Du Fengyan rides in Rwanda followed by a group of children. Du has ridden through 22 countries, across most of Africa and parts of Asia, over the past two years. Provided to China Daily
Du Fengyan resigned from a stable job to ride his bicycle across Africa and parts of Asia. He tells Deng Zhangyu that during the two years, he gained a spiritual fortune. At a time when many urbanites around the world are choosing to ride bicycles amidst rising awareness of the environment and physical fitness, Du Fengyan has embraced a life on two wheels more than most. He has spent nearly two years riding through 22 countries across most of Africa and parts of Asia, enjoying an experience he will never forget. When Du cycled on country roads in Ethiopia, he was bombarded with passionate greetings from local people who called him Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li, the three most popular and recognizable Chinese martial art masters in the remote African countryside. "They asked questions like whether Bruce Lee was still alive because they watched him on TV the day before," laughs the 27-year-old Du, whose skin glows with a healthy tan from the hundreds of days he has spent biking in the open air. Such encounters were so common that after awhile Du got used to them, and sometimes he even performed martial arts for the locals. Du is perhaps the first person who knows kung fu to ride a bike across two continents. Three years before embarking on his African journey in August 2011, the young rider learned one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, baguazhang, which literally means "eight trigram palm". He also learned some Shaolin kung fu, a popular martial art form in his hometown in Shandong province. Some men in Ethiopia had wanted to challenge Du to kung fu, but the minute he struck a pose they changed their minds and just edged close enough to touch his arm before running off. Du often won "fights" that way. He says it was the same when people tried to steal his belongings while he was on the road. "I only needed to put on a good pose and stare into their eyes and they'd be scared and run away, whether they were just being friendly or were real thieves." Du started his journey in 2011 from Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. He rode from Thailand to India, then to the Middle East, and through Egypt into Africa in September last year. According to his stopwatch, Du rode about 3,500 kilometers. The biggest impression Africa made on Du was that China was everywhere, from road construction sites to daily necessities. Most Africans, he says, knew more about China than other countries and they always welcomed him warmly. "I was invited to people's houses as an honored guest, sometimes to attend weddings or festival parties," he says. In Sudan and Ethiopia, people called him "China". To his surprise, they called all foreigners "China" because the Chinese workers helping them build roads and infrastructure projects were the only foreigners they had ever met. Du's two-month stay in Ethiopia was the longest of his journey. He says in Ethiopia he went anywhere there was a proper road. He even learned a little Amharic, the local language. People there told him that China had helped them a great deal to build infrastructure, whereas some countries just wanted to take the country's resources without giving anything back. If Du had a problem or needed somewhere to sleep in an African city, he could easily turn for help to Chinese people working there. "I loved meeting different people and seeing their various lifestyles," he says. "And I loved seeing beautiful scenes that some people may never have the chance to see." Once when he was camping in the wild, he woke up one morning to