From Schiphol to Jakarta in 380-HP truck

JAKARTA (JP): After 111 days spent thundering along busy highways and muddy roads; through lifeless deserts, dense forests and rivers, truckers Felix Huizinga and Henk Combe safely arrived in Jakarta on Dec. 4 from Amsterdam.

The Dutch nationals started their 23,850 kilometer trip from the Aviation Museum at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands on Aug. 16, crossing dozens of countries, borders and check points with smiles and nightmares.

Sponsored by insurance firm TVM, auto maker DAF and airline company KLM, the US$15,000 trip was undertaken to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first 1924 Amsterdam-Batavia flight in a one-engine Fokker T VII.

In an interview with The Jakarta Post last week, Huizinga and Combe said the regular flight from Schiphol to Tjililitan airport (now called Halim Perdanakusumah airport) usually carried six passengers and took about two months.

"On Oct. 1 1924, the plane, piloted by Van der Hoop, Van Weerden Poelman and Van den Broeke, left Schiphol as usual. But three days later, the F VII made an emergency landing at Philipoppel, now Plovdiv, in Bulgaria," Huizinga said.

The crew and the passengers had to spend about one month at the site waiting for a new engine.

To commemorate this particular flight, Huizinga and Combe decided to retrace the journey of the Fokker VII, but with a truck.

It didn't make any sense for them, as well as being impossible, to retrace the 1924 flight using a plane, much more with the F VII which replica can be found at the Schiphol Museum.

Huizinga and Combe decided to use a brand-new DAF 75 380- horsepower truck for their trip.

The red truck was pasted with stickers, including a huge one depicting the Fokker VII with the words Amsterdam -- Jakarta. It was, however, fully equipped with modern appliances, such as satellite receivers for a computer and live radio broadcasts, a Yamaha off-road motorcycle and a 220-volt generator.

It also carried on board two beds, a tiny kitchen and bathroom and a water tank with a capacity of 80 liters.

"We also had a roll of maps," Huizinga said. He later would realize their other powerful asset for the almost four-month trip was their pantomime skills.

After every thing was set and ready, including travel documents, the two bid farewell to their families and friends and began their journey, with a long list of DOs and DON'Ts from their colleagues in countries they were about to pass.

Kick-off

They then sped to the east: From Germany, they went south through the Czech Republic, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and up to Turkey.

In Plovdiv, with the help of locals, they estimated the spot where the Fokker VII was forced to land in 1924.

On the European leg of their trip, they found people on the roads to be very friendly and helpful.

"We've met so many fellow truckers who happily greeted us, offered us drinks and food and gave us advice," Huizinga said, recalling the happy side of the trip.

From Turkey, they went further to the south driving through the deserts of Syria and Iran.

"We escaped Iraq after three days doing nothing in Baghdad," Huizinga said.

After being stopped at the border in Iraq by officials, they were taken to the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism. There, an official recognized them and hastily told the two Dutchmen they could leave the country only if they shelled out some money.

In the desert, they realized Arabs very different to the image the western media had exposed to them for years.

One day in a huge desert, for example, the two men were invited by an Arab family into their tent. Huizinga tried to call his wife in Amsterdam by satellite mobile phone in Amsterdam.

"At first none of the family believed that I was really talking to my wife. After I asked one of them to speak on the line, they then started to believe me ... and all of the 32 children (in the tent) then wanted to talk to my wife," he said.

Once, their truck was unable to cross the street because of the presence of overhead electric cables. Without asking, the villagers gave them a hand and lifted them up.

"Our feeling was the overwhelming warmth and hospitality of the people. They were really helpful and we just did a little pantomime to tell them about us. It's very different to what we've known or read about for years in the West," Huizinga said.

Eat bread

In Pakistan, they met a talented guide who only knew two English words: Eat bread. "He said those two words only when he was hungry," Huizinga said.

The nightmares started in the eastern states of India where they were asked to obtain special permits in order to pass through.

They also faced similar document problems in Myanmar when border officials asked them to show a special permit to enter the country.

After a heated exchange of words, the men at the checkpoint allowed Huizinga and Combe to enter the country.

"It was heavy monsoon season in Myanmar at the time," Huizinga said.

On their way down south, their DAF 75 got stuck in heavy mud in the middle of a jungle.

"We then called a bulldozer. After hours of waiting, we were told that the bulldozer was on its way and within two hours would reach us.

But two hours later, we were told the bulldozer couldn't reach us because it was also stuck in the mud. We then hired an elephant belonging to the local forest department," Huizinga, who worked for UNESCO in Irian Jaya between 1972 and 1974, said.

However, when the elephant started pulling the truck from the mud, it broke the chain.

They only left the troubled spot when the bulldozer finally arrived three days later.

Before entering Thailand, they were stunned to learn that there were no boats big enough to cross a river.

With beating hearts, their truck was finally loaded onto a boat of almost the same width. The truck had to be positioned across the boat.

"The owner of the boat even had to break the cabin's roof in order to allow him to see properly," Huizinga said.

The two truckers then sped onto Malaysia via Thailand. From Port Kelang, they once again crossed water but this time in a giant container ship.

The truck landed for the first time in Indonesia in Belawan port, Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.

From here, they traveled down the island and reached Jakarta on Dec. 4.

Huizinga and Combe were warmly welcomed by city authorities as well as the Dutch community here.

A week after their arrival, they shipped the truck back to the Netherlands while they went home by plane.

Where would happen to the historical truck now?

"It's was bought by a rich man from Holland several days before our trip," Combe said.

According to him, their adventures would be written down in a book titled Abcoude Gepasseerd, which might be published early next year. (bsr)