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November 20th, 2008
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Around Town

Not-so easy rider

By Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 10th, 2008 issue

Naive? Perhaps. A little crazy? Probably. Committed? Definitely.

Jeffrey Polnaja has been on the road since April 23, 2006, riding his motorcycle through 68 countries with more on the horizon. All told, he seeks to travel 330,000 kilometers, the equivalent of circumnavigating the planet eight times, and his goal is to promote world peace. Polnaja rode through Prague last week on his BMW, meeting with reporters at his native Indonesian Embassy in Smíchov.
If the facts that he sold his successful rubber business and sees his wife and two kids only once every six months are not proof of his strong belief in the mission, then listening as he says, “Why can’t we all just live in peace?” one minute and, “Of course I met bad people and they robbed me, but that is part of the trip,” the next — without any sense of irony — seals the deal.
Highway robbery — in the literal sense — seems among the easiest situations he has had to deal with.
There was the time he was hit by a car and left for dead in the middle of the desert. Making matters worse, his GPS system was destroyed, forcing him to wander aimlessly for three days in Baluchistan, a lawless, barren area in southwest Pakistan that proves difficult to traverse — for Polnaja recently, and awhile back for a guy named Alexander the Great. Compounding things was that pesky problem of the numerous armed separatist movements in the area and that irritating clan called al-Qaida who has set up shop in the region’s capital, Quetta. Any potential fear of armed dissidents was likely tempered at the time by the more pressing concerns of the circling pack of vultures overhead and a broken hand.
Riding through Afghanistan, locals hidden behind a roadblock took three rifle shots in Polnaja’s direction. Once he reached their roadblock, the explanation was simple enough, with the Afghans explaining: “Sorry, we shot at you because we didn’t know you.”
Luckily, being an Indonesian riding a motorcycle through a Central Asian war zone in the name of peace was good enough to pass. (One can’t help but wonder what language was used in this exchange: Indonesian? Pashtun? Two-fingered peace signs?)
Stranded by a landslide in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan, with rubble covering a road that was “like a dragon,” Polnaja slept on a hillside and woke in the middle of the night to a strange noise: the friendly neighborhood bear. Needless to say, sleep came difficult that night despite being in the happiest country in Asia according to a 2006 Business Week poll.
To be sure, not all was life-threatening on this pilgrimage for peace. Polnaja, 46, was rescued from Baluchistan by a truck driver and Iranians fixed his motorcycle for free. He befriended a bike-loving sheikh from Dubai and spent three nights in the 321-meter-tall Burj Al Arab Hotel. There were chat shows in Saudi Arabia and press conferences in Moscow.
On his way to Poland after Prague, Polnaja has yet to put rubber to road in the Americas. He is toying with the idea of getting to the Western Hemisphere by way of Siberia and across to Alaska next summer — pending the proper paperwork. He has a goal to visit more than 100 countries, has already crossed Asia and North Africa and is presently taking on Europe.
As admirable as the enthusiasm was when Polnaja recited the lyrics to “We Are the World” or told stories of peace over the silky sounds of Yanni, it was hard to overlook the gendarme escort he needed to cross Algeria or the pre-trip martial arts training he underwent.
The odyssey is to last another three years, but Polnaja’s intended destination is likely to remain more than few kilometers out of reach.
Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com

Benjamin Thomas Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com


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Reader's comments:

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[17:01 11/09/2008] : really brave man :) two thumbs for him :) bravo!!!
polishman
warszawa
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