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103 JOURNEYS, VOYAGES TRIPS AND STUFF

Siddhartha Sarma is a journalist and occasional budget traveller who manages to have what he claims are adventures of an epic and grand scale. He travels light and drinks a lot of tea during these journeys, some of which are barely legal.

Copyright © 2009 Siddhartha Sarma All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd. A subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., New York, 10012 (USA). Publishers since 1920, with international operations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Mexico, India, Argentina, and Hong Kong. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to: Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd. Golf View Corporate Tower-A, 3rd Floor, DLF Phase-V, Gurgaon 122002 (India) First edition: June 2009 ISBN-10: 81-8477-287-4 ISBN-13: 978-81-8477-287-6

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JOURNEYS, VOYAGES, TRIPS AND STUFF Siddhartha Sarma

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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

VIII

SEAFARERS COLUMBUS MAKES A SMALL ERROR: COLUMBUS2 ‘THOSE AREN’T EUROPEANS!’: ZHENG HE4 ‘PLENTY OF TIME’: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE6 MARINER: THOR HEYERDAHL8 THE GOLDEN GLOBE RACE: KNOX-JOHNSTON10 ‘LLF’: LEIFR ERIKSSON12 NEW WORLDS: POCAHONTAS14 GOOD HOPE: BARTOLOMEU DIAS16 THE AGE OF DISCOVERY: VASCO DA GAMA18 PASSAGE: MAGELLAN 20 CONTINENTAL DRIFTER: AMERIGO VESPUCCI22 NORTHERN LIGHTS: PYTHEAS24 SWEET SEA: VICENTE PINZON  26 OVER LAND MIDDLE KINGDOM: FA XIAN 30 BOOKHUNTER: XUANZANG  32 THE ORIGINAL HARD TRAVELLER: MARCO POLO  34 ‘MAYBE JUST ONE MORE TRIP’: IBN BATTUTA  36 THE EMPEROR’S DOCTOR: FRANCOIS BERNIER  38 INDIKA: MEGASTHENES 40 ‘DR LIVINGSTONE, I PRESUME?’: DAVID LIVINGSTONE  42 HORSEMAIL: PONY EXPRESS44 THE MIGHTY ONE: ERNESTO GUEVARA  46 HERO: ROALD AMUNDSEN  48 UNDERNEATH: KRUBERA CAVES  50

IN THE AIR ‘WE’: CHARLES LINDBERGH  54 THE LADY VANISHES: AMELIA EARHART56 JET STREAM: WILEY POST  58 VOYAGER: DICK RUTAN  60 CHAMP: STEVE FOSSETT  62 ZEP LED: ZEPPELINS64 IN SPACE ‘THE EARTH IS BLUE’: YURI GAGARIN  68 ‘ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN …’: MOON-LANDINGS  70 THERE AND BACK AGAIN: SPACE SHUTTLES72 QUARTERS UP THERE: INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION  47 UNDER WATER AQUA-LUNG: JACQUES-YVES COSTEAU78 THE TURTLE AND THE BEAGLE: THE TURTLE  80 ‘WE SEE D.OOZE’: BATHYSCAPHE TRIESTE  82 MOUNTAINEERS ‘KNOCKED IT OFF’: HILLARY  86 ‘BECAUSE IT IS THERE’: MALLORY88 HARRER’S TRIP: HEINRICH HARRER90 THE EIGHT THOUSANDERS: REINHOLD MESSNER92 WHY THE MATTERHORN MATTERS: MATTERHORN 94 WOMEN WITH GRIT FORBIDDEN JOURNEY: ELLA MAILLART  98 GERTRUDE OF ARABIA: GERTRUDE BELL  100 TOP GIRL: ISABELLA BIRD  102 THE ANARCHIST IN LHASA: ALEXANDRA DAVID-NEEL 104 TRAVELS WITH GOD ‘I AM THAT’: SHANKARA  SHANGRI-LA: MT KAILASH  THE FIFTH PILLAR: THE HAJ 

