If you think riding the stationary bike at the gym is exhausting, imagine riding your bike 28,000 miles through 37 countries in eight years. Tired yet?
Keiichi "Kei" Iwasaki , 36, of Japan began such an adventure when he grew tired of working at his father's air-conditioning company. ''I thought to myself that 'My life will soon be over before I do what I want to do!' so I decided to start this trip," Iwasaki told the London Telegraph.
Iwasaki left his home in Maebashi, Japan in April 2001 with just 160 yen, around $2, in his pocket with the intention of biking through Japan. He enjoyed the trip so much that he caught a ferry to South Korea. He has since been robbed by pirates and arrested in India, nearly died after being attacked by a rabid dog in Tibet, and narrowly escaped marriage in Nepal.
Keiichi "Kei" Iwasaki , 36, of Japan began such an adventure when he grew tired of working at his father's air-conditioning company. ''I thought to myself that 'My life will soon be over before I do what I want to do!' so I decided to start this trip," Iwasaki told the London Telegraph.Iwasaki left his home in Maebashi, Japan in April 2001 with just 160 yen, around $2, in his pocket with the intention of biking through Japan. He enjoyed the trip so much that he caught a ferry to South Korea. He has since been robbed by pirates and arrested in India, nearly died after being attacked by a rabid dog in Tibet, and narrowly escaped marriage in Nepal.
Iwasaki's bikes (he's on his fifth now; two were stolen and two were
broken) have been his main form of transportation throughout the
journey. He says he does not want to fly because "I wanted to see and
feel everything with my own skin. With bicycle, I can always feel the
air and atmosphere of the place.'' According to his blog, other than the occasional ferry, the only time he did not ride his bike or walk was when he used a hand rowboat. He first used a rowboat to travel from the source of the Ganges River in India to the sea, a distance of over 800 miles that took him 35 days. Iwasaki decided to also row the Caspian Sea when he was passing by and "I just wondered 'how big Caspian sea is?' so I tried to [cross] using hand rowing boat again, it takes 25 days," he wrote.
He counts his biggest achievement as climbing Mount Everest from sea level without using any transportation, the first Japanese man to do so. Iwasaki is currently in Switzerland waiting to climb Europe's highest peak, Mont Blanc.
Iwasaki funds his travels by performing magic tricks on the street. He plans to travel to Africa, through the Americas and finally, back to Japan. He believes the rest of the trip will take him five years, after which he wants to write a book about his adventures.
Photo: Above, via SMNS, Map, via The London Telegraph
Subscribe to RSS feed
Subscribe to RSS feed
Woah! This is so cool!! You go, dude~~!
awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This man is my hero! This is my dream
Ohmygosh! That's incredible. I think the only reason I would do what he did is to play golf around the world :D. He's the man!
Glad you put this story up here! Reminds me of Into the Wild and the Motorcycle Diaries. Someday I will be doing the same on a better vehicle. It will be more awesome and some intern under you would be blogging about it :)
It's a nice and consultative article. Things are configured fit. Get to know couple of abstraction which were unknown to me. It's real one of the most reformatory article I ever show. Thanks for to share looking more from you. I bookmarked this article as compartment for to get service from it in next.
wow, this is simply incredible!!
Boring.....Do something original, this has been done a million times. I am crossing the Atlantic using only flippers and snorkel and surviving off seaweed and rainwater (and scavenged fish parts) that I collect in my mask, and I sleep on a blow up sheep (also serves as companion and lover...it's a long trip) that I inflate every night. I am currently about 40 miles off Key West and am happy to report that I found a large package floating that contained a whitish powder that is not very tasty ( thought it was sugar) but makes me feel like superman when I smell it repeatedly..I actually filled my mask with it so I inhale all day..My heart feels like it will beat out of my chest soon,,just pounding and I'm stroking my flippers to it;s beat, and that sheep better watch out tonight cause I feel like an animal..ROAR...Follow my blog at Flipping_off_the_atlantic.com!!
That guy must be the worlds biggest cheapskate, I hate everyting that he stands for....!
Wow! Pirates, marriage, 5 bikes, this is inspiring!
If you look at the maps on Keiichi Iwasaki's own site, this article is off for a few reasons. The map showing his crossing of the Caspian is very misleading. He closely hugged the southern coast, presumably making landfalls, and resumed his journey by cycle.
http://www.feel-the-earth.com/map/06map.html
Also, his journey by boat down the Ganges started in Varanasi (Benares),which is most definitely not the source of the Ganges.
http://www.feel-the-earth.com/map/06map.html
I am VERY inspired by this good-man's epic journey. I am disappointed in Nat. Geo.'s lack of fact checking and blatantly inaccurate mapping.
Come on National Geographic...some people trust you. At least get the map right.
It's fascinating that for some people moving is as essential as eating or breathing. Or is it love for freedom and constant change?
Reminds me of a modern day Ibn Batutta!
Indie said:
It's a nice and consultative article. Things are configured fit. Get to know couple of abstraction which were unknown to me. It's real one of the most reformatory article I ever show. Thanks for to share looking more from you. I bookmarked this article as compartment for to get service from it in next.
I say:
WTF?
WOW!!! he stayed at my house in spain. i met him in december 2008 in sevilla doing magic on the street and 6 weeks later he called me and spent 3 nights at my house with his girlfriend, who he met in Budapest..what a coincidence!!!
they were wonderful to host and infinitely better to listen to their stories and see the collections of newspaper articles he had from all over the world.
Traveling around the world with little money as that is just impressive. From what i read, you have acquired a great experience. Continue to do such stuffs. Meeting different cultures and seeing the great wonders of this world can only be beneficial to somebody....
I saw him in Zurich, Switzerland. He did some impressive magic tricks, so I gave him some money, I'm so happy I found him here, very inspiring.
very, very impressive. Just think how much he has saved in airfare.
This man deserves some cold beer.