TOURING THE WORLD.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5020, 30 August 1926, Page 1

TOURING THE WORLD.

CYCLIST’S Bid UNDERTAKING. INTERESTING EXPERIENCES. To travel 9875 miles on a pedal bicycle and about 20’.000 miles, by ship and bicycle combined is- no easy task ; but, hard as it may be, it is a feat said to have, be.en performed by Mr Kai Thorenfeldt, who, called at Wellington during his trip around the world. This young man, who arrived ,at Wellington by the s.Sj. Dom Pedro 11. as a‘ working passenger, on deck, bound for South Ahieriea, very much regrets his Inability to. tour New Zealand on. his. machine. The traveller, who left his native land, Denmark, on February 1, 1925, to tour, the world for the purpose of writnig a book on his experiences, hopes to continue his journey when he reaches South America. By 1928 he thinks he will have gone round the world on his bicycle, ia,performance which at the beginning wajs said to be impossible. So far Mr Thorenfeldt has travelled through Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, ' Italy,' the Balkan States, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, 'Assyria, Mesopotamia, India, Burmah, Siam, ludo-China, Hongkoing, Shanghai, Japan, back to the Straits Settlements, Java, and then by boat to Brisbane, from where hei cycled through to During his wanderings he has been imprisoned by mistake, (nearly trampled to death by an. elephant in Indo-China, and shot at by Bedouins between Damascus and Bagdajd. “Perhaps the moist .thrilling adventure that I have. ye.t encountered,” he said when speaking to a representative of the “Dominion,” “was when crossing the desert about ten miles from Damascus. As. .the sand was too heavy for cycling I went with a motor colnvoy consisting of six cars, confining about 31 passengers in all. Suddenly 200 Bedouins riding on camels appeared .and fired at us. Before we could escape a man had been killed and another wo,ujide.d.” The cyclist stated that round about where Cobham’s mechanic was killed two classes of natives, dwell. “The settlers are very peaceful and give strangers fobd and shelter. The nomadic tribes, however, are quite the opposite. They will do anything in the way of murder and plunder, and no. one is safe near them.”

Since leaving Denmark Mr Thorenfeldt has kept a very interesting book, which, contains messages written in different languages by pepple met oh the journey. He ha.s> collected hundreds of photographs on the tour.