108 110 112

THE SWORD PILGRIMAGE: CRUSADES  114 THE TEMPLE IN THE FOREST: BATUO116 JESUIT: FRANCIS XAVIER 118 ANIMALS … AND A PLANT DEFINITELY NOT SUICIDAL: LEMMINGS  122 GOING SOUTH OR COMING BACK?: SALMON  124 ABSOLUTE MONARCHY: MONARCH BUTTERFLIES126 THE ENDLESS PLAINS: SERENGETI  128 ‘A PLAGUE ON YOU’: LOCUSTS  130 THE LONGEST JOURNEY: BAR-TAILED GODWIT  132 GOLDEN BOUGHS: THE FLAMBOYANT  134 SCIENTISTS, WRITERS AND PAINTERS THE TREE OF LIFE: DARWIN  138 THE TRAVEL-WORN SATCHEL: MATSUO BASHO  140 TECTONIC TRAVELS: ALBATROSS  142 LION TOURNE: DELACROIX  144 RETURN TO THE PASTORAL: GAUGUIN  146 BEAT: JACK KEROUAC  148 ONE TRAVELLED OVER A COUNTRY: ELECTRIC KOOL-AID TEST TRIP150 CROSS-COUNTRY: KIRA SALAK  152 VOYAGE TO INDIA: THE DANIELLS  154 TRAVELLING ON ICE: ICE STATIONS  156 A ZOO IN HIS LUGGAGE: GERALD DURRELL  158 TRAINS EURASIA: TRANS-SIBERIAN  162 IRON HORSE: THE FIRST TRAIN RUN  164 THE ORIENT EXPRESSES: BERLIN-BAGHDAD166 THE OLD CAMEL TRAIL: THE GHAN  168 THE GREAT TRAIN RIDE: CANADIAN PACIFIC  170 GETTING A HIGH: PERUVIAN TRAIN ROUTES  172

MILITARY CAMPAIGNS THE TWO-HORNED ONE: ALEXANDER  ‘FIND A WAY, OR MAKE ONE’: HANNIBAL  THE LARGEST EMPIRE: MONGOLS  ‘THIS NORTHERN SKY’: NAPOLEON IN MOSCOW  BARBAROSSA: GERMANS IN MOSCOW  THE MARCH UP COUNTRY: XENOPHON  EMPIRE: CHOLAS 

176 178 180 182 184 186 188

EXTREME TRAVELLERS ONE MAN ON A RAFT: POON LIM  192 AROUND THE WORLD IN …: GEMELLI CARERI  194 AIRAWAY: ANDREY SCHERBAKOV196 THE LENGTHS PEOPLE GO …: SHOCK TOURISM  198 THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: FRANZ VON WERRA200 TRIPS BEST NOT DONE CHAINS AND WHIPS: SLAVE ROUTES  204 RAFT: MEDUSA  206 ‘THOSE WERE THE LAST ONES!’: WHITNEY EXPEDITION208 RUBY SLIPPERS: LSD  210 THE OPIOID: HEROIN  212 NEW SUBSTANCE, OLD STORY: COCAINE  214 MAPPERS AND CARTOGRAPHERS ‘AS FAR AS POSSIBLE’: CAPTAIN COOK  THIS VAST LAND: LEWIS AND CLARK  CREATIVE NON-FICTION: HERODOTUS  MYSTERIOUS RIVER: BURTON-SPEKE  BACKYARD: HAMILTON HUME 

218 220 222 224 226

TRAVELS FOR WEALTH DUE WEST: SILK ROAD  230 YUKON HO: KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH  232 THE BIG HOLE: DIAMONDS OF KIMBERLEY234 ‘ARR! SAIL AHOY, MATES!’: PIRATES  236

INTRODUCTION

‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.’ J.R.R. Tolkien, as always, knew what he was talking about. There was a time when walking down the road to buy milk and vegetables from the nearest market was high adventure: there were no bridges so one had to wade or swim across; no cars so one walked or rode horses; plenty of danger and wild animals (but perhaps not dragons). This was the humblest journey and yet enough to fill a memoir or two. As soon as ancient man, having chewed his mammothbone steak dry and used the splinters to pick his teeth, sat back and began the task of creating human civilisation, he was filled with the urge to discover the world. He wanted to see for himself just what was around the corner, what new wonders the earth held for him. The great explorers were descendents of this particular ancient man (regrettably, we do not know his name). The stories of their travels, over land and water, are also stories

of how culture developed, scientific objects were invented, navigation skills and systems perfected. It is a tale of processes, of methods to explain the world and grapple with it. Some made perilous journeys by land and water to unknown, mythical lands, bringing people together. It took a long time for mankind to finally agree that the world was round, but just when everybody seemed to have settled down, a whole bunch of explorers ended up in the wrong places. Others were busy trying to circle the globe without much of an exact idea of how big the globe actually was. Along the way, they made some epic journeys. The modern world brought its own challenges in pioneering, including circling the world alone in some tiny craft. Eventually man took to the air, among the last of his epic adventures so far. Each journey, by hot-air balloon or frail fabric aircraft, was a unique voyage. So were expeditions to the extreme northern and southern ends of the world and up into the mountains. Others went underwater and made discoveries of a different world. Still others travel now into space. Each is as much a personal journey of discovery as it stands for mankind’s progress.

