She travelled the world for a year and conquered fear

Kuala Lumpur: Anita Yusof, 52, recalls experiencing extreme distress a few years ago while on a solo motorcycle adventure around the world and camping in Costa Rica, Central America.

The Ipoh Teacher Training Institute (IPG) lecturer said she was food-deprived for 48 hours because she was unable to open a kitchen kit box that contained her food supplies.

“I tried lubricating the keyhole with WD40, pressing the lid hard, basically anything that I could think of, but nothing worked. I started to regret my idea of camping at Lake Arenal,” she told Bernama after delivering a talk entitled ‘Conquering Your Fears’ at Open University Malaysia (OUM) recently.

Sleep wouldn’t come either because of the anxiety and hunger, but thank God, a kind soul came to her rescue.

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Through the terrifying ordeal, she said, she learnt how to overcome fear.

Ever since that fateful day, too, during her 370-day ‘Global Dream Ride’ which began in Seattle, the United States in September 2015 and took her across four continents, 40 countries and through 65,369km of road astride her Yamaha FZ150i, she makes certain her survival box – and tyres – are always in good condition.

The adventure-seeker mum of two grown sons and first Malaysian Muslim woman to travel the world solo also told of a frightening occurrence during a 10-day journey from Mendoza to El Calafate in Argentina (3,400km) when strong winds made it difficult for her to manoeuvre her bike and keep it upright.

“The wind started to blow furiously after 9.30am and got stronger by midday. I was told (later) that it happens because of winds from the Pacific Ocean reaching the Andes and colliding,” she said. – Bernama

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The hairy moments haven’t deterred the GIVI ambassador, however, who said she would love to go back to South America “to see the beautiful country again on my bike”.

Anita, from Batu Pahat, Johor, said of her motivation: “I learned many things along the way and met nice people who helped me. My motto for always is DUIT: Doa, Usaha, Ikhtiar, Tawakal (Prayer, Effort, Endeavour and Faith in God).” – Bernama

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