HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-03-23, Page 3'001:)R1 "IWI\IAL:SrrAft,, THURSDAY
On May 25, 1969 John Hughes of
20 Wellipgton Street in Goderich,
son'Of Dr. and Mrs. R. W: Hughes,
left home headed eastivard for a
two Month holiday in Europe. At
7:00 a.mr on the morning„, of
December 31, 1971 John arrived
,back iir Goderich, from the West.,
pn a Royal Mail 'Truck which had
picked hito uP. hitchhiking. What
4
follbsys,WiArLP0.4,,true§.14
, a 32 month -period which •took him
• around the world.
to Benghasi in time for their
wedding reh,earsal. I even stood in
for the best man."
From Alexandria it was south •
to Cairo. By this time John was
travelling with spine friends and
an AMerican and an Australian. In
'Cairo the Australian gat thrown in
jail for haying his camera out at
tho harbour. "There were a. Jot of
_ ..Rus,Sian boats and; mi`litary.,
installa.tions there," John
"It was against the law to
hitchhike in Egypt but trains were
cheap even though they Were like a
, pigpen. It only cost $5.00 for the
ride to Aswan in Southern Egypt;
which is the end of the line." ,
"People in Egypt get a reward
for turning in a spy awl one of our -
party was accused of taking a
picture Of some railway station
(which he didn't) and got thrown in
jail again. The jail was quite a
spot, not onLx the prisoners were
in rags: tiff's° were the police."
From Aswan John took" a Nile
steamer to the border of Sudan, '
then a train to Khartoum, since
there.were no roads. From here
he travelled eastward 'again
across the desert into Ethiopia.
"Things are rough iri Ethiopia
politically, or were when we were
there," John notes, "every 20 or
30 miles we were hauled off the
bus and searched. ' For some -
reasonthough only the men were
searched and the women with all
their big bundles were left alone.
Apparently they were looking for
terrbrists with bombs or weapons
but ignored the most obvious"
hiding place.''
"In Ethiopia we took a mule trip
north into the mountains, rather
off the beaten route for tOurists. '
• The peopleseem to be living in the—
early stages of civilization and
were not very familiar with.
whites. We got ourfeet kissed for
example."
We were eating mostly
sardines and riding along •we'd
throw away th,e empty cans which
our guides would pick up. After
they had several they would run
off through the hills to some,.
village and trade them for eggs
which therbrought back and sold
—We left Goderich and
travelled to Montreal, I say we
because on the first part of my two
and two thirds years abroad I was
accompanied by Bob Wallace
(alSo of Goderich)." By means of
a Russian ship the two arrived in
-England where they purchased a
car, MGB, as 1,4is,planned and
began a motor tour qf the British
Isles and the European continent.
"We went through France,
Holland and northward as far as
0, Denmark, turnekt back south and
visited France, Spain, across the
-north of Italy, into Yugoslavia
then Austria and Switzerland and
• 'enerally toured the region until
, we returned to England. As was
also the plan we shipped the car
and Bob returned home from
Scotland in Se•pteniber. I was on
my own.''
"I crossed back into France,"
John relates, -and after Working
two months , at a youth hostel
travelled to the south of Spain on
the Nlediterranean•Where I spent
Christmas and New Year's at
Torremolinos. There were
several hundred Canadians
staying in the community and one
of the main events that-winter'wag
- an east -west football game on the
beach. There were a great many
of us from eastern Canada as well
as lots from Vancouver and the
western 'provinces so we 'sort of
played the European Grey Cup.
The east Won."
, "When I left France and
cros.sed the strait of Gibraltar my
first stop was Morocco where I,
arrived through the port of C:euta
near Tangiers. On the trip to
- Casablanca, Marrakesh and Fes
one of the rides I got Was.with a
woman who worked at the South
Vietnamese Embassy there. You
meet some of the most interesting
people hitchhiking. She hadirown
up in Hanoi but following :the
F'renCh occuPation*liad lived in
'Saigon in 1954. I was invited for
supper and stayed oiernight."
9
After Moroccb John struck out
to the east and .Algerra. "Algeria
• must be one Of the best hitchhiking
• countries:in the' wOrld, "
•"fnLibya.il ran into a 131.oblem
whenl attempted to get into Egypt..
Apparently there were niilitary
installations in -the area they
didn'twant me to see. Authorities
were letting allthe Arabs through
but no Europeans."
"Getting into Libya itself
wasn't mutt' easier as I. had to
wait three weeks to get a visa.and
when,it was granted they only
allowed Me three days topass
throu'gh the ..1500 mile wide
c.ountry. The hitching was good
and I made it."
