion called Ekbar.
Seven
THERE
THE
Cases
stallions, Were
100%
fruns Pakistan, Turkey, Sinkti-Arubry, baq, Jordan, other m lgi keuring States,
INST the throttle I managed to we i over the flat spot,
In Belprade the next morning
manager of ugents, tall Yugoslav, hod been on a course at the Rover works last July whon 1 Wus
that the works Land-Rover the
THE CHINA MAIL HAS PLEASURE IN PRESENTING TO- DAY THE PERSONAL ADVENTURE STORY OF THE YEAR covered
GROUP CAPTAIN PETER TOWNSEND'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS SOLO CAR TRIP AROUND THE WORLD. THIS FIRST REPORT IS SENT FROM TEHERAN, WHERE HE BECAUSE THE ARRIVED EARLIER THAN ANTICIPATED MIDDLE EAST CRISIS FORCED HIM TO ABANDON PLANS
VISIT
OF THE ARAB COUNTRIES. SOME
TO
Apart from the sultraBES, * had 1. medicine chest, and spare parts which seemed to weigh a
illion.
а
Jabɑ sew the Shah's bon, it from the Emperor of Ethio- pia. It muzzled up to the ralling nd when it was pinched in the ribs I tumwa mund and roured about angrily As the MCM
ademark
»ve d{s¢༥} ;rt the most lux urlow holet in A Minor I've als earen alongside a Retie- BASINTELE DE tukity 22 WITH latge Intex vout of his lurs and mett
cutlery them with apparent enjoyment
All the trupper, 25 part of driving along round the world But the fact is, of course, that I have been learning. There has, indeed, been lots to Jeakh
It's at swallowing
Driving ijone handrexis of miles day after day over strange country, mich al 1 rough, be exhrusting.
bten pleasant rest. Son 10 be off on the rare to Paki
thin to Afghanistan, and down the Khyber Pars tu Lates
Che top of all this I bundled in a sleeping-bug, a cams bed, unerus, and in assortment of other things including a pair of gumboot.
They britat me incessantly by refusing to stay in their prope place and fulling out every time I opened the door.
On Sunday evening. October 2!, thu đường 1 always interdied
But first let's go back to the to leave, 1 drove through Brus- beginnin
I remember that buck in Brus- pels I was horrified to see how much stuff i had to take with
nie.
Reliability...
rond
sels und set out on the which leads over the Ardennes to Luxembourg.
It was a road I have travelled many times before.
...that's rugged for your roughest, toughest days.
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They wanted a super watchi Omega made it.
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I shook hunds one by one with the fruniler offelals, 1 come a length to Greco.
] said: "English-Greck good; you the good."
The Yugoslava roarti
Greco laughter, and shook my hind of
In the wagon were Iwo sal diers, One, i think, was leach- Ing the other to drive, for he not suckdenly Look The reins and
drew in the horses,
Ho with
Wil
from evidently fur nearly pleased. He looked at the num- for plate of my ear and made
pole of it,
Rave a lift to a Yugoslav Customs officer as far as Mori- ber, 15 kilometres away.
11 WUN here that the which had shrouded much
Ite
ny journey series Germany and Austria, ended at last, and
mrged into dellelous sun- shine which was to last the way to Istanbul,
Although hundreds €11 mley me and Belgrade, Iny between
where I meant to spend the night, I gave in completely to the templation to photograph the Yugoslav country people.
Delightful
HEY really are the must de-
THEY
lightful people magazinble. They are very simple and very POUT, But what is wrong with That?
There is it great richness in their curls which can only be measured by their warm friend- liness,
never felt more moved than
I was that day by the poverty and the xumple kindness of those people.
I don't suppose they know or care much about the standard of living with which
we seem 60 concerned.
it seemed to the that their standard of living was far less than epiritual and,
material
high.
ان
I looked appraisingly at his horses, but I failed to melt his su.in glare,
I niust rtinember not
เ photograph military objectives in future.
At Zagreb 1 found stopped at શ crossroads, I berkand U policeman. Ile
a
traffic
Judged by that standard, very spoke a few words of English and gathered that the Pres. In comparison with Austria. dent of Rumania
was about to the colour
the Yugoslav pass. countryside seemed more sombre Two minutes Inter a cortige in tone, matching the darker swept by and we were waved on. countenance of the people.
A lorry, two curs, and
my Land-Rover now brought up the rear of the procession.
Suddenly I heard called. Two girls were waving from the pavement and I found it difficult not to smile back at this unexpreted recognition Ute wrong
end of the proces slon.
I saw two country girls with their hair dyed a garish blonde. Their appearance compared grotesquely with The natural features of their compatriots.
The Yugoslava sales come more slowly, but no less readily Everyone smiles, everyone waves. They adore being photo- graphed.
Once I stopped to photograph two children, and a score more come running down the road to
Into In. They were simply
enchanting. I felt very happy.