But not all epic journeys were of discovery and exploration. Some travellers were fuelled by the lure of precious metals and minerals. Others, the less fortunate, went on incredible military campaigns through difficult terrain and climate. A few among the wise went, and still go, on journeys into the heart of science and matter. Still others went on mind-bending trips through narcotics. Most of these last never returned. There are among the animal species those which go on epic migrations or travels. These, too, are adventures in their own class. It would not be accurate to say only the momentous, the famous or the epic journeys are worth remembering. Each extra bit of distance covered becomes an experience to treasure, an ongoing celebration of life and the spirit of humankind. Even if our everyday travels are inside climatecontrolled little metal boxes and the only wild creature we might meet from day to day is the neighbourhood cat or the only barbarian, the school bully, the lessons we learn while travelling through life are precious additions to our personal trips. Here we celebrate the big trippers among the men and animals of earth. Yes, it is a dangerous business going out your door, but it is always worth it.

SEAFARERS

COLUMBUS MAKES A SMALL ERROR Everyone knows Columbus went West when everyone else was going East, and what he discovered. What is less known is his trip arose from a mistake in his calculations. Columbus, former cheese-stand boy and cartography student from Italy, had done a fair bit of travelling along western European sea routes by the time he was 30, in 1481. Europeans were then trying for a sea route to India. Christopher’s brother Bartolomeo and he had the idea of sailing west and thus reaching India. Europeans did not support the ‘sailing west’ plan, but not because they thought the Earth was flat. On the contrary, all sailors knew about the curvature of the Earth. But most thought the Western Ocean (as the Atlantic was known then) was too big to cross. Columbus told them: look, the Earth’s circumference is 25,255 km, max. So the distance from the Canary Islands (just off western Europe) to Japan is 3,700 km. Easy. But Columbus had assumed that the distances he found in old calculations were based on the Italian mile, which is about 1,200 m. They were actually based on the Arabic mile, which is more than 1,800 m. He 2

assumed the Earth was much smaller than it actually is. And naturally he had no idea of a rather large water body called the Pacific Ocean. After a lot of haggling with the royalty of Europe, the King and Queen of Spain gave him a bit of money, some say, to get rid of him. When he started out on three second-hand wooden ships with a hundred men and sailed west, he did not know that the distance of the uncharted world was far larger than what any European ship could cover in eight weeks away from land. After five weeks, on 12 October 1492, they sighted land, at what is now San Salvador. He made four voyages in total to the New World, in the process becoming governor of the new lands before being sacked and arrested on various charges. Till the end of his days, poor Columbus thought he had reached south-east Asia and a route to India was just around the corner.

3

SEAFARERS

Columbus’ expeditions were not particularly eventful barring a few storms, but that is not why he became famous. He was also not the first to discover the American continents. Columbus is chiefly famous because, though a little weak in his mathematics, he was the first European who returned home to confirm his discoveries in the west.

‘THOSE AREN’T EUROPEANS!’ A civilisation might suddenly advance in a particular discipline far ahead of the rest of the world. Just as suddenly, silence. By the early 15th century, China was building wooden seagoing ships of such huge size that they were only surpassed elsewhere four hundred years later. On these ‘treasure ships’, led by a brilliant admiral, China mounted expeditions far across the Indian Ocean, even to Africa. Imagine you’re an African, sitting on a beach near the Cape of Good Hope in about 1407, wondering how the local cricket club is doing, things like that. Out of thin air, almost, there’s a bunch of big wooden ships on the horizon, the biggest with six masts, more than 120 metres long. There are dozens of other ships with goods, horses, marines and fresh water. ‘Impossible,’ you say, ‘Bartholomeu Dias is expected in 1488!’ Even worse, the 27,000 men who disembark speak Chinese. These huge trading ships had been docking at South Asian ports for some time. But in the early 15th century, the newly-arrived Ming Dynasty funded seven great naval expeditions, around much of their known world. 4

Led by Admiral Zheng He, these expeditions had at their heart treasure ships loaded with jade, silk and porcelain. Zheng He appears to have had a uniformly excellent time on these trips, travelling south to Indonesia, Thailand, Indian ports including Kochi and Calicut, Arabia and eastern Africa and charting the Indian Ocean’s landfalls and sea currents very thoroughly using new navigational devices. In exchange for his country’s valuable goods, he took back camels, ostriches and ivory for the Chinese nobility. The main aim behind these expeditions was trade. But it also seems that before leaving, Zheng He was told by the Emperor to see if some countries, awed by China’s naval might, would agree to become tributary nations. This second plan fell through because the expeditions were too costly to bring in any decent revenue.

5

SEAFARERS

But Zheng He, like a true pioneer, left his legacy through unofficial ways. Small, isolated communities in East Africa today claim to be descendents of his sailors. Meanwhile, for many centuries afterwards, the Chinese Muslim mosques the Admiral had built in Malaysia became temples in which Zheng He himself was worshipped. A rare instance of a traveller becoming some kind of god.

Non-fiction

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ISBN 978-81-8477-287-6

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