Finally in his attempts to get
into Egypt John walpsent back to
Benghasi (Libya) where he was to
catch a boat and enter the country
through Alexandria. "An 'English
couplehad picked me up .going
through Libya and l_rnade it back
.411
on t
took four days to go 200,iniles
travelling every daylight hour due
to the rainy season and theAct
theti Were no roads. We 'were.
stuck for hours at a time." ,
In .KeriYa, he the
.travelking was. still very Slow
crosing the equator and rekhing
'Nairobi. "The c,apital of Kenya is•
' a eity Much like Langan England •
ahd atter that trip.throughrainHt;,
was like reaching.day out Of the
night." '•
From Kenya it was sbuth And
westward down the Hell's Run into
Zambia t� Lusaka and then to the
village of Senanga„ Zambia -where
an aunt and uncle are working on •a
mission. "I stayed with my
relatives for a month," John
- explained. "I find it .neeessary
when travelling a great deal to
take a rest 'Strap of a fair length of
time occasionally or one loses.
interest in what is to be learned."
• Alter a stay on the mission the
Goderich traveller started off
-agaln. "I wanted to get into
Rhodesia but they demanded a
depositof $500 in case I had to bp
deported. The usual procedure if
they want to deport you is that they
just pick you up and take you to the
• CanadianEmbassy and tell them
to send you home,but in Rhodesia,
Canada .has no., diplomatic
relations. I cou1dr0 .afford the
$500 so I didn't visit Rhodesia."
Moving still further southward
John passed through Botswana,
, again by means of an arty
convoy. "I caught the trucks
without any, wait this timer he
recalls. ' .
"At one point' as we were
moving through Botswana.," John
, relates; "ahead of us a pack of six
or eight,w.ild dogs could be seen
and as we got closer they ran off
leaving freshly killed,
• Wildabeast. The men with whom
was travelling got yery excited
about it and when I asked, as best
as I could due to the language'
problem,wbat all the fuss was
about the officer I was riding with
just .said; good Meat, good meat.
Sureenough they load,ed it on.one
, of the trucks and we ate part Of it
for thepoon meal and more in the •
evening, it was ,quite good."
"Since we didn't speak the
language we took this trip thinking
it wound up in some village or,
town where we eould titiy sUpPlieS
but, learned later it was a
mountain climbing. venture. 'We,
'had mistaken -the name of the
__mountain for the name of a
village." •
"Onlhe return trip we hadn't
-hadany eggs for some time so by r
sign language, flapping our arms,
• squawking and showing the shape
.bteggs with our fingers We. tried
to get the „message across to our
;guides. Finally one seemed • to
understand and took off running
across the hills.",
. "The group of us kept on
moving slowly and the guide was
gone for abOut ,half a 'day but *
'returned late in the evening
bringing 22 eggs and a .c4cken.
The bidding 'd'pened and we
managed to obtainthe whole lot,
chicken inclUfled, for a cheap T
shirt."
• South from Ethiopia John •
travelled into Kenya. "The
longest wait of my trip, lasting
five days, took place trying to get
• into Kenya. Finally I managed to
gelanarrny convoy going south. It,
•
Johttnnesburg, Cape Town and to
°Durban.. "In, Durban," Min
explains, "I had writte4 to Dr.
.Kentdn.La.mbert, ,whO is now in
• Goderioh but at that time was
Working in a hopital there,..with•
he hope of finding a place to Stay
but when I arrived. it 'was. 'Obvious
. they were ail away so I itist spread
.out my sleeping bag en the 'porch ,
--and-bedded..down."
,."In the middle or) the, night
'SomeoneWoke me up. I thotight it
Was the Lamberts hut couldn't see
for a flashlight in my eyes so I
undertook t� explain who I was and
about the letter I had Written
which only confused matters, It
was the police again.."
Moving further up the caa.st
th,rough-Swaiiland to Pretoria and
filen Mozambique John was given.
a ride by a -man who he later
learned was a member of the
Portugese Secret Service. "He
told me this story about another
hitchhiker he had picked up who he
claimed,. tried to rob him. The
officer's Story was that he ha,d
, shot and killed him with the gun he
had under his Coat. Gives you •a
'great feeling." .
The next weeks saw John travel •
to Malawi through Tanzainia,
back to Kenya and Mombassa,
then to Uganda where he.saw Lake
Victoria and back to Mombassa;
"Some friends I had met
earlier made arrangements to
rent a Cottage in the Seychelle
Islands. We•were to meet there
but the. shipping comPany .had
stopped selling third classrates
to Europeans and I couldn't afford
sedahe. class, After scouting
around I went to the yacht *club. and
, with some persuasion a captain
let me work on a baa.t that took tne
-Feic . •..
out to -the islands on.a week-long From ThaIhitchhiked
-
cruiseback to ,Bankok and then to
."