The road wound through de- licious villages. The Yugoslave have done nothing to mark the loveliness of their country- side.
When I was from Belgrade grumbled al me.
my name
ut
stil 150 miles
the cur engine
It seemed as if
one of the
there
We meeted each other warm- . Everything was fixed within
minuler
لالط
The horse still holds his own in the Yugoslav countryside, as here on the Belgrade-Nish road. Everywhere peoplo are kindly
From Nish to the Bulgarian fontfer 41 Dimitrovgrad 15 about 80 miles. The food led the mountains. mel WHY quite deserted, stive for a few bullock carts wending their way
into,
Soon I was on
the road to Nish and the Bulgarian frontier. home.
The road climbed
und up through wound
gentle country, green and brown washed in yellow sunlight, to- wards Kragútevne.
and
All day 1 saw no more than half dozen cars, but oxension- ay there were buses and jorries to pass.
Here and there old shepherils. WOTY! peald by the routsid watching their flicks,
Drusk
And the whole scene was glowing with marvellous colour,
Π
her. DS
theso.
People seem to regard you with some esteem it you have been betting the Iron Curtain,
I regret to say that do not quality for any mich respect. I one fruitless hour spent caly
tỷ fallid that hon rate,
I was put to 'scene pains to officers Customs struct the how to enter my particulars on the requisite form.
officer further
L instruct his sub-
A hirsute and elderly WEE, In turn, put to The purple mountains traced trouble
Syft outline
against the ordinate, minimas thy of pink and guld He was a drty looking follow
and and blu
Le puke
in brusquely When darkness caine
tume which were practically I was
incomprehensible to me.
officer wook The pollee passport und examined the
The hu waand VINU.
a feld telephone furiously and raised The receiver,
There was a lot of traße on the road such as bullock carts driving along happily towards and curts drawn by horses.
and Dimitrovị 1:0},
In Piret
con
the
Women along Maribor-Zagreb route look up fram their washing beside the vil- lage stroom to greet Townsend. Right: He
alco
trovels alone.
some It seemed that the entre fanuly was on the move.
The appearance of the people differed from those nart of Belgrade. Their faces were more swarthy and saturnine, but they waved and smiled as usual,
I began to notice men wear- ing those shoes with curled-up toes, the
and fur hat and felt kepi were more and
evidince.
fident that within u maller of hours should arrive in Sula, the capital of Bulgaria.
bumpy and
After passing through Dimit- rowerad i hart some difficulty in pleiding out, in the darkness, the read which led to the frontier.
I would venture to call ha track. 11 Was dusty, but
brought ne, around seven o'clock,
to the Yugoslav frontier post.
A genial Customs officer greeted me, and led me into his office. It was coяy and filled with the soft light of ari all
he
leartp
formalities over, The radsed the barrier, and I drove up to the Bulgarian post few
my
There followed a conversation
In high-pitched tones.
At the
end of it I gathered that
visu was not in order,
my
I was irritated and confused. What I didn't know that night was thai Hungary was in revolt. at that very moment,
The Visa
HAD stated clearly In my appileation to the Bulgarian Legation in Brussels that I would like a visa for three months starting on October 1.
The visa had been readily granted, but the details upon it were inscribed in Cyrille char- acters which I could not dr- chhei
I was now being told that the visa had expired on October 13, weck beture i set out on my journey.
However, the high-pitched voice at the other end of the line would telephone Sofia and we should hear in
fow minutes.
a
The telephone Tang again. The police officer listened and put down the receiver,
He regarded me not without rympathy. He opened his arms with the at hands towards mo and hia eck sank into the shrugged shoulders.
It's a gesture which leavca one in no doubt that there is, as the rench say, rien a faire. I fel some chagrin, but did my best to conceal It was clearly no use arguing when one's means of doing so were limited to Eve German words.
Moreover, I did not much like the nnnner of the baity old fellow, who was evidently
yards farther on. Above, the stars were waltered in glorious profusion Ccross the cky, Thele the chief. more in
Hight fell upon this lonely fron-
renched Nish at about four
o'clock in the afternoon.
It was bere. I believe, that the Emperor Justinian, the law- Hiver, found a girl, the daugh- of an innkeeper, and made
ler
Jets was blocked, but by pump her his wife,
me an Iron gates.
I picked up my papers, said The young soldier reopened the Iron gate and bade me a
friendly goodnight.
tier post and revealed before goodnight, and walked out.
Blazoned upon It was the single red star of the Bulgarian People's Repridille.
A young soldier, rifle sling arross his shoulder, орепед the gate and I drove through.
North of Belgrade schoolchildren eun.up to Peter Townsend'a · Land-Rover to mako sure of being in the picture. Right: The_Austrian-Yugoslav frontier post. Waiting for the barrier to be lifted. This is where he met "Greco".
I was back again in Yugo slavia.
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