FEATURE
life
Nick and Carolyn
Pointing, travelling from
the Isle of Wight to
Australia in their Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang replica,
couldn’t wait to shake the
dust, dirt and corruption
of India off their feet
By Roz Whistance
TO Nick, India had been “colourful”:
to Carolyn, it had been filthy. Constant
delays in securing Chitty’s container
shipment demanding repeated
backhanders to everyone involved,
flying out of India was memorable. Nick
strapped himself in and the seat moved
around like it was on casters. He asked to
move to a seat that was screwed down!”
They survived the flight, and stepped into
a world which was comfortingly familiar.
From Kuala Lumpur they travelled to the
Malaysian rainforest, then on to Burma
where, in Rangoon on the Thai border,
the blatancy of the day-to-day corruption
was breathtaking: “An entry visa cost
The Island's most loved magazine
five US dollars – and you have to buy a
crisp clean five dollar note for ten dollars
before you can get in!”
Some trips were a notch on their tourist
belts – the road to Manderlay, the Bridge
over the River Kwai. But at Angkor
Wat the maimed victims of the Khmer
Rouge regime gave them a wakeup call.
“The children survived by ‘working’ the
tourists in the temples,” says Nick. “Two
little girls, not more than five or six,
badgered us to buy postcards. In the end
I bought one from one of them and the
other just said ‘But what about me?’ It
really tugged at the heartstrings.”
Chitty went on to clear custom at the
Malaysian city of ‘Port Kelang’, prior
to deep cleaning and fumigation in
preparation for down under the couple
decided to savour the capital.
“Kuala Lumpur was clean, it didn’t
smell and they drive on the correct side
of the road!” It was early December and
the city was decked out with Christmas
decorations – it was the first taste of a
familiar culture they’d seen for months.
Western style retail was overwhelming in
this incredibly friendly Muslim country.
And it appealed to Carolyn’s famished
shopping instinct. “What a city! The
shopping was fantastic, a monorail runs
throughout, and it was so cheap that we
could stay in a hotel while we waited for
Chitty.”
One particular shop naturally stood out
for them. They made a bee-line for the
Marks & Spencer franchise (Nick is an
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