Globe-trotting for life's better picture

JAKARTA (JP): Not many people are willing to leave behind their career, loved ones and motherland to pedal around the world on a bicycle.

But Michel De Vos has taken the risk.

He has already visited 36 countries including Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, India, Israel, Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal and the Ukraine.

He has covered 27,656 kilometers since leaving Flanders, his hometown in the northern part of Belgium, 420 days ago. In this time he has moved from one strange place to the next and seen all manner of peculiar settings.

And what has he got?

He has tasted food from all over the world, produced rolls and rolls of great snapshots, met famous people including Mother Teresa and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. He has attracted the attention of the international media and appeared on television in many countries.

But fame and traveling can have its downside. He was mobbed by four people in Iran, where his bike was stolen and his jaw broken.

A bogus policeman in Bucharest, Rumania, had attempted to steal his money and someone in Myanmar had stolen his bicycle pump.

Michel arrived in Indonesia on July 17, reaching Belawan port in North Sumatra after a ferry trip from Penang Island, Malaysia.

He has passed through some of North Sumatra's favorite tourist destinations, including Brastagi and Lake Toba, which he said were wonderful.

What about Medan?

"It's like other cities here, too polluted," he said.

"And the people are driving recklessly, especially the public minibus drivers. They overtook me, and suddenly, without giving a sign or something, just stopped right in front of me."

Michel, 36, said he financed the world tour himself, not to raise money but for his own interest.

"I paid all the expenses with the money I saved for eight years working as a sports teacher and at three sport organizations in Belgium."

"I don't ask money from anybody. I'm not a beggar," he said. "Sometimes I even give my money to the needy."

From the money he will earn telling his story, Michel hopes to support a development project in the Third World.

"I can get the money through writing articles about each country I visit for newspapers in Belgium, writing a book about my experiences during the tour, giving slide conferences in Belgium about my world tour and other things," he said.

Michel tries to manage his spending in a very reasonable way. He rarely uses hotel, staying instead with local people.

Living with local people helps him get a clearer picture about a certain place, its people and its culture.

"I don't worry about what I will eat or where I will sleep," he said. "I enjoy most local foods and drinks and I don't mind whether the families, who invite me to stay the night at their houses, only have a tiny place without a toilet."

In Jakarta, Michel, who speaks five languages, stays at a colleague's house in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

He said he has enjoyed the tour and almost never felt lonely because he feels at home everywhere.

Michel has always kept in touch with his family by sending postcards, faxes, or letters to his parents, brother and sister, and nephews and nieces, from each country he stops in.

"Everywhere, everyone has been very good to me," he said.

Even the governments of many countries, including Russia, Belorrusia, Ukraine, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, India, Nepal, and Iran have granted him free visas. Saudi Arabia was the exception.

People have invited him to fly in a glider in Lithuania; go horse riding around the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt; and ride on an elephant through the jungle in Nepal.

"Many different women have asked me to marry them during my bicycle tour," said Michel, who has put marriage on hold for 15 years while planning the bicycle tour.

He said he was amazed by the friendliness of women in Indonesia who wave at him as he passes by.

"It's different when you ride along a street in some other Moslem-dominated countries."

Weighing up the last 420 days, Michel said: "I've had thousands of very nice experiences and only a few bad ones."

He plans to visit Bali, Lombok and Sulawesi before leaving for the Philippines, Japan, and other Asian and Oceanic countries.

He intends to visit more than 100 countries in five continents before ending his journey in July 2000. (cst)