Cairo- While most of the world was preparing for Christmas, Egyptian adventurer and traveller Ahmed Haggag (‘Haggagovic') was preparing for his latest adventure. Haggagovic started his two-month-long trip about three weeks ago, when he flew from Cairo to Moscow. “This trip was meant to take me from London to Hong Kong, but I didn't have enough money, as I haven't yet got a sponsor to pay for my internal trips and accommodation. But EgyptAir is my official carrier,” he explained. During his trip, Haggagovic will fly to the Province of Ofa in South Asia, then take the train to Siberia in the Arctic, the coldest place on Earth, with temperatures plunging to minus 60 degrees Centigrade, in order to raise the Egyptian flag there. Haggagovic has raised the Egyptian flag in over 120 cities around the world, a unique achievement. His goal is to spread freedom, happiness and peace worldwide, under the motto ‘Loving Egypt'. During his many travels, he has delivered his message by means of his famous dance, a dance of happiness that he performs without any music. “There is no music needed to express happiness,” he explained. "After Siberia, I'll travel to Mongolia, to raise the Egyptian flag there and let people know something about Egypt's civilisation as there is no Egyptian embassy there," he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview via Skype. Haggagovic is now still in Russia, where he has met with the Egyptian Ambassador to Russia, the Cultural Consul, the Tourism Consul and the Regional General Manager of EgyptAir Russia, in order to discuss how they can work together to promote Egyptian tourism. Haggagovic said that the Russian people are delighted to meet a well-educated Egyptian, while being shocked and surprised to discover that an Egyptian should be travelling around the world. "I have given a speech to Russian students at the Egyptian Cultural Centre in Moscow," he added. "I never have a precise timetable for my trips. I walk through the streets, talk to people and don't know what will happen from one minute to the next.” Haggagovic was in for a shock himself at Moscow Airport, where the girl in immigrations spent half an hour studying checking his passport, because it contains so many visas, including one for Hong Kong. "When I took a photo of the Egyptian flag in Red Square outside the Kremlin, the Russian Police ordered me to delete the photo. I did so, only to return a few minutes later to take another one," said Haggagovic, who believes that, if you want something in life, you have to reach out and grab it. After Mongolia, Haggagovic will fly to Beijing in China before returning to Hong Kong. Haggagovic's trip has attracted the attention of a number of Russian newspapers that have interviewed him, including Metro Moscow, Russian's most famous paper. He has also been interviewed by the Russian magazine Around the World, which is similar to the National Geographic. “When I finish my dance, I write people's names on their hands in their own alphabet and in Arabic. They often take photos of their names and really like what I do.” There is no limit to the dreams of Haggagovic, who hopes one day to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the first person to have travelled the entire world and raised the Egyptian flag in every country. He also dreams of holding a big carnival in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. “I want to organise the ‘Friday of Happiness', inviting people from all over the world to come. But such an event needs businessmen to sponsor and organise it.”
