A Malaysian female solo rider, Ms. Anita Yusof arrived in Tashkent on 28 June 2016. She is currently on her quest to set a world record as the first Muslim woman to travel solo around the world on a motorcycle.
She started her expedition (also known as the Global Dream Ride) in Seattle, United States of America on 16 September 2015. A lecturer by profession and also a mother of two, she has travelled more than 47,000 kilometers across more than 30 countries and several continents. This was not the first time for Ms. Anita to be in Tashkent. Three years ago, she visited this beautiful city during her solo motorcycle expedition to the Central Asian region.
Her visit to Tashkent was warmly received by Ambassador Dato’ Nor’Aini who was also a former rider herself. Ms. Anita was also invited by the Ambassador to stay at her residence while in Tashkent. In conjunction with the festive season of Eid ul-Fitr, the Ambassador had invited Ms. Anita to celebrate this auspicious occasion with her and the Malaysian community in Tashkent. However, Ms. Anita had to exit Tashkent 3 days before the festival due to the expiration of her Uzbek visa. This brought upon a fortunate turn of event where she was able to experience a double celebration of Eid ul-Fitr in 2 countries in 2 consecutive days, i.e on the 5th July in Almaty, Kazakhstan and on the 6th July in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. According to Ms. Anita, when she started her journey nine months ago, it never crossed her mind that she will have a chance to celebrate a proper Eid ul-Fitr with the Malaysian community, and far be it for a double celebration. Ms. Anita’s journey also attracted the attention of Uzbekistan TV and Donya TV which conducted separate interviews with her.
She left Uzbekistan on 11 July 2016 to continue her journey to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia before returning home to Malaysia. With approximately 15,000 kilometers left, she expects to complete her journey and reach her final destination on 16 September 2016 to commemorate the Malaysia Day.