BY TOM CARR
Special to the Record-Eagle
November 02, 2008 12:00 am TRAVERSE CITY -- Bob Downes pedaled a 20-year-old mountain bike throughout Europe and Asia about a year ago and wrote a book about his experiences. "Planet Backpacker," published by The Wandering Press, is due out early this month. The book will retail for $13.95. "It had always been my dream to travel around the world," said Downes, 56, who co-publishes the alternative newspaper The Northern Express. Downes made the trek alone with a backpack and a backpack-size guitar to experience parts of the world he'd never visited. He took four-and-a-half months to make the trip from September 2007 to January 2008. He says he wrote the book in 100 Internet cafes around the world and he writes of his experiences and of the interesting people he met throughout the trip. He started in Europe, bicycling along the west coast of Ireland, across England and on a bike trail along the Danube River from Germany to Vienna. "Bike mechanics here told me I'd never make it," he said. He left his wheels at a hostel in Prague, so others could use it. Downes took a plane from Budapest to Egypt, where he hiked around by foot and on to India, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Carrying the guitar with him gave him a little cache, he said. "You're not so much a middle-aged weirdo, but you're a middle-aged, guitar-toting weirdo," he said. Downes had many memorable moments including when he taught people in a train station in India to play the rock classic, "That's Alright Mama," on the guitar. "That was really a blast," Downes said. Downes, who plays guitar and sings in the local rock band The Dawn Patrol, also jammed with a native drum band while floating down the Nile River on a felucca with a Nubian crew. He also found there were "thousands of backpackers in the Third World, but practically no Americans." "It was kind of a shocking thing," he added. "Where are all the Americans?" His wife Jeannette joined him for two months in Thailand. "That was my Christmas present," he said. He had his picture taken dozens of times and rode an elephant in India. He had some humorous adventures, including some of the cuisine that was presented to him. He tells of a restaurant in Saigon that served minced snake, frog stomach and a private part of the billy goat's anatomy. It was the trip of a lifetime and Downes had dreamed of it for years. "I didn't want to be on my death bed thinking I never did that," he said. In the book, Downes expands on columns he wrote for the Express while on the trek. He started the publication in his kitchen in 1991 with co-publisher George Foster. In addition to his experiences, he shares what he learned, particularly while being in cities like Hanoi and Bombay, which are worlds apart from northern Michigan. "You could get shook up, but I'd tell myself it's no different to them than being at the farmers market in Traverse City is to me," he said. Downes plans a book release party at 5 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Right Brain Brewery. He will have a book-signing and presentation from 1-3 p.m. Nov. 29 at Horizon Books.
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