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I spent my Saturday morning with someone who reminded me of the fallen Nepalese climber Nims Purja.
A person who, if he had been more cabled or famous, can and would have had his achievement more celebrated.
But he isn’t, and hence outside of his circle and the bicycling community, not many are aware of what he did.
His name is Peter Yoong, a 65-year old Malaysian who earlier this year completed his self-sponsored, multi-year, 21,000 km solo bicycle ride around the world.
It was a trip he had dreamed of since he was a teenager and only succeeded in completing as a sexagenarian, after completing his duties first as a son, then as a father, then finally as a husband.
His is a trip not many will consider or undertake, since it involved a great deal of hardship: covert camping under bridges, steep and dangerous ascents of snowy Himalayan mountains, risk to life and limb from wild animals and hostile militia among a ream of other adversities.
But the dangers paled in comparison to the natural beauty, differences in culture and sheer kindness and hospitality of the people he met on the road, often in places where one might least expect it, such as in the nations of the former Soviet Union.
If you ask him to tell you, Peter will regale you with travelers’ tales of welcome respite and lodging from even the most poverty stricken households in Uzbekistan, or waking up to a snowy landscape on the Pamir Highway in Pakistan, among dozens and dozens more stories experienced on the road.
There is too much to tell here, but suffice to say, Peter has lived a life fuller than many will ever experience, since most folks are too reluctant to traverse the road less travelled, let alone less comfortable.
Peter lives in Puchong (I know, because in April 2021, I and my buddy Ricky Ang went to visit him in his house to record an hour-long podcast after he first completed the first two sections of his ride.)
Link here:
He’s a generous and humble guy, so if you reach out, I’m sure he will be more than willing to help you prepare for your own journey, or merely to share what he learnt about himself or the world while pedaling alone for days on end on all those roads around the world.
I’ll leave you with a quote that more than appropriately describe Peter’s journey.
It comes from the 19th-century French writer Guy de Maupassant, who once wrote, “you’ve never lived until you’ve almost died. For those who have fought for it, life has a flavor the protected shall never know”.
Let me know if you want to buy Peter a coffee: I might just come along with you. After all, ‘it’s not the years in your life but the life in your years’ which count.
Happy Sunday everyone.
Carpe Diem.
(PS thanks to Royal Selangor Club for hosting Peter and allowing me the opportunity to meet up with him after five long years)
@sintailim
@skchew
Peter’s links here:
https://www.instagram.com/peter.yoong/
https://www.cycling-malaysia.com/2018/08/05/with-love-i-ride-two-years-on-two-wheels/
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/
