ALOR SETAR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- On the eve of the new millennium and on his 66th birthday, Mohamed Ali Janusz River, born in Poland to a Russian father but who grew up and made a fortune as an International sports manager representing various football teams in Italy, had a sudden change of heart - thus he is today a globe-trotter on a bicycle.
Janusz River who arrived here after passing through Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Perak from Singapore, headed to Langkawi today enroute to a ferry ride to Satun, Thailand before cycling to provinces in Southern Thailand, Kelantan and Pahang before flying off to Sabah and Sarawak.
The former sports manager said he was in Singapore before deciding to cycle to Johor and other states in Malaysia.
"I don't do this for money or publicity. I don't have any sponsors and do this only for fun. I only spend about RM6.50 each day and it is more than sufficient because sometimes I don't use money at all," he told Bernama here Wednesday.
Janusz River said during his travel in Malaysia, he was indeed blessed as he had received assistance from district offices and local village heads throughout the country.
He added that he enjoyed seeing the world on pedals, especially using the back roads to traverse plantations and villages so that he could interact with the locals.
"I don't like to be in busy towns. I like village people. I have never seen such beautiful people like Malay villagers. The women and children wear very colorful traditional garments.
"While traversing villages, locals provide me good hospitality, they give me food and invite me to kenduris which I really like to participate," he said.
Also known as Mohamed Ali, he regarded Malaysia as one of the richest and safest countries he had visited and sovoured the opportunity to mingle with Malaysians, especially village folks.
"This is my first trip to Malaysia and I really enjoyed it," he said.
The globe-trotter claims to have travelled to 115 countries and aims to finish his incredible journey at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
"God willing, I will be 80 at that time and for now, to stay fit, I drink five litres of water each day, having heavy lunch and I eat a kilogram of mix fruits every day and cycle some 30km a day with luggage weighing 30kg," he said.
He added that for the past nine years, he spent the nights on roadsides, although he could afford to stay in hotels or rest houses.
"I have a sleeping bag and mosquito net and it's enough for me. I like sleeping in the open air and sometimes I slept in empty buildings or suraus," the 74-year-old biker said.
His journey had in fact started on the eve of his birthday, when he was sitting at home in Rome, eating spaghetti, drinking wine, the Italian way, and was thinking what he was going to do with his life as an old man, without a family, lots of money and tired of the luxurious lifestyle.
Thus, he decided to see the world on a bicycle, though already a senior citizen and has not looked back or regretted his decision, since.
The very next day, Janusz River bought a cheap bicycle, took the ferry boat to Barcelona, Spain and started exploring the world.
"I was not a poor man. I have enough money to sustain my life style for a hundred years," he had told Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly he arrived in the country two years ago.
A non-believer when he was young, he read the Al-Quran in Russian and became fascinated by Islam and in 1973 he formally converted at Al-Azhar Islamic Institute and was given the name Mohamed Ali.
-- BERNAMA
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