CYCLING FOR PEACE
1. Introduction
It was a unique and memorable experience when I participated with 38
other cyclists from eight countries to bike from Seoul to Beijing from October 12 to 19 of 2007 to
promote peace through tourism. The Event, officially designated ‘Peace through Tourism: 2007 Seoul
Beijing Bicycle Tour’ was organized by Japan Airlines in collaboration with
Korean Bicycle Association, PABLE and travel agents in China, Harijin Travel
and Shanyang Overseas International
Travel Service, in conjunction with the 15th General Assembly
of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO)
held in Beijing starting from October 20. This bicycle tour is in its third year – the first being a ride from
Seoul to Osaka in 2005 and the
second was a ride from Beijing
to HuhHot in Inner Mongolia in 2006.
According to Kazuaki Saiga, Vice President (Industry Relations),
Japan Airlines Co. Ltd and Chairman of the Organising Committee, the Event was
first mooted to promote sustainable tourism, bringing people from the regions
of China, Japan and Korea and other cyclists from other countries to visit the
many attractive tourism destinations along the cycling routes and experience
mixing together in the spirit of tourism, sports and peace. Saiga himself is a keen cyclist having picked up the sport when he
was posted as a General Manager of Japan Airlines in Milan, Italy
from 1981 to 1985 where he bought a Campaniolo and Guelchiotti bicycles.
2.
Participation
The international participants represented Korea (12
participants), Japan
(10), China
(7), USA
(5), Thailand
(2), Canada
(1), England
(1), Malaysia
(1). The youngest amongst the cyclists was Choo Jae Ho, 16 who is a
student from Korea
and the oldest at 75 is Masayuki Hatano a retired civil engineer from Sacramento, California. Many were in the 40 to 50 age group. Masayuki Hatano, known to the participants as Mas, has been riding
since he was 63, largely motivated by an intense desire to keep healthy and ‘be
active to keep alive’. He rides five days
a week covering 70 to 80km on each ride.
He is also active with voluntary work with the Railroad Museum
in Sacramento. Jae Ho, the baby in the group became
interested in cycling through his mother who is a member of PABLE. PABLE is the acronym for ‘Promotion Association
of Bicyling for a new Life Environment’. PABLE as co-sponsor of the event sent in the largest number of
participants – 12, and eight of them are middle aged ladies. Established in 1993 to promote environmental
protection, the Organisation has a membership of 8000 largely made up of ladies. Members have
organized biking tours to Netherlands,
France,
United Kingdom,
New Zealand’
– quipped Mrs. Yong Hye Choi a business woman with interest in restaurants and
property development. She also rode in
the bicycle tour.
Many participants are professionals
- David Loutzenheiser is a transportation planner from Boston, Andrew Chandler who is 43 years old
is in marketing in Sacramento
California, Tachibana Mayumi,from
Japan,
is an art designer. A teacher, an engineer, a few in the corporate sector and
some housewives were also among the participants.
I was invited to represent Malaysia by
Asian Overland Service Tours &Travel.
I was not too sure of my credentials why Anthony Wong, the Managing
Director of the company has nominated my name.
He is aware that I am active in a nature conservation organization ,
Malaysian Nature Society, a biking enthusiast and continue to be involved in the corporate sector serving as
director on a few boards of companies. I had some difficulties in getting a
visa to China
as the Chinese Counsellor office insisted that I could only participated with
the Event if I obtained an invitation from the Organisers from China. The letter from Japan Airlines was inadequate
for this purpose. I was also concerned
that urgent corporate matters might force me not to go.
It was a relief when I finally
boarded the Malaysian Airlines plane, MH66, which departed very early on Sunday morning (October 12) for Seoul. We landed at Incheon
– Seoul International Airport
at 0840 hr, a six and half hour flight. Monitoring the panel in the plane which provides the
record of the flight details, Incheon is only one meter above sea level,
located on Geongjongdo
Island which is connected
to the mainland by an expressway. It appeared to have been built on reclaimed
land. It was an entirely different scenery from what I experienced during my
first visit to Korea
in the mid 1990s. Then I landed at Kimpo Airport. I made my first trip to the country when I
accompanied a trade mission to market Malaysian cocoa beans to the chocolate
manufacturers.
