Dream of driving five continents achieved
Print Edition
A 44-YEAR-OLD Chinese man has concluded driving around five continents after finishing the last leg in the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia.
Chen Yong, a former technician in the city of Yibin, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, started his journey through the North and South American continents on August 2.
He arrived in Ushuaia on Sunday after 200 days of travel.
The South American leg is the last of his five-continent challenge. It took him three trips over four years to drive through Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and South America.
“I didn’t know how far I could go when I started this adventure, because it was a challenging and almost impossible goal for me,” Chen said.
“I used up 20 years of my savings to realize a dream I had when I was young.
“I now know that no matter if your dream is big or small, you can make it come true as long as you take action.”
Before he started his trip, he worked as a technician in a state-owned enterprise in Yibin.
Though Chen has little knowledge of foreign languages, he has set foot in 77 countries and regions.
He started his first cross-continent adventure on June 18, 2014.
He brought his 14-year-old son along as he drove from Yibin, through Beijing and Russia to Milan in Italy in two months.
His wife complained about him being away for such a long time, but Chen said he was insistent.
On February 13, 2015, Chen departed from Milan to Africa and arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Town 10 months later.
“I received a lot of help on getting the necessary documents as I traveled across countries,” he said.
“I planned to go to America from Africa, but I ran out of money and had to go back home.”
He started to plan his third cross-continent trip in July last year.
He shipped his SUV from China to San Francisco and flew to the city by plane with two other travel companions, a friend and a freelancer, both of whom are intrepid travelers.
Chen said each of them spent close to 200,000 yuan (US$29,800) for their journey across North and South America.
As he drove through unfamiliar territories, he shared pictures and videos on the WeChat and Douyin, known as Tik Tok overseas.
A video he shot at Yellowstone National Park in the United States of a bear chase was viewed 6 million times.
His next goal is to set foot on the frozen wastes of the Antarctic.
“There is never an end to the journey of life as there is never an end to one’s dreams,” Chen said.
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