Round-the-world adventurer reaches Singapore
John Aglionby in Singapore
Friday November 18, 2005
The Guardian
A Dorset adventurer seeking to become the first person to
circumnavigate the globe solely under human power yesterday
completed the latest leg of his adventure when he paddled into
Singapore in a sea kayak.
Jason Lewis, 38, from Askerswell, arrived 24 hours later than
intended after Indonesian immigration authorities delayed him so
much he missed Wednesday's tide and ended up stranded overnight on
a tiny island in a storm, with no supplies apart from a can of
beer. "I found it in the back of the boat and it was my best friend
last night as I stood under a bush getting very wet," he told the
Guardian.
But the holdup is unlikely to have an impact since Lewis is already
almost a decade behind his original schedule of 2½ years for the
whole adventure, which is called Expedition 360. "Sometimes I think
I'm completely deluding myself as I see my friends in the UK with
their 'normal' lives," he said. "But I'm determined to see it
through now."
"It" has been cycling, walking and inline skating across land,
pedalling a specially designed boat across the Atlantic and
Pacific, and kayaking through the Indonesian archipelago. He is now
more than two-thirds of the way round the world.
After surviving a crocodile attack in Australia, the former
musician said the hardest part of the Indonesian leg was neither
being mugged in Sumatra nor navigating red tape, but coping with a
lack of privacy. "Wherever we went there must have 50 to 60 people
there and you realise privacy is a privilege. Even when you were
trying to have a crap under a bush there would be five or six
people going 'hello mister'. I did find it very wearing."
Keeping him motivated after 11 years of travelling is the
educational aspect of the trip. This involves some 1,200 schools
around the world, 10% of which are in the UK. "We're targeting
nine- to 13-year-olds because that's the age where they're most
excited about expeditions," he said of the programme, which
includes video lessons and promoting cultural exchanges.
But for the next six months, the monsoon season and a lack of money
have halted his progress. "I'm basically skint so I've got to do
some work to get the money together for the next leg," he said,
referring to his plan to cycle India. Sponsorship means he has
£4,000 saved but he reckons he needs 10 times that to fund the
return to Britain.
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,7445,1645377,00.html