3.
Cycling and Tourism Attractions in Korea
In Seoul, participants from overseas were accommodated
at the Olympic Parktel, a hotel located within the Olympic Park. The Park was crowded with young people who
were participating at the International Cyber Games. I shared a room with an American and
Canadian. We woke up early on Monday morning
(October 13). It was raining and the
morning temperature was a chilling 17C.
After a simple brief opening ceremony we departed from Olympic Park
winding ourselves through the southern part of Seoul city towards Han
River. The cyclists were
led by the police escort followed by bikers carrying the flags of the host
countries – China,
Japan
and Korea
accompanied by 40 cyclists who are members of
PABLE. The cyclists from
each country carried three small flags –
the respective national flag, flag of the WTO and Japan Airlines flag, which were tied to a
small aluminium rod fixed to the rear of the bike. It was a colourful scene. We rode for quite some time along
the Han River, ending our ride at Yeouido Park covering a distance of 25km in one
and a half hours. The second part of the
biking took place at the later part of the day, covering nine km over a hilly
terrain to reach Jeongdeungsa
Temple. We visited two sites on the first day of the
tour – Agibong Observatory and Kangwhayun
Museum.
The Observatory at Agibong was built
in 1988 and named after a youth, Agi, in a Korean legendary love story. The Observatory is located on the southern
side of the Han River overlooking a community
in North Korea. A few sites on the Demilitarized zones – Imgingak Park, Dorasan Station, Dora Observatory
– are popular tourist destinations to get some glimpses of life in North Korea. The Kangwhayun Museum
houses artifacts and exhibits on the early history of Korea from
prehistoric time up to the Goryeo and Joseon periods. It also exhibited pictures of the dolmens,
which were tombs chieftains of the tribal society in the Bronze Age.
We stayed for the night in several
rooms, allocated to us, built as part of the Jeongdeungsa Buddhist
Temple complex. According to the chief monk who welcomed us,
the temple is the second oldest in Korea founded during the reign of
King Sosurin of Goguryeo period by the priest named Ado. We were awakened at 06 00 hrs on the
second day (Tuesday Oct. 14) of the ride. After a vegetarian menu breakfast, we
walked down the steep hill with our bicycles.
With a big group, any effort to ride down this hill would be
dangerous. We left the town of Kangwhagun for the port
city of Incheon. We were riding in the country side with paddy
fields on both sides of the road, averaging around 17 km per hour. We covered 54 km arriving at this bustling
port at around 13 00 hrs. After checking
in our luggage and bicycles, the ferry departed from Huadong/Incheon Ferry
Terminal for Dalian. It was a 17 hour journey in the Yellow Sea. We
arrived at 0830 hrs Dalian
time (an hour later than Incheon). The
Ferry ride provided the opportunity for the participants to be interacting and
exchanging news over the whole range of topics from health, politics and
economics.
4.
Cycling and Tourism Attractions in Liaoning Province, North-east China
Dalian is a sprawling city with a population
of 5.7 million. It was first built by
the Russian thus its name which, in Russian, means a distant city. The second phase of its development was
undertaken by the Manchurians and the third phase by the Chinese. We had a brief tour of the city stopping at
the Tiger Beach Park. Dalian’s
economy is driven by heavy industries such as ship building but the planners
are pushing for tourism taking advantage of its many natural attractions - the sea, the forests, the islands and beaches.
After a heavy lunch at the
Restaurant located in the Dalian TV Tower Complex, it was difficult to get
started to ride again. From the village of Pico, we cycled in relatively flat
region for 47km, passing through many farms with paddy, maize and fruit
orchards. Farmers were seen selling
their fruits - persimmon, pears, apples and cherries – by the roadside. We were
scheduled to bike for a distance of 76 km but as dusk set in, we had to stop.
We were accommodated at a Zuanghe Hotel that night..
We started early (0745 hrs) on the
fourth day of the tour (Thursday Oct. 16) meandering our way through the early
morning traffic of Zuanghe on the coastal road heading for Dandong.
Traffic was especially heavy and on this route I observed drivers have
little regards for others using the road.
We were riding through a farming community, passing horse carts, small
villages with people waving at us as we passed by. The main agricultural activities appeared to
be rice and maize farming with fruits orchards. The livestock industry is also important.
