Foundation for Peace and Development

WRITING CONTESTS

year the Vienna-based International Peace Foundation (IPF), along with the Korean National Peace Committee, took a significant step toward raising awareness for peace. A series of educational events were held, which included the participation of three Nobel prize laureates for the first time in North Korea. Taking place from 2–6 May 2016, they included Professor Finn E. Kydland from Norway, Aaron Ciechanover from Israel and Sir Richard J. Roberts from the United Kingdom. The laureates were there to share their expertise in the fields of economics, medicine and chemistry with university students in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The event series, dubbed “Bridges – Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace” has seen as many as 48 Nobel Laureates share their experience and expertise with over 180,000 participants. Held for the first time in Pyongyang, workshops, dialogues and seminars with students from Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology were conducted.

The purpose of the Bridges event was to strengthen international understanding and diplomatic ties through inspiring the younger generation to build ‘bridges’ with the visiting Nobel Laureates. Through this series it is hoped that common research programmes and other sustainable forms of co-operation can be established as tools for silent diplomacy.

Uwe Morawetz, the founding Chairman of the IPF said in his keynote speech, “By enhancing science, technology and education as a basis for peace and development, the events may lead to a better co-operation for the advancement of peace, freedom and security in the region with the active involvement of the young generation, our key to the future.”

Bridges Built To Last

The IPF truly believes that the bridges built through dialogue and co-operation are made to last. For the last 14 years, the foundation has worked with countries all over Asia in generating a peace process that has roots in mutual understanding and most importantly, respect. The “Bridges – Dialogues Towards

who chairs IPF’S Advisory Board and who also joined the event series in Pyongyang.

He mentioned, “Students and scientists in the DPRK are hungry for knowledge, education and international input… We want to give the young generation in North Korea a voice, a voice seldom heard of and listened to, a voice that could provide hope for peaceful changes and an opportunity not to be missed, because we change nothing by not going. We change nothing by not engaging.” As part of the sharing of knowledge, the three laureates who were invited travelled to the events on their own volition without accepting fees or honorariums; further proof of the goodwill and support that is invoked by this IPF series.

Prof. Finn Kydland is the Nobel Laureate for Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of California in Santa Barbara. His field of expertise revolves around macroeconomics, specifically the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles. In his dialogue

riders on a motorcycle were the subject of curious onlookers as they parked their vehicles outside the gates of No.10 Downing Street. Little did they realise that photo-taking is prohibited outside the grounds of the official residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron.

But when security guards heard that they had been on the road for over four months and had travelled all the way from Penang, Malaysia on their tiny mopeds, the rules were relaxed and they were allowed one, or two, shots outside the gates.

The Downing Street Dream

The idea to embark on this Downing Street journey began with Malaysian Bak Kau Lim, a 63-year-old veteran biker from Sungai Petani, Kedah in northern Malaysia. The idea came to him when he thought of travelling to the only other Downing Street he knew, one many have seen in the news and also dubbed “the most famous street in the world”.

The dream journey was conceived for five years but it wasn’t until the end of 2014 when it finally materialised. Six months of planning was all it took; from research to route planning to visas and bike sourcing. After much consideration, the Honda Wave 125CC was chosen, a Japanese-made bike (more often than not, mistaken for a moped) assembled in Malaysia by the Honda Boon Siew Motor Company.

Motorbike know-how and technicalities were crucial to the trip; group leader Bak Kau, also referred to

Eric recalls an incident when he was separated from his fellow bikers on a highway towards Amritsar in northern India. “We were riding from Phagwara to Amritsar, which was only a 100km journey. It took them three hours to find me in a petrol station, due to the bad road conditions, crazy traffic and poor visibility in the evening.”

No journey is without its hiccups, especially not on a 40,000-kilometre long motorbike trip like this. The bikers endured the Indian heat wave of June 2015, when over 2,500 people died during the hottest season recorded for 20 years. Temperatures rose to 45°C in New Delhi where the group spent a total of 18 nights, waiting for their bikes to be cleared from Customs Inspection after arriving from Thailand.

This portion of their journey had to be done by air due to visa issues. “We could not get an official permit into Bangladesh from Myanmar due to the unstable political conditions and the border conflicts there. In Myanmar, we were even asked by the officials for US$2,000 per biker to be guided to a ‘safe Bangladeshi side’. After that, we would have to pay more USDS to the Bangladeshis to be guided to the Indian border. We decided not to do it, hence the flight from Bangkok to New Delhi.”

Other more amusing moments (always on hindsight, of course) that were recounted by Eric included false alarms of losing passports (“I dropped it in an MPV while taking out my camera. I thought my journey ended in Kashgar”), altitude sickness at the border checkpoint in Sost (“I had to use the oxygen mask provided by the immigration officer to regain my strength”), battling snow along the Karakoram Highway (“our bikes withstood the weather better than me”) and a fellow biker’s camera slipping into a toilet in Uzbekistan (“his months of photos disappeared into the hole”).

