Globe-trotting S'pore aunties swam with sharks in Belize, almost hit moose with their van in Alaska

Christie Chiu
The Straits Times
Oct 21, 2023

The two women were alone in their camper van in the wilderness when they noticed a man walking nearby with a machete in hand.

As night fell, the surroundings became shrouded in darkness. Without any electricity or Internet connection in a national park in Honduras, the women grew increasingly paranoid and called the park manager for help.

But as it turned out, the man was a security guard patrolling to ensure the women would have a peaceful night.

This is just one of the many stories Ms Noor Soeb, 54, and Ms Susie Chua, 59, have collected over their roughly 460-day overlanding trip through the Americas on the Pan-American Highway.

Overlanding – the word used by enthusiasts – is a type of travel covering vast distances and exploring relatively remote areas over a long period of time. Overlanding travellers, like Ms Soeb and Ms Chua, often get around with large recreational vehicles which double up as affordable long-term accommodation.

“It was scary, but we knew we were safe in our house, our little box,” Ms Soeb, who used to work in sales, said of the travelling duo’s $47,890 truck camper.

The pair left Singapore on June 18, 2022, and returned on Sept 21, 2023.

The trip stemmed from Ms Chua’s desire to see the historic Route 66, a famous highway stretching from Chicago to California that is celebrated as a symbolic icon of the United States in many films, literature and songs.

It was their second overlanding trip, having gone on a two-year sojourn in Europe in September 2019.

The pair said they had learnt, from the first trip, to be more prepared with documents when crossing borders and not rely too much on the “powerful” Singapore passport.

Offering visa-free entry to 192 destinations, the Republic’s travel document topped a ranking of passports in recent months.

Ms Soeb added: “Anxiety is useless, we learnt to stop and re-strategise the travel plans. Be flexible and have more than one backup plan, as there can be many surprises on the road.

“For instance, the parking you were planning on for the night didn’t exist, so a night at a Walmart carpark will have to do.”

The duo first heard of overlanding in 2018 after chancing upon a truck from Switzerland while on holiday at the Borobudur temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Bewildered that the truck had covered such a great distance, Ms Soeb did some research and discovered “van life”, where they could buy a motorhome and travel across the world full-time.

Ms Chua crunched some numbers and found that overlanding was an economical travel option, especially when compared with the cost of living in Singapore.

After planning a budget and purchasing a 23-year-old motorhome for about $21,700, they set off on their first overlanding trip in Europe in September 2019.

They returned to Singapore only in 2021 after selling the motorhome.

Some highlights of their trip in the Americas include swimming with sharks at the Belize barrier reef and spending the night at the foot of the active Masaya volcano in Nicaragua.

While in Nicaragua, they also went canyoning at the Somoto canyon. Canyoning is an outdoor sport that combines rock climbing, hiking, swimming and rappelling.

Another highlight for them was their month in Alaska.

While Ms Chua was initially reluctant to go to the remote destination, she relented on Ms Soeb’s insistence, and said Alaska ended up exceeding all her expectations.

“It’s really amazing. Wow, it’s really the last frontier,” she added.

The drive up to the American state, known for its mountains and sea fjords, was not easy.

Ms Chua, a former corporate executive, said: “Sometimes you just have to drive for hours and hours. There’s no petrol station, so you really have to chart out and top up your petrol tank to make sure you don’t run out in the middle of nowhere.”

Hoards of humongous grizzly bears, moose and deers would also “jump out of nowhere” in front of their vehicle while they were on roads flanked by forests.

Recalling one particular close call, Ms Soeb said: “We almost had an accident with a moose; the animal just jumped in front of the truck.”

Breaking into laughter, the duo reminisced the chaos of Ms Soeb slamming on the brakes while Ms Chua screamed in shock.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Norah & Susie | from SG (@2travellingaunties)

Nonetheless, the two women have nothing but awe for the majestic beasts they encountered on that drive.

“These are the animals that you’d only see in documentaries and books,” Ms Soeb said.

And they took their curiosity for these animals to the next level when they were gifted some meat from a black bear that a local hunter had shot down.

The Singaporeans cooked the meat in a pot of curry to satisfy their curious taste buds, but felt the bear meat smelled too strongly.

“I wouldn’t do it again,” said Ms Soeb.

They even found time to make YouTube videos of their journey, posting them onto their channel, 2TravellingAunties Norah & Susie.

The two women have also encountered their fair share of emergencies.

Close to midnight on the 394th night of their adventure, they received a warning of an earthquake and tsunami on their phones while in Homer, Alaska.

They ignored it until the town siren sounded. They realised then that the situation was serious.

The travellers were unsure of what to do but drove towards higher ground to a lookout point on a hill along with a neighbouring camper.

“I was shaking so much from shock, but still had to drive up the hill in the rain, cold and darkness,” said Ms Soeb.

The hill was congested, as many other campers were driving in the same direction.

The pair then spotted a moose and its baby heading up the hill and felt comforted that they were going in the right direction.

Ms Soeb added: “There was a bit of panic around, as cars were busy leaving the seaside to head inland.”

They waited with the other vehicles for about an hour until a local woman informed them that the warning had been called off.

While most cars started to leave, the pair stayed on the hill until morning to be safe.

Another difficult time for the pair was in Guatemala, when Ms Chua got word that her mother had fallen very sick back home.

They eventually decided to take a break, returning home in September for Ms Chua to spend a few months with her mother before continuing on their adventure of the Americas.

The pair will be hitting the road again in February 2024, and they plan to overland through South America, driving to countries such as Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

They said they plan to travel for as long as they can.

“I don’t want to sit behind a computer in some small box and work for the rest of my life, I want to see the world,” Ms Chua said.