We covered 70km of ride that day.
It was the longest distance I have cycled in a single ride – a record of
some sort to me. We arrived in Dandong at around 1330 hrs. It was on this stretch of route that the
front tyre of my bike punctured but it was repaired in a few minutes by the technical
support group. Tyre puncture was the most frequent problem
among the cyclists during the tour.
The afternoon tour took us to Yalu River
and Tiger Hill, the eastern most point of the Great Wall of
China. The Yalu River
is the border between China
and North Korea. A bridge, bombed by the Americans, remains as
a reminder of the Korean War in 1950s. Adjacent
to it is another bridge, that spans the river, which serves as one of the
communicating land links between China and North Korea. The boat cruise took us close to the shores
of North Korea
to have a little glimpse of life there.
I was fascinated to visit the
eastern most section of the Great wall of China,
one of the great wonders of the world .
I had the opportunity to see the Beijing
section in my earlier visits to China.
We were hosted to dinner by the
Deputy Mayor of Dandong,
who, in her brief speech, indicated that
the Liaoning Provincial Government, plans to develop the golden triangle area
made up of the cities of Dalian,
Dandong and Shenyang, as a tourism
destination. In my view, Liaoning Province has a great potential to
attract visitors as it has many attributes that will draw visitors. The Liaoning Tourism Brochures listed many
places of interest, among them are historical sites – The Great Wall, landmarks
of the earlier imperial dynasties – Qin, Han, Liao, Ming – Shenyang Imperial
Palace; the seas – Yellow and Bohai Seas with the many coastal islands; mountains, caves and unique geological
formations; special festival organized on an annual basis – Dalian
International Fashion Festival, Dalian Acacia Festival. Fushan Mt. Qian
International Festival, Fushu Manchu Folk Customs Festival, Jinzhou Folk Culture Tourist Festival. We stayed
at Yalu River Hotel.
The ride out of Dandong towards Shenyang was at a
blistering pace starting at 0800 hrs being led by a police escort vehicle
through the busy streets of the city.
Just at the outskirt of Dandong
20km away was a steep hill – that was the challenging stretch of road. The Dandong
– Fencheng ride was through hilly and mountainous areas and though only 60km,
it was the most energy sapping section in the entire tour.
The afternoon tour took us to Mt. Fenghuan
region in Benxi
to visit the water cave. The cave is a
huge aqueous karst formation, estimated at 700 million years old, older than
the oldest cave systems in Malaysia, the
geological formation of Langkawi. The
river that meanders through is large, deep and wide stretching over the length
of 2.8km with the average depth of 1.5m and the deepest point reaches seven
metres. It is an awesome river course
with three gorges and many sharp turns and twists, thus also called ‘Nine
Zigzags of Galaxy’ On both sides of the
river, there are an estimated 60 unique rock formations with such exotic names
as Palace of Fairies, Heavenly Pond, Hanging Tower.
It was dark by the time we reached Shenyang. According to our tour guide, the city has a population of 7.2
million made up of 26 ethnic groups. The
Chinese, Manchurians and Koreans are the dominant ones. A river traverses through the city and from
the sky, it appears like a blue dragon, a symbol of protection and prosperity
for its inhabitants. Among the Chinese, Shenyang is well-known
for three things – bicycles, wide roads and many traffic lights at the
intersections. Examining the tourist
brochures, Shenyang
has many attractions – Imperial
Palace, Botanical Garden,
Doughing Park, Fuling Tomb, Zhaoling Tomb, History Museum.
However, we were in a brief transit in the city. After a quick dinner we were transported to
the railway station and hurriedly we moved through the thousand of travellers
and revelers to board the rail coach to Beijing. The train punctually left Shenyang at 2125 hrs.
The rail appears to be an efficient
and well managed transport system in China, if I could assess from this
brief experience. The passengers were
courteously ushered to their respective coaches with a guard looking after each
coach. I shared with five other
colleagues in a six bed compartment. The
linen is clean and the light provided at the end of the bed was
functional. The toilet and the dressing
table was regularly cleaned. Sharp at
2200 hrs the light was switched off and surprisingly inspite of the usual noise
and sound of the moving train I slept well and was awake fresh. It was at 0730 hrs we arrived at the Beijing
Railway Station. It was Saturday (Oct
18) morning.
