From Schiphol to Jakarta in 380-HP truck

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)