- Aluminum frame bicycle
- Ortlieb panniers (rear, front and handle bar)
- Sleeping bag (suitable for 3 season)
- Tent (Salewa 2+)
- Stove (Optimus multy fuel)
- Head light (Black Diomond)
- Cooking set (for 2 person)
- First aid kid
- Camera ( Nikon D7000 + 18-105 + 80-200 + 50 + Fish eye + extra battery + bag + 2 memory cards + lens cleaning set) + carbon tripod
- My camera is sponsored by Noornegar company
- Repairing set (Allen keys + chain opener + spare tube + punctual set + Swiss knife + spare balls + Gris + lubrication + tools for opening hubs + extra chain + pump + …)
- Red light for helmet and back of bicycle + light for head of helmet
- cycling gloves + warm gloves (specialized) + wind stopper hat + wind stopper pans & jacket
- Sun glasses (2 pairs) + sun block
- 3 outdoor pans + 3 cycling shorts + 2 cycling shirts + 2 normal shirts + 1 T-shirt + 3 pair of socks + 1 heavy jacket + 1 jumper + 4 underwear
- Laptop Gateway T-series + external hard drive + a pack of DVD + Cd for drivers and software
- Battery charger and batteries in regard of use
- MP3 player
- a small bag pack + rain cover
- notebook + around 200 post cards to give people as gift
- Sleeping mattress and one mattress for under the tent
- Cycling shows (specialized) + trekking shows + slipper
- A couple of maps
Here you can download list of my stuff as a PDF format…..LIST OF MY STUFF
Since I was very young when I was a racing cyclist, few of my friends cycled through north of Iran along the Caspian sea. On their return I saw a picture of them in a beautiful road. It was like melting an ice cream in my body and soul. It took me few years before my mother allowed me travel with bicycle and cycle through that road. It was a seed which was plant then. The seed was growing and desire for traveling on bicycle was the blossom of that plant which I was imagining and picturing in my mind.
It was just a dream and no plan for that but !! in 2004 I had some kind of intuition in the mountain followed by some few dreams at night.
It took me few months to learn them and understand which I have to cycle around the world.
How many km I cycle in a day?
I spend much time in cities for my project, so I have to push myself a bit on the road. usually I cycle about 120-140km per day but my longest day was 310km which took me almost 19 hours from Albury to Melbourne.
How many hours a day I cycle?
I usually wake up very early, almost before sunrise to prepare breakfast and pack and of course I sleep also early at night around 9pm (on the road not inside the cities). I usually have 7-8 hours cycling without considering resting hours.
How do I make a route in any country and what kinds of maps are good?
It depends on the country I am cycling through and also the next destination! Of course I have to go toward my next destination but in between regarding to the time I have (from my visa) I consider natural features first and historical places second to make a route.
To find the way always maps are the best friends if they are detailed including road numbers, distances and topology.
Do I just cycle or sometimes I took bus or..?
Yes I just cycle and I use plane just to cross the countries which have no land border.
Once I had to take a bus in Thailand when I was running out of time for my visa and I couldn’t get out of the country cycling.
Where I sleep?
Inside the cities, I stay with people from CS (CouchSurfing), HC (HospitalityClub) or in guest houses but when I am on the road I just camp.
What and where I eat?
I believe food is one of the most important part of journey not only as matter of energy, foods are one the most important part of any culture which shows geography, religion, culture, financial situation and many other factors which are essential to study a country. So I eat what normal people eat. I mostly go to local restaurant and eat local foods. Since first year of my journey I stopped eating rubbish food like MC Donald and KFC.
Where I can find safe water?
I drink water which local people drink as well. If they drink from the tab then I do the same and if they drink drinking water from the bottle I also do.
I have a water filter with me but still no use.
Did I have any major sickness or so?
Fortunately I didn’t have any major problem despite a few times fever and catching cold which is very normal. 2-3 times and I had a very small stomach problem which were no important.
Just once I had something like a mosquito bit back of my right knee which was growing fast. After few days it becomes like a small ball which was so painfull. after few days it was fine again.
Then I just bandaged it for few days and I didn’t use any medicine like anti biotic or so!
How do I finance my journey?
My journey is running by public donation. I had no money even one month before I started this journey. I received 500$ donation from my Swiss friends-Margareta Ferroni and Luis Bukhod-and it was all I had to start.
Right after, many of my friends from my home town helped me to start. During this journey just I am standing on public donation.
What is biggest difficulty in my journey?
The biggest difficulty of journey is visa!!! Getting visa is the hardest part and always there is a challenge to get visa.
As a person who is traveling with no plan, I have to always trust on what is happening, that trust is hard as well…it is like passing through a dark corridor which has no light to see what is going on around.
What is my plan?
I have an imaginary route in my mind but there is no guarantee to follow that route. I don’t use of any guide book and information. Just I follow what happens and it is very possible to change my plan by a finger tip.
However my main plan is to cycle through all 5 continents.
Why I am traveling alone?
I have no certain plan and I just follow what I feel inside. It is a quite possible to change my plan just in a second and it would be a bit hard to make it with someone who has his/her own desires or plans.
One of the most important parts of my journey is communicating with people and studies their life style and their mind. When I am alone I have more opportunity to contact people. When you are 2 person you have a shield around and people are not feeling comfortable to come close, but when you are alone then everyone feel free to start a conversation. In the other side as a lonely person I need also to interact with others and I do more effort to make it, because I need it.
Ok …of course there is some special moments you like it to share with someone you like most or even kiss your G/B friend when you have a big joy in your heart the time you are facing a beautiful scene to fill full your emotional needs but it seems a bit hard to have both, loneliness and learning or a good company and enjoy yourself.
I prefer loneliness and learning.
Why planting trees?
When I was thinking of this journey and I was planning it, I told myself:
“Hey Mohammad, you are going to cycle around the world and of course there would be a big joy and lot to learn. In the other side I had no money, so I was hoping for GOD and the universe to support me. I knew which this journey will be a gift, so what could I do in return? What I have to give back to appreciate this gift? As a naturalist and a person who learned a lot from the nature and also in regard of our current big problem we all are facing with, I found that nature is my answer but how I can help? It was like an intuition which I found WE NEED TREES and planting trees along the nation to respect our mother Earth.”
What I would recommend you?
I can just ask you to pack and hit the roads….That’s all.