But it was the kindness of strangers, invitations to private homes and the beauty of the countries that made their journey so exhilarating. Everywhere they went, curious onlookers gathered, most in disbelief that they had made it so far.

“When they hear that we have come all the way from Malaysia, they are always so shocked,” recalls Eric. “We were like celebrity aliens to them, riders in heavy jackets loaded with

tank bags and side bags strapped onto our vehicles.”

Many locals also showed their generosity in unconditional ways. “In Andijon in Uzbekistan, a kind lady teacher overheard our conversation in the bank. She then brought us to the other side of town in a taxi to change some local currency. In Lahore, a man even used his name to buys us SIM cards, as it was difficult for foreigners to purchase one, then guided us out to the highway,” Eric says.

There were of course, the fair share of touts and bullies, but the bikers took it all in their stride. Eric recalls: “In Turkmenistan, we were nearly shortchanged by a ‘friendly local’ who kept ordering food for us until I asked him to give us our change back. In Iran, two local boys rode recklessly alongside us on their bikes, causing two of our riders to crash and fall. Thankfully, nothing serious happened.”

Due to the length of the trip and a non-exhaustive budget, homestays, hostels and camping were the order of the day. But by the time they got to Bulgaria and Greece, cash flow was running low.

“Some of us were eating bread and drinking only plain water,” says Eric. But thanks to the contacts of friends and relatives, they managed their final leg into Croatia, Austria, Italy and other countries before finally arriving in London on 20 September 2015, exactly 135 days after leaving Penang.

Family members and friends treated the bikers to a picnic at Alexandra Park and celebratory dinner of roast duck at Bayswater. The next couple of weeks were spent visiting friends and relatives throughout England. While they recuperated and sorted out their photos, their bikes were being shipped back to Malaysia.

“My best memory was the ride along the coastal road from Samsun to Ayancik in Turkey,” muses Eric. “We camped at Ataturk Boulevard in Samsun and couldn’t resist a swim in the Black Sea. This was definitely the journey of our lives.”

Today, it has been almost a year since their return from the Downing Street tour, so what is next in line for these retired bikers?

“Our captain Bak Kau is dreaming of riding through the American continents now, from the north to the south. Yep, that’s probably where we’re headed to next,” Eric says. ag

“I remember camping at Ataturk Boulevard in Turkey and jumping into the Black Sea for a swim. This was definitely the journey of our lives”

Winner Ms Sharon Quek Prize: $500 cash voucher from Key Power International

Winner Mr Tan Chun Yih Prize: $500 cash voucher from Outdoor Life

Winner Ms Lim En Prize: Incase EO Travel Backpack and cash voucher from The Bag Creature worth $500 in total

Grand Prize Winner Ms Mao Ai Lin Prize: An 8D7N trip to Shanghai, China, a 2D1N stay at The South Beach’s exclusive Showcase Me guestroom inclusive of breakfast, a pair of Pioneer DJ HDJ-700 headphones and her essay published in this current issue on page 87.

Runner Up Winner Ms Wong Quan Ling Prize: A 4D3N trip to Bali, Indonesia, a 2D1N stay at The South Beach’s exclusive Showcase Me guestroom inclusive of breakfast for 2 and a pair of Pioneer DJ HDJ-700 headphones.

Perhaps the most happening spaces at AX2016 were our many activity zones, where we brought in various unique and lesser-known sports for our visitors to try – for absolutely free!

our guide, Chozang barks, causing the line of hikers to come to an abrupt stop. He presses one foot forward cautiously, testing the ice in front of him. As he leans forward to lift the other, we hear the now-familiar cracking of ice as it crumbles under one’s weight.

“We will need to walk around,” he says with a resigned sigh. One of his boots is in the ice-cold river beneath, pointing upwards towards the gorge that had to be climbed in order to avoid the rapidly-melting ice ahead of us.

We were crossing the Chadar, a thin sheet of ice that forms over the Zanskar River in the Greater Himalayan Range. In the dead of winter, when temperatures regularly drop to negative 30°C, the Chadar forms a natural highway between Zanskar and Ladakh, two of India’s most remote high-altitude valleys.

That said, the word ‘highway’ denotes a journey that is straightforward, and that is everything the Chadar is not. With rising temperatures and shorter winters, she has become increasingly ephemeral and unpredictable, often poorly forming in places, or not even forming at all.

Even on good days when it seems like all you need to do is walk, there is so much happening behind the scenes. The nature of ice requires your mind to constantly analyse and assess your surroundings.

At the start of the day when the Chadar is reborn following the night’s howling winds and sub-zero temperatures, you marvel at the stability of the ground beneath you. As the day inches towards noon, the ice commences its cycle of selfdestruction; cracks begin to form, uppermost layers turn to slush and entire shelves break away from the river’s banks.

You learn to read the ice and quickly come to terms with the fact that the Chadar brings you exactly where she wants you to go – and she has the grandest adventure in mind for you.

"In the mornings, the Chadar is reborn following the night's howling winds and subzero temperatures"