Amira El-Noshokaty chats with the man who left behind a life of extravagance for one on a bicycle seat and two dollars a day Dressed in a traditional Egyptian peasant galabiya, the 72-year-old Italian athlete was leaning on his bicycle, with a determined smile, pausing for his customary photograph, taken in every country he crosses. "I only visit rural villages," he explained. or Mohamed Ali River was an international sports manager for as far as he can remember. He was born in Poland, to a Russian father, yet grew up in Italy. River -- a nonbeliever at the time -- read the Quran in Russian and became fascinated by Islam. In 1973 he formally converted at Al-Azhar Islamic Institute and was given the name Mohamed Ali. Representing various football teams, River became rich and successful, living a life of luxury. "I am not a poor man," River told Al-Ahram Weekly, "I have enough money to sustain my life style for a hundred years," he added. But on his 66th birthday, back in 1999, he decided to stop working. Bored with life, single with no family, he decided to do something that nobody had ever done before. "I was sitting at home in Rome, eating spaghetti, drinking wine, you know, the Italian way, and I was thinking, what am I doing with my life, an old man, with no family, lots of money, I am tired of this luxurious life. Stop. I will do something new," he told the Weekly. He decided the next day to travel around the world on a bicycle. On the cheapest bicycle he found, along with his 30-year- old suitcases, he took the ferry boat to Barcelona and from there began his journey. The journey that began eight years ago, from the Canary Islands, should end with River's arrival in London in time for the Olympics in 2012. By then he will have visited 125 countries, covering 130,000 kilometres, almost four times the world record of travelling around the globe, one that is usually limited to some 33,000 kilometres. While cycling in only rural villages dictated longer zigzag routes, breaking the world record is not his target. "I want to show all the people around the world that an old man who has a few dollars in his pocket can see the world." He explained that he is bound to die in a few years time and would rather die on the road instead of being home alone. "When I finish. I will choose from the rural villages that I've visited and will give the rest of my money as personal accounts to a thousand of the world's poorest children. I take notes of village names and locations and the embassy will take it from there." River is currently touring the rural villages of Egypt, country number 76 on his list. During his three-month stay that ends in April, he will have cycled through 11 governorates. From Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Qena, Edfu, Sohag, Minya, to Aswan and Abu Simbel, River visits two rural villages in each governorate where he cycles 30 to 40 kilometres daily to eat in one village, sleep in another, and visit the village's primary school. When he visits the village, he is usually surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of singing children, a phenomenal welcome that has only been matched in India. "Yet the welcome chants in Egypt are more because you Egyptians have a temperament just like Italians," he commented noting that both people have many personality traits in common. "A thing that goes back to the eternal love story between Anthony and Cleopatra," he laughed. One of the most striking traits to him is the Egyptian hospitality. He is usually invited over for tea several times a day while passing through villages. Moreover, he believes that amongst the world's children, underprivileged Egyptian children are the most beautifully dressed. "The colours are incredible," he commented adding that to his amazement all the villagers knew the names of Italian football players, and some of them wear t-shirts with their names. "If it were up to me, I'd choose to live as a peasant in the Egyptian countryside and eat what a fallah eats and live to be 100 years old." River lives a pastoral life by the book. He drinks unboiled milk, straight from the cow. He lives on bread, baladi chicken, eggs and white cheese and dines on fruit. He drinks water and sleeps in his sleeping bag be it in the open or -- after giving in to the villagers' refusal to let him sleep on the ground -- on roof tops. On the road, he tunes in to each country's local music. Until he reaches the village and finds the English teacher, his only means of communication in villages, he worries about three things: where to sleep, eat and shower. "I already cycled 300km in the desert from Marsa Alam to Edfu. I rely on ambulances for help, water and food. I slept two times in two hospitable Coptic monasteries," he added, explaining how he relies on the government to organise his stops and send word to the village mayor to help introduce him to the people. But he insists on travelling alone and interacting with people personally. He picks only special countries with hospitable people to visit. "I am coming to Egypt to show the world that Egypt is a safe country and that I can travel through the villages and nothing happens to me. In my opinion, Egypt is safer than Europe and the United States. When I sleep in Europe in the open air, I always sleep with open eyes, in Egypt it's totally safe and hospitable," commented River. But the road is not always smooth. River survived three cobra bites and was almost run down by an elephant in India. "I started in the Canary Islands, because my story starts in Europe from the south to the north in Norway. It took me two years to go around Europe, because I do not go across the continent. I cycle in a zigzag, from left to right," he explained. One of his most exciting trips was his visit to Cuba where he met Castro in person. "I was the first foreigner to get permission to travel through the countryside by bicycle unescorted. The Communist Party gave me the papers and I stayed three months in Cuba, where I spent only $23. They are amazingly hospitable too." Turkey, Indonesia, Japan, and several other countries that he crossed were especially welcoming, because of the media coverage of his tours over the past eight years. "When I started, I didn't know that the local administration in each country could help me. When I started I was not famous, but when you start getting media coverage, everybody knows you and it is very easy. Wherever I go, everybody helps."