find many deep footprints and elephant droppings in front of his tent. On another occasion he was confronted while in bed by two wolf dogs staring at him. He even rode across a wild national park in Namibia, which the natives dare not go near because of the many beasts of prey there. "When I recall all these experiences, I feel afraid. But I felt no fear at the time," he says. Watching movies on his laptop, collecting music from the places he visited and posting pictures online were his only entertainment on the road. The two-year journey cost Du about 40,000 yuan ($6,560). The amount included four flights and buying a camera. About 10,000 yuan came from donations from people he met on his journey. One man he met in Djibouti gave him $400 and bought him several meals because, he said, people had done similar things for him when he was riding a bike across Europe. Du was born into a farming family in Heze in Shangdong province. He is the second of five children. His family and friends strongly opposed his decision to resign from a Beijing-based company where he worked as an IT engineer. "I just wanted to realize my childhood dream while I am still young," Du says. "I didn't think too much about anything else." He chose to spend so much of that time in Africa for the simple reason that visas to most countries there are cheap and easy to obtain. When he came back to China from his final African destination, Cape Town, what happened in those two years felt like a dream. He realizes that he made a spiritual fortune in Africa. "No matter how desperate I might feel in the future, as long as I think of the joys of riding on all those roads, I feel recharged," he says. By Deng Zhangyu ( China Daily) |
當大多數人為了保護環境或者鍛煉身體選擇騎車出行時,杜風彥已經騎著自行車穿越了22個國家,用兩個車輪探索了非洲這片外人鮮有機會進入的美麗大陸。 一輛自行車,一部電腦,帶著隨身衣物,25歲的杜風彥踏上了兩年的騎行之路,穿過亞洲大陸,騎遍了非洲絕大多數國家。親眼看到了很多人際罕至之地的美景,也體驗了非洲各地的風土人情。 在埃塞俄比亞的鄉間小道上,當地的人會追著這位頭發有點長的小伙子,熱情地向他打招呼,嘴里叫著李小龍,陳龍或是李連杰。對于這樣的問候,杜風彥已經習以為常。對很多生活在非洲偏遠地區的人來說,中國的功夫明星是他們最熟悉的中國面孔。 “他們經常會問我,李小龍還活著嗎?昨天看電影他還在電視上呢。”說到這里,杜風彥笑了起來。700多天的騎行生活讓他皮膚黝黑,泛著健康的色澤。 經常被當地人叫做李小龍,杜風彥已經不再訝異。興致來了,他還會為當地人表演一段中國武術。也許他是第一個騎車穿行非洲大陸的功夫小子。 2011年開始騎行前,杜風彥曾拜師學過三年八卦拳。家在著名的武術之鄉山東菏澤,小時候他還學過少林功夫,長拳等。 在埃塞俄比亞,很多當地人得知他會武功,便前來找他挑戰。基本上杜風彥只要擺好姿勢,當地人就會一哄而散,跑得遠遠的躲起來。對此,杜自己也覺得很好玩。 “他們會小心翼翼的靠近我,伸出一只指頭,快觸到我胳膊時就自己跑開了。我只需要擺一個武術的招式,然后看著他們的眼睛,前來挑戰的人就會被立馬嚇跑。這其中還包括一些小偷,”杜笑著說。 有時候騎行的路線很偏,去到貧窮的農村,便有人想拿走他灌水用的礦泉水瓶或是衣服,隨身攜帶的食物等,但只要他擺一個武功的招式,基本上都會把心懷不軌的人嚇跑。 2011年8月,杜風彥從廣西南寧出發,途經泰國,再前往印度,然后穿過中東國家,于去年9月通過埃及進入非洲。他自行車上的碼表顯示,他整整騎行了35000公里。 杜風彥感嘆說,在非洲他真切體會到祖國的強大,因為,在這片廣袤的大陸上,中國幾乎無處不在。馬路是中國人修的,橋是中國人建的,基礎設施也是中國公司在協助運行。而非洲人的日常生活用品,諸如電視,手機,衣服,吃飯的陶瓷碗,甚至連吃的大蒜都來自中國。 與其它非洲以外的國家相比,大多數非洲人反而更了解中國。很多時候,人們會熱情地邀請杜去家里做客吃飯。 “當地人很熱情,他們會把我當做遠道而來的貴客,邀請我參加他們的婚禮或者聚會。” 在蘇丹和埃塞時,很多人還叫他”“China””(中國人)。令他吃驚的是,他們把所有外國人都叫中國人,因為在很多地方,在那里修路和修基礎建設的中國人是他們唯一能見到的外國人。 在埃塞的兩個多月里,杜風彥騎遍了大大小的城鎮和村莊。他甚至學了點當地的語言阿姆哈拉語。當地人說中國人幫助他們修了很多基礎設施,而別的國家卻只會白白拿走他們的資源。 一路騎行,杜經常在教堂、警察局或者學校里搭帳篷睡覺。吃飯就自己生火煮面,有時候也會到別人家里吃飯。而更多時候,不論在哪個城市,他都能從中國同胞那里得到幫助。 “騎行的樂趣就是可以見到形形色色的人和不同人的生活,還可以看到美景,如火山,沙漠,原始森林。很多人可能一輩子都無法見到這些美景。” 在野外宿營,一覺醒來,他會在自己的帳篷前發現一大排大象留下的腳印和排泄物;晚上睡覺前,他曾碰到過兩只獵狗瞪著綠幽幽的眼珠看著他,與他對視片刻離去。他還曾在肯尼亞的森林里和路上偶遇的朋友打著傘,吃著火鍋。 有一次他騎行穿過了納米比亞的國家公園,當他來到下一個村莊時,當地人都不相信他是從國家公園那邊騎行過來的。因為那里白天經常有猛獸出沒,當地人一般不敢獨自穿越。 “我現在想起這些才感到后怕,而當時根本就不覺得害怕,”杜說。 當完成一天的騎行,杜風彥會坐下來欣賞筆記本電腦上存的電影,聽聽從非洲各處收集的民俗音樂,偶爾在城市里,他也會將自己沿途拍攝的圖片上傳到博客上與朋友們分享。 兩年的騎行,杜的花費不到四萬人民幣,其中還包含四張機票錢和買相機的錢。四萬中約一萬塊錢來自路途中好心人的贊助和朋友們的資助。 有一次在吉布提,有人給了他400美元,還請他吃了幾頓飯。那人說當年他騎行歐洲時曾遇到過很多好心人以這種方式幫過他,現在他要將這份愛心傳遞下去,鼓勵更多人以騎行的方式探索世界。 杜風彥出生在山東菏澤的一個村子里,父母都是農民,家里有五個孩子,他排行老二。騎行之前,他在北京一家公司做網絡部門的技術人員,辭職去非洲騎行的想法曾受到他家里和朋友們的一致反對,但他還是出發了。 而之所以選擇非洲作為目的地,一是那邊簽證比較好拿,二則花費可能相對會便宜。 “我并沒有想太多,只是想在我年輕的時候實現我小時候的夢想。乘著年輕,實現夢想。” 今年10月,杜風彥從最后一站南非首都開普敦回到北京時,兩年的騎行恍如夢境。城市的快節奏讓他一時無從適應。但他明白這是自己一生中最為寶貴的精神財富。 “將來不論發生什么,只要想想騎行路上那些有趣的事情,我就會再次從充滿能量!” (中國日報記者鄧章瑜報道) |