A JAPANESE cyclist who has visited more than 100 countries during a round-the-world cycling trip arrived in Myanmar on May 30, with plans to pedal from Yangon to Mandalay and Bagan.

Daisuke Nakanishi, a 39-year-old bachelor from Osaka, set out on his world-roving odyssey from Anchorage, Alaska, on July 23, 1998. Eleven years on he is still pedalling strong, and Myanmar is the 126th country he has reached during the trip.

“This is my dream. I want to see the world. I want to meet many people. I want to make one million friends,” Mr Daisuke told The Myanmar Times on May 30.
The next day he set off on the 700-kilometre journey to Mandalay via Highway 2, which passes through Pyay. He reached Mandalay on June 2.

“I will ride to Bagan from Mandalay, visiting small villages on the way,” he told The Myanmar Times upon his arrival in Mandalay. “Although I want to stay for longer, I have already arranged to fly back to Bangkok on June 10.”

“There are a lot of interesting places in Myanmar such as beautiful mountain ranges, endless paddy fields and auspicious pagodas. Everybody looks willing to help me. And food also is interesting for me,” Mr Daisuke said.

Before reaching Myanmar, the Japanese cyclist had travelled 146,000 kilometres, visiting countries on all continents. Among the Asian countries he has already seen are Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Maldives and Thailand.

“I have no sponsors for my trip. It is my dream, so I made the money myself by working in a construction company for six years,” he said. “By the time I was 28 years old I had saved US$50,000 so I could pedal all over the world and make friends with people.”

He said he has kept his costs low by sleeping most nights in his tent and cooking his own food, but added that he has had to return to Japan on three occasions to deal with banking problems.

Mr Daisuke said that highlights of the trip have included meetings with famous people such as Brazilian footballer Pelé, ex-US president Jimmy Carter, ex-president of Poland Lech Walesa, and New Zealander Edmond Hillary, who along with his Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers confirmed to have reached the top of Mount Everest.

“Some countries even offered me honorary citizenships. … But I failed to visit some countries in the Middle East because of visa difficulties,” he said.
Other obstacles have included animals and injuries.

“I got malaria in Kenya but fortunately, medical intervention came in time to save me. Sometimes I came to meet some animals. In Namibia two little lions got near to my tent. And I had some accidents on the way. Twice I fell down and got injured and my bicycle got broken, so I had to stop for awhile,” he said.

But he added that he was able to avoid many other problems by talking to local people and getting information that helped him steer clear of dangerous areas.Mr Daisuke – who can speak English, Portuguese and Spanish in addition to his native Japanese – said he planned to spend two weeks in Myanmar before flying to Bangkok and then to Bangladesh and India.
After that, he would visit Laos, Vietnam, China and South Korea before returning to Japan in October, he said.

“I have my parents waiting for me in Japan. I had told them that my trip would take about three and half years. When it became five years, they were worried and angry at me, especially my father. When it got eight years long, they were upset with me,” he said.

“When my journey is finished, I will write a book about it. And I will make presentations for students because I have also taken lots of pictures,” Mr Daisuke said.