Many - Right Beyond the Horizon

Christopher Manys website: www.christopher-many.com
Christopher on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hinter.dem.Horizont.links

Ist edition 2016
Delius Klasing & Co. KG, Bielefeld (Germany)

The following editions of the work are available:
ISBN 978-3-667-10564-6 (Print)
ISBN 978-3-667-10823-4 (Epub)
ISBN 978-3-667-10822-7 (PDF)

Editors: Birgit Radebold / Simon Forty / Kaye Muller / Sue Copsey
Photos: all by Christopher Many and Laura Pattara, except
17, 18, 44, 45, 46, 50 and 54 by Michael Stummann Nielsen
Maps / Illustration: inch3, Bielefeld
Notes: Irene van Duijvenvoorde
Cover design: Felix Kempf, www.fx68.de
Typesetting: Axel Gerber

Data conversion e-book: HGV Hanseatische Gesellschaft fr Verlagsservice, Mnchen

All rights reserved. The work may neither be entirely nor partially reproduced, transmitted or copied without explicit permission of the publisher.

www.delius-klasing.de

All prices are in US dollars, unless specified otherwise, converted according to the official foreign currency exchange rates at the time of writing. All measurements in this book are given in metric units. If you are accustomed to US measurements: 1m = 3ft 4in; 1km = 0.62 miles; 1km2 = 0.39 miles2; 1kg = 2.2lb; 1 litre = 2.1 pints; 1pz (pisan zapra) = the length of time it takes to eat a banana in Malaysia. To convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, first multiply by 9/5, then add 32.

A(sphere) = 4r2

Formula for calculating the surface area of a sphere, Archimedes, Proposition 33.

Hence, the Earth has a surface area of approximately 510 million square kilometres.

W hen I first started overlanding back in 1997, my intention was to set off on an extended journey lasting no more than a year or two. Well, that didnt quite work out as planned. Nineteen years have passed since that fateful day and Im still on the road. Between 1997 and 2000 I rode my Yamaha motorcycle Puck from Europe to New Zealand; then I circumnavigated the globe in 3,000 days with Matilda, a dilapidated classic Land Rover; and now, since 2012, Im back on Pucks saddle. What can I say? Vagabonding for a living is highly enjoyable and has become my way of life!

Nineteen years on the road after that you might think Id seen it all. Youd be wrong. Our planet has too many countries to really visit them all properly. Indeed, I sometimes wonder whether Ive actually seen any country or city Ive visited in the past. Everybody, from ordinary travellers on a motorcycle to world leaders in government (dare I say, especially our politicians?), is occasionally blind to whats happening right in front of their eyes.

Sometimes this lack of awareness is intentional. When visiting Phnom Penh in Cambodia, for example, one doesnt necessarily want to notice the septuagenarian Western men guzzling beer outside bars who have impossibly young and barely clothed local girls on their laps. At other times our blindness is involuntary. Hell, before my first cup of coffee in the morning Im effectively comatose and wouldnt be able to find my Yamaha keys if you dangled them right in front of my face. Either way, this unawareness has consequences and I dont mean that by closing your eyes you run the risk of slamming into a tree if you happen to be seated on a motorcycle.

No, the problem is that each and every one of us can only rely on our personal observations to gain a better understanding of the world and develop a balanced judgement of global affairs. Every other viewpoint, whether provided by media, governments or cultural environment, cannot be fully trusted. The realisation that we must be highly critical of second-hand information is a continuous thread I wove through my previous book. Theres only one solution: we must build our own subjective opinions.

Travellers like you and I have a few advantages: our judgements are based upon experiences gathered from the remotest corners of the globe so we neednt depend upon hearsay or television. But still, is this enough? Are curiosity about foreign cultures and the will to learn from them sufficiently strong foundations on which to build a sound interpretation of what we witness? Or does it take more? Id wager it does. If were not constantly on high alert, well likely miss out on many disturbing as well as wonderful events throughout the world, and possibly behave like the commuters who walked passed Joshua Bell.

Do you know the story? In 2007, while I was still travelling through the Americas in Matilda, a Washington newspaper conducted an experiment. The idea was to test how people would react when something beautiful yet unexpected occurred in a commonplace environment. So a performance was arranged starring Joshua Bell, arguably the best violinist alive. Only this time he wasnt going to play in a symphony hall where the least expensive seats cost hundreds of dollars but incognito, disguised as a busker, in the Washington D.C. Metro. Joshua made the entrance arcade of LEnfant Plaza station come alive for 45 minutes by playing some of the most magnificent music ever composed, using a violin handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari. And hardly anybody stopped to listen. Of the 1,097 people who passed Joshua that day, only 27 threw some loose change into his violin case and just seven briefly broke their stride. For the remainder he was invisible, unworthy of a single glance, and when Joshua finished, no one applauded. Most that day never noticed that something highly unusual had just taken place. In fact, they had no recollection of a violinist in the station at all.

We can draw many parallels between the behaviour of some travellers including myself and those in LEnfant Plaza. In the same way that the commuters may not have had time to listen because they were afraid to miss their trains, a few overlanders race around the world at such a speed they miss out on many small but magical roadside performances taking place every day. Were the commuters so preoccupied with work, responsibilities and problems that they didnt notice the heavenly music? In the same way, some travellers are so focused on ticking off a been there, done that checklist that they fail to observe whats not mentioned on the itinerary. Its also possible that the commuters were unable to appreciate the violinists brilliance because they couldnt imagine a world-class musician ever playing in a railway station. The same applies to travellers when they visit a new country with preconceived notions. Their perception might be influenced to such an extent that they only focus upon what they expect to see, and little else.

Im sure that if someone invented an interactive book, where readers could talk directly to the author and vice versa, wed discuss at great length all the possible reasons why our awareness is not always up to scratch. Alas, until this technology exists, our communication is going to be very one-sided. What a pity. Im convinced that each of us has an amazing and unique collection of thoughts, travel experiences and life stories to tell, enabling us to find answers to these and many other questions. If all our tales were printed and published, theyd amount to a mind-boggling book! Please consider the following my little contribution to this notional volume: my account of four years on the road between Germany and Australia what I noticed when I stopped, turned my head and listened.

I m aware that most of you, dear readers, are likely to be travellers, or at least travel-curious. I make no distinction between those who take two-week holidays or embark on decade-long trips around the globe: were all united by the same desire to discover what lies beyond that strange, elusive horizon. In order to satisfy our curiosity, we must be willing to accept the side-effects of leaving the four walls we generally call home. Abroad, we encounter adventures and agonies, emotional zeniths and nadirs, and occasionally face quite a few philosophical conundrums. In the end, apart we hope from having enjoyed a great change of scene, well return with a greater understanding of the world we live in.