by Edward Vernon
A TEAM OF 3 MALAYSIAN BIKERS WERE FLAGGED OFF YESTERDAY IN SANTIAGO, TO BEING THE SECOND HALF OF THEIR ’1MALAYSIA WORLD ENDURANCE RIDE’. THEY HAVE TRAVELLED FROM MALAYSIA THROUGH ASIA AND EUROPE, SPREADING MESSAGES OF PEACE AND TOLERANCE AND WILL NOW CONTINUE THEIR JOURNEY TRAVELLING NORTH THROUGH THE AMERICAS ALL THE WAY TO ALASKA.
SANTIAGO – Yesterday, a team of three Malaysia motorcyclists left Santiago to begin the last stage of their ‘1 Malaysia World Endurance Ride’, after being flagged off by the Malaysian ambassador to Chile. Their trip is a yearlong global motorbike tour that kicked off in Kuala Lumpar in June 2013, and aims to promote moderation and tolerance among people of diverse faith and culture, and also to promote Malaysia as a tourist destination. They have so far passed through 30 countries and will now continue their epic tour, heading up north all the way through the Americas to Alaska.
The team was originally made up of Zamri Bin Mohamed, Rosmadi Bin Saad, Mohd Faizal Bin Sukree, Sutheer Ahmad Kunjoo, and Chan Heng Khoon, but has since been reduced to three due to illness and other unforeseen circumstances. They came up with the idea due to a desire to travel all together, and introduce their country to the rest of the world. Although all the members of the team were had been bikers for many years before hand, they all come from different backgrounds, from a policeman, to a hotel owner, to a professional car racer.
One of the team says, “we wanted to demonstrate their spirit of unity, showing that they, and any other group of people, can ride together and be together despite whatever differences they may have. We would also like to invite everyone to come to Malaysia to visit our beautiful country.”
Due to the sheer scale of the trip, everything took around four to five years to plan. The team started the trip in Malaysia in June last year, riding up through Siberia, along many Central Asian countries and into Europe. They then flew from London to Buenos Aires with their motorbikes, heading south into Patagonia, and recently arrived here in Santiago.
They will now head up north through Chile, passing through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, after which time they will fly over to Panama and continue over land all the way up to Alaska, coming back down to finish in Vancouver. To finish the trip, they will then fly to Japan, and take a boat over to Thailand where they will be able to ride south to Malaysia to complete the round-the-world trip.
At the press conference yesterday at the Malaysian embassy, the team spoke very highly of South America, and especially Chile. “The people here are so friendly and the food is absolutely delicious- I have had the freshest salmon I’ve ever tasted here,” one of them said. “And the scenery and environment in Southern Chile is simply incredible, we would camp whenever we could down there and it was always incredible. The first trip I will take after finishing this journey will be to return to this lovely country with my wife!”
They also spoke very highly of Mongolia, and the central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. “The scenery in the countries and the kindness of the people will stick with me forever. I would strongly recommend anyone to visit if they can.”
The team say that over the course of the last few months they have encountered relatively few major obstacles. The main problems have occurred when they needed to find spare parts for their BMW F800 motorbikes, but often had to wait up to two weeks for the parts to arrive in the shops. There were also huge waits at the borders between many Asian countries, at times up to eight hours.
A TEAM OF 3 MALAYSIAN BIKERS WERE FLAGGED OFF YESTERDAY IN SANTIAGO, TO BEING THE SECOND HALF OF THEIR ’1MALAYSIA WORLD ENDURANCE RIDE’. THEY HAVE TRAVELLED FROM MALAYSIA THROUGH ASIA AND EUROPE, SPREADING MESSAGES OF PEACE AND TOLERANCE AND WILL NOW CONTINUE THEIR JOURNEY TRAVELLING NORTH THROUGH THE AMERICAS ALL THE WAY TO ALASKA.
SANTIAGO – Yesterday, a team of three Malaysia motorcyclists left Santiago to begin the last stage of their ‘1 Malaysia World Endurance Ride’, after being flagged off by the Malaysian ambassador to Chile. Their trip is a yearlong global motorbike tour that kicked off in Kuala Lumpar in June 2013, and aims to promote moderation and tolerance among people of diverse faith and culture, and also to promote Malaysia as a tourist destination. They have so far passed through 30 countries and will now continue their epic tour, heading up north all the way through the Americas to Alaska.
The team sitting with Malaysian Consul and Chilean fixer
The team was originally made up of Zamri Bin Mohamed, Rosmadi Bin Saad, Mohd Faizal Bin Sukree, Sutheer Ahmad Kunjoo, and Chan Heng Khoon, but has since been reduced to three due to illness and other unforeseen circumstances. They came up with the idea due to a desire to travel all together, and introduce their country to the rest of the world. Although all the members of the team were had been bikers for many years before hand, they all come from different backgrounds, from a policeman, to a hotel owner, to a professional car racer.
The team leader- Zamri Bin Mohamed
One of the team says, “we wanted to demonstrate their spirit of unity, showing that they, and any other group of people, can ride together and be together despite whatever differences they may have. We would also like to invite everyone to come to Malaysia to visit our beautiful country.”
Due to the sheer scale of the trip, everything took around four to five years to plan. The team started the trip in Malaysia in June last year, riding up through Siberia, along many Central Asian countries and into Europe. They then flew from London to Buenos Aires with their motorbikes, heading south into Patagonia, and recently arrived here in Santiago.
They will now head up north through Chile, passing through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, after which time they will fly over to Panama and continue over land all the way up to Alaska, coming back down to finish in Vancouver. To finish the trip, they will then fly to Japan, and take a boat over to Thailand where they will be able to ride south to Malaysia to complete the round-the-world trip.
The BMW F800 GS which all members of the team are using
They also spoke very highly of Mongolia, and the central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. “The scenery in the countries and the kindness of the people will stick with me forever. I would strongly recommend anyone to visit if they can.”
The team say that over the course of the last few months they have encountered relatively few major obstacles. The main problems have occurred when they needed to find spare parts for their BMW F800 motorbikes, but often had to wait up to two weeks for the parts to arrive in the shops. There were also huge waits at the borders between many Asian countries, at times up to eight hours.
The team and their Chilean fixer pose for photos with their sponsors
After the press conference, we were treated to a delicious feast in the Malaysian embassy, and then it was time to go downstairs to the street for the flag off. The team thanked their main sponsors for the trip, including Bank Rakyat and BMW Malaysia, before the flag was raised by the Malaysian ambassador, and they were off! They will now spend the next few months travelling north, in the second half of their global journey.
The team are flagged off outside the Malaysian embassy
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