•
"0.n the Seychelles we rented a Singapore in five days travelling
time. I. was very. taken .by the
cottage for $6.00 per month af the
oriental hospitality but was
beach andhired a cook who Came
in twice a day for $4.00 per menthrunning short of money; In Penang.
Malaysia 1'stayed in a hotel that
,We caught our own fish and the
was so had the rats ate part of a
natives brought vegetables which
we ix -night for pennies'
note book 1 had left lYing on the •
—..•
'Mot' beside thy bed." •
When it was 'time, to move on
Reaching Singapore john was
again- John managed to secure
broke. could have, ohtained
third class passage on. another
tx ''
passenger tine to Bombay India... workinAustralia hu couldnt
"I met a Swiss traveller anew'e afford the fare. I didn't want to
...Worked in Bombay asmove write home for money because I
extras: Movies thake up one of the had this thing about doing if 0-1/_. inv
own so'lloOked for work.'
biggest inclu-stries in .India. In
Batab,ay alone there are 500 'After two weeks of looking John
movie companieS,John finally'.got employment with an
explains .''''
American ' ExPlExploration. ,
Company, and wasoon on a. Plane
From 13ombay. our globetrotter
toSydney Australn He spent one
took the train to the Taj Mahal at'
day in Australia and then took. a
Agra and then hitched to Delhi and
Kashmir. —Hitching..was slow in company ship to Wellington New
- Indiaand-actitallymore.expensive ;Ze.a.land....wher.e: he worked. for
than taking the tra',in since one has \three months hut got enough time
,to pay for accommodation." off to tour all of New Zealand
"At one place on tlis' trip some Pitching'
farmers gave me a ride, They New Zealandris ver, friendly ,
• were very welleducated. 1 stayed to Canadians hut vou have to• make
-on their farm fbr three days.'' • Sure they ktrow you are Canadian
November 13 brought John to and notAmerican they aren't so'
-
Lucknow wherelie slayed .at the friendly to U.S. visitors.
..Sheik temple during a tithe when: - The nextgom patty contract was
, various religious* .holidays were in Taiwan, The crew left May 17
inprpgress.. "It was ajbusy time "arid arrived in port there June 26
in the region with the furl moon, a aftecr a week-lohg stopover in New
Hindu 'holiday and the' floods in , Guinea. • ,
Pakistan," John recalls,. "For the riext five months we
. "Calcutta .has a rather - worked in the FOrMOSa Straits. at
interesting park .in the centre of times within sight of Mainland
the City, where a. flower bed used China. We were under heavy
to be, there is now just an area of military proc
holes. Venders sell peanuts to "Weals() worked for a time in
feed rats living in theseholes." the East China Sea and at one time
"While irrCalcutta I toured the were hit by a three day typhoon
University as well and in the hour, When all we Could do was keep Our
I was on campus I remember -.boy'', into the wind and ride the
Aeeing' .three different waves.V..While working on the oil
demonstrations," John realls. ship John earned about $550 per
C
The 100 miletrip from Calcutta month. . •
_to East Pakistan cost about three Pl was in Taiwan.at the time of
thetistaric United Nations vote
'Riipees or 30 cents. "I \vent And
1.-7-ona.c.cepting-1?ect-C1in
4
"When we • arrived in.
GaberOnes I had'one of the more
unusual expOriences of my trip.
My ride dropped me off in front of.
‘the police station at about 7;00
a.m..on a Sunday morning. Going
on the age old rule that the'
policeman is your friend I walked
°
in; and asked the officer behind a
desk.if I could leave rny knapsack
-.there-for -safe keeping." -
John goes on, "He asked me
who I was or what I was doing,
something to that effect anyway,
and I said I was atourisf. This put
. him into a -real flap. He took me
into an office and told Me to sit
down and,wait until the officer in
charge came in. I found out
*shortly. that he would not' be
around until nanday morning. I •
kept protesting but he made tpe
stay put telling me I wasn't going
anywhere.'''
• "Fortunately the Officer did .
dropbylaterinthe morning and I
was calledinto.h.is.office. He was
• sitting behind a desk with
passport and asked, "Did ,you
say • you were
a terrorist?" I left shortly
after a brief explanation." .
From Gaberones on to
'
John Hughes, who spent 32Inonths hitch hiking around the world
between May of1969 and De6ember of 1971., is seen with a map he,.
