Dear Friends of Drive Around the World,

Drive Around the World is excited to introduce our new and improved homepage, located at,

www.drivearoundtheworld.com

An attractive new format makes navigating throughout the site easier and more exciting! The site has a brand new wing that provides up-to-date information on our location, upcoming Parkinson’s and education site visits, and links to recent news stories. CHECK IT OUT!

Greetings from the exciting city of Bangkok, Thailand! Home of the amazing jungles of Asia, booming industry, crowded streets, and oppressive humidity. Reaching this continent means that we can now exchange Australia’s dingos, kangaroos, and camels for elephants, monkeys, and Komodo dragons.

Since reaching Thailand, we have enjoyed five Parkinson’s patient visits, three Parkinson’s research site visits, and managed to give our new Take Me With You! guests, freelance writer, Sue Mead, and Land Rover communications director, Larry Rosinski, a complete Drive Around the World fieldwork experience.

During our visits we learned of the 1st Annual Parkinson’s Disease Association of Malaysia Banquet and, days later in Kuala Lampur, Todd was invited to speak at the event.

It was an amazing evening of information and entertainment that began with a lavish eight-course meal and, to our great surprise, the entertainment featured line dancing and endless karaoke ballads. All had a fantastic time.

The expedition has also encouraged a few sizable donations for our beneficiary, The Parkinson’s Institute. The most recent came from the Carolina Rover Owners Club who dedicated this years Uwharrie National Forest off-road fundraiser to Drive Around the World by sending a $1000 donation to Parkinson’s research. We would also like to recognize a contribution from DATW supporter (and Land Rover Discovery owner) Chris Baumgartner, who made a generous $1000 donation. We offer our sincere thanks to Chris and the members of the Carolina Rover Club for this wonderful showing of support. These gifts to Parkinson’s are what keep our team fired up to complete this challenging project. I continue to be moved by the generosity of our supporters back home and challenge those of you with the means to get behind this project with a per-kilometer donation. Do it because you can win a Land Rover and feel good about it because you’re helping researchers find the cure for Parkinson’s Disease.

Here’s the online donation site:

https://www.parkinsonsinstitute.org/support/drivearoundtheworld

The LONGITUDE Expedition team has successfully transited the Indian Ocean aboard the Walenius Wilhelmsen M/V TARAGO. A massive vessel, capable of holding more than 5000 vehicles, the TARAGO carried our vehicles and team from Australia to Singapore in late May.

After a full day managing paperwork and red tape at Singapore’s transportation and customs offices, the team was able to spring our Discoverys in time to spend a few days working and taking in the sights of this amazing island-city (that is also a country).

Days later we welcomed our anxiously awaited Take Me With You! guests, freelance journalist Sue Mead and Land Rover communications director Larry Rosinski to the expedition. The team was privileged to have the opportunity to kick off the Asian leg of our journey with some new friends and their time with us simply flew by. It was a great pleasure being able to share many new experiences with Sue and Larry.

After a few days of hard work in the city, we departed Singapore and crossed the border into the beautiful country of Malaysia.

There, the team enjoyed cheap fuel, good eats, and breathtaking scenery in Kuala Lampur and the tea plantations located just north of the city in the Cameron Highlands.

In the Highlands, the documentary crew filmed unbelievably picturesque scenes of colorful villages and rolling tea plantations in this amazing mountain hideaway, where countless old Land Rovers work the fields and rule the roads.

After a few memorable days in Malaysia, we braved motorbike-ridden roads and monsoon rainstorms to transit north into Thailand.

Yes, the monsoon season is upon us.

With lightening strikes that last for seconds, these thunderstorms represent some of the most extreme weather the expedition has encountered. Malaysia is also home to some of the cheapest petrol we’ve sourced and the best Tom Yum soup on Earth—all just a small reminder that, even the little things, like a great bowl of soup, have the ability to make a challenging journey a rewarding one.

Add to that a few experiences that managed to raise the little hairs on our backs! During a nighttime hike through the jungles of Malaysia, the team came face to face (within inches!) of a tree viper. Afterward, we counted our mosquito bites and picked plump, sated leeches from our ankles, then headed North to enjoy beautiful beaches and great markets in Phuket.

But perhaps the most harrowing experience of the expedition occurred when some locals with rifles decided they didn’t want us camping near their village… “You go now!” They demanded. And we went now!

From Phuket, (pronounce the name of this city wrong and your mom will wash your mouth out with soap) we drove past countless street vendors and villages to reach the booming city of Bangkok, where it seemed like all six million residents were out on a nighttime stroll through the streets.

Now, with vehicles and team secure here in Bangkok, we are busily making preparations for our expedition’s upcoming transit through Myanmar, China, and India. A challenge of a different sort faces us now—paperwork and an intense permit process that requires the diplomacy of a king and the patience of a saint.

We welcome you all to follow this expedition and travel virtually with our team as we make our way North through Asia. Our destination—the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia awaits! Reaching this milestone, another ship will deliver the expedition to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska for the long, home-stretch drive down the Dalton and Alcan Highways. So, bring yourself up to speed with our latest journal entries by visiting our journals page, here:

http://news.drivearoundtheworld.com/

Or, go direct to Australia journals

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/cat_australia_journals.shtml

Singapore journals ,

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/cat_singapore_journals.shtml

Malaysia journals ,

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/cat_malaysia_journals.shtml

and Thailand journals,

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/cat_thailand_journals.shtml .

Here’s a preview of what you will find.
Click the links to read the full story.

June 03

A Second Look at Phuket
Nancy Olson compares and contrasts her recent experience with the Drive Around the World team in Phuket with her 1999 visit to the same city as a young Captain of Marines deployed to the Western Pacific.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000748.shtml

May 31

You Go NOW! (Don’t shoot)

Neil Dana gives a blow-by-blow account of the team’s harrowing midnight encounter with gun-toting Thai bushmen in a makeshift camp.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000700.shtml

May 30

Hello, Thailand!
Take Me With You! guest and communications director for Land Rover North America, Larry Rosinski, recounts his experiences as a LONGITUDE Expedition guest through Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000699.shtml

May 28

Ancient Chinese Secret
Colin McAuliffe’s gut-splittingly hilarious account of a fully packed day in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, the height of which included team dabblings into the ancient art of cupping and leeching, as well as the discovery of a new species during a rainforest romp.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000697.shtml

May 24

Vehicles Sprung
Neil Dana explains the rigors of navigating the customs process in regulation-loving Singapore.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000693.shtml

May 19

We’re Sailing!
Todd Borgie describes the joys of first-class passage from Australia to Singapore as guests of the Norwegian captain of the M/V TARAGO, the Walenius Wilhelmsen vessel that transported vehicles and crew of the LONGITUDE Expedition across the Indian Ocean.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000689.shtml

May 18

Headed NNE at 28 knots, Indian Ocean
Adam Burgess’ trip to visit a Coast Guard recruiter as a young man foreshadows his recent experience on Walenius Wilhelmsen vessel M/V TARAGO.

http://www.bootsnall.org/datw/archives/000678.shtml

Thank you all for your continuing interest and support and please remind your friends and colleagues to visit our donations page and enter for a chance to win one of our Certified, Pre-Owned, Land Rover Discovery expedition vehicles. A donation of $10 might make you a winner and it will also help us find the cure this debilitating disease!

Please join our team by clicking here,

https://www.parkinsonsinstitute.org/support/drivearoundtheworld

Kindest Regards,

Nick