5.
Cycling and Tourism Attractions in Beijing
We checked in the hotel, had breakfast
and after freshening up, we were again on the bus by 1100 hrs. It was going to be a cycle free day as the
day’s schedule is sightseeing and a short shopping tour. It was bright and sunny as we headed for the
Tian An Men Square. Our first
destination was the Forbidden City. Though this tour brought me to Beijing for the third
time, for some reasons, the visit to this world heritage attraction has eluded
me. I therefore looked forward to the
visit. The Square was crowded as it was
a Saturday and Beijing
is celebrating its 850 years of its founding.
At the same time the 15th General Assembly of the WTO was
being held in the city, with many events being organized in conjunction with
the Assembly.
The Forbidden
City built over the period 1406 – 1420 is actually the palace of
the emperors of the Ming and Ong dynasties in China. The complex palatial structures are divided
into the outer court made up of several halls where the emperors held important
ceremonies and the inner court were the living quarters are sited. A total of
24 emperors lived in the palace. These
ancient buildings portray the intricale early Chinese architecture and are being
protected as a world heritage site.
After late lunch and shopping at the
Friendship Store we headed to the next attraction – The Ming Tombs. The Tombs are the mausoleums of thirteen
emperors located at Changping – Beijing. It was built in the Yongle Ming Dynasty in
1409. The fascinating thing about the
mausoleums is the fact that they were constructed deep underground (50m) with
the paraphernalia of governance such as marble thrones and other precious
possessions buried together.
We were caught in the extremely busy
traffic of Beijing
heading for our hotel. It was the
traditional Beijing
duck dinner that night .
We were up early on the last day of
the Bicycle tour (Sunday Oct. 19). The
Seoul Beijing Bicycle tour group was given a place of honour in the Beijing
International Cultural Tourism Festival 2007 parade organized in conjunction
with the 15th General Assembly of WTO to promote the 2008 Olympic game and tourism. We were on the parade ground at around 0730
hrs preparing for the final arrangement for the parade made up of cultural
performances, school bands, motor vehicle floats depicting the cultural
heritage of China. The ceremony started at 0900 hrs with
speeches from the mayor of Beijing,
an official of the Chinese Ministry of Tourism and the Director General of WTO.
The 1.5km slow ride in the parade
was cheered by a huge crowd lining both sides of the broad street, made up of
school children in their smart track suit uniforms of various colours. I was touched by the atmosphere at the
parade, realising that, in this small world of ours, guided by a simple
principle of mutual respect for each other, inspite of the cultural socio-religious
differences, we could link our hands of friendship together, assist one another
and living sustainably to make this planet of ours such a happy and wonderful
place to live in. The many wise words of
our beloved former Prime Minister, Tun Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who has
retired recently, advocating this approach of living, was an inspiration to my
participation in this Bicycle Tour.
6.
Concluding Remarks
This
bicycle tour was organized to facilitate, in a small way, towards achieving
this dream of building a prosperous, peaceful, harmonious and happy world as we linked the hands of the various ethnic with different religion, language, cultural background to promote the 2008 Olympic Games and tourism . I feel it has met its
desired objectives. To me it was a unique
and exciting experience – unique in the sense that I have not riden this long
distance before; riding in a company seven different nationalities with a range of ages from
sixteen to seventy five; traveling in different mode of transportation –
bicycles, ferry, truck, bus and train; touring many exotic and beautiful
destinations.
For the opportunity to spend a very
unique, exciting and happy seven days experience in Northwest Korea and Northeast
China, I wish to express my appreciation
to Mr Anthony Wong and George Skadiang, The Group Managing Director and General
Manger respectively, of Asian Overland Service Tours & Travel for having
the confidence in my cycling power and nominated my participation of this tour
to the Organisers. Also many thanks to
the national courier, MAS for substantially subsidizing the air fare from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul and the return trip
from Beijing to
Kuala Lumpur.
_____________________________________
This article was published by The Star newspaper on January 5, 2008. The article is devoid of photos which usually accompany my writings as the picture file could not be traced.
Posted to this blog on June 23, 2013
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