WITH DRESSING,_
ROAST PORK
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The Middle Man All Our Meat Is 'Government inspected
$ •
-
reduction so I made the trip for seemed fo care, or eveh know
about 15 cents." about, what. was going on."
-
"In Dacca:: Jo.hn relates, "I November 18 John flew to Seoul
spent the afternoon with a crew of Korea and.then hitched through
American-- GI.'s who were , South 'Korea. "The country is
.
yery poor !let starting to show a
working with the airlift ot food to
number of sieis of development,"
the starving people in flood
strickencareas of Pakistan and I he notes.
. '
was there during the fateful FromPusan Korea our
election that eventually led to the -.4 traveller took the ferry to
war" Simonoseki Japan then hitched
.,
From Dacca John" flew to north along ,the east coast and
Bankok with a stop over in stayed for a time in Hiroshima. ,
"A ride from Osaka to Kyoto
Rangoon..."Burnia is 'one of my
favoritcountries" he notes. gave me $8.00 to take the train.
'e ,
Christmas 1970 was pent in
didn't want the.money and kept
'S
insisting it wasn'tnecessary but
Vientianetaos, half way around
the globe from Spain where the guy shoved it into my hand and
Christmas 1969 had been spent. said it w -as a Christmas present.
' 'a
"We roasted a pig on an open fire dont suPpose he was even
Christian but took the money
for Christmas dinner. There
were absolutely no sign 8 of since I didn'tlWant to offend him.
Christmas at all since Laos is On the train a student gave me
mostly.Buddist." Christmas was directions to the Kyoto hostel and
spent with Other travellers of then came back saying he would
French, German, Dutch, English • take a day off school and ,show me
and Swiss origins*. the city. Those are good examples
The next leg of John's journey joafptahhe.,,hospitality I enjoyed' in
involved a river boat trip 200 'From Tokyo John crossed the
ile
ms doWn the Mekong `River to
Thakek, which is, about 30 miles mount 'n t I ok up a youth he
from the Ho Chi Nfin trail. "Here worketallws'tei °Fiance two' years
westayed in ana.bandoned French •
before and thnen siayed in Tokyo
Hotel." • With his Parents for a week. "The
Japanese hospithlity was great."
"Tlie peopleiti Laos are, very - '`I flew from‘.Tokya on'
poor but sem happy and content December 19, and arrived in
living on the Subsistance level. ;Hawaii December 18, because of
TAy,are not politically more Of the international date line. I met
-..what is happening around thetn tOme people and they gave me a
andbovitheir tate it being sealed - Dike to stay."
by others." •
After spevling time ,on the
•
beaches of Ha wail 101111,110w, th
Vancouver; and illTiV,(1 10
blizzafd'. -1 had ho-li tlirnrr
people all over pie, world how
C a n d had cold 1111 I' S
eVeryWher0 lait io
, alu-i)10;(1". th
joke was on no,.
'Sine-e1was travelling in warm
countries all 1 had was a sw eater
and a light jacket so thiS ruv trim
a rag .ctrinpanv heard 1 vas
hitchihg to Prince Georve and.1112
through some ot his s,t nit and gave
used to outline the route When he told his story
reporter.—staff photo
f"
Mean old army Great C.O;ft It was
a per 14-.,c,t lit
-About 1:004 .111on,the morning
(.1fl.fe.fmber 21 John a rrive71 ih
•P 1.10ce GeoiTe. He was retunt(.,(1
Ins family who were 5;:pendirig
Christmas at his stSte.r• s-Inune in
Prirfee George.
• Nly pa rents•thought I would" fly
home or takea 'train bail 1 had
lian up about" hitchhiking ar011pt
th WO1'111 So I started out to c rosS
Canada with my thumb. It ha(Jbeen
o a, Signal Star
IIa 11-a tow days
beforv and the • mornino:r. I, left,
G4V)1124' it Wa'S 30 ,flelow
Zero ••
•
. Four days later, the inh.rning of
December 31a niail truck picked
.John up and he was lye‘k in
goderich. In all he had visited 43 . •
vOuntries and managed to live,
during the time he was travjdling.
on onlv'100 per month.
•
TravellerJohiniughes can be seen in the foreground of thi-s photo taken during the time ne workea tor
an AmeriOn Oil exploration company on board one of their ships in the New Zealand and China Se.a
areas.
World travel I er John Hughes thowt sorneof the ,mani,souveni rsent home at ve Hoot titn*s freth
wide range of countries during hit thiee year'* hitch hiking around the globe': John refereed is
boderich after 32 mbilths abroad, in betember of last year. *tett photo