Riding for gold - a thirst for adventure

I had an interesting afternoon yesterday. At the last moment, I decided to attend the flagging off of David Wu's two-year cycling quest around the world in an attempt to raise funds for childhood cancer, in collaboration with the National Cancer Society Malaysia. It is an honourable project and he is accompanied on this venture by a young cameraman, Ving Lee.

For quite some time already, Wu had been bitten by this bug which made him want to go out of his comfort zone to raise funds for various projects.

For example, he had attempted to walk solo from Kuala Lumpur to Kelantan a few years back and he raised enough money to rebuild a house for a flood victim there. He had called it his #projectwumah then, an ingenious play on his surname.

Then, in a more ambitious project, he decided to cycle his way to his ancestral home in China, which took about four months to complete. On this venture, he was joined by two other friends who accompanied him into Thailand.

And so this is his latest adventure. Now irresistibly bitten by the travel bug, he decided that it should be nothing less than to cycle around the world to visit the seven wonders of the world. Forty countries, 35,000 kilometers. Originally, he was meant to do it alone but Ving Lee somehow got into the act to accompany him. Lee, I had gathered, is also a cameraman or photographer by profession and we can expect some wonderful pictures from him in the next two years.

Their travels will take them overland through Asia and Europe, and they will fly to the Americas and thence back to Asia to continue their cycling adventure down from China and back home.

Several weeks ago, Wu had expressed some difficulty applying for a visa to enter Pakistan and I had offered him some help to contact the honorary consul in Penang but eventually, I learnt that he had resolved the problem on his own in KL. Good for him.

So there I was at the National Cancer Society Malaysia headquarters yesterday. Just in time to hear the concluding speeches and then the flag-off from the society's premises.

With both Wu and Lee doing their bit to make a difference in this nation of ours, we can all also chip with with a ringgit or two of our money for this worthy fund-raising cause for childhood cancer.

To donate, bank in to Public Bank Berhad account no: 3988587622 in the name of The National Cancer Society of Malaysia.