IF a cat really had nine lives as the saying goes, then "Fierce Cat" Meng Qi would spend at least eight lives traveling around the world by bicycle.

One day in 2005, before he became "Fierce Cat," a friend sent a text message to the Hangzhou businessman in foreign trade, asking if he wanted to cycle together to the Tibet Autonomous Region.

He declined but after the friend returned from his biking adventure with wonderful stories, Meng was inspired to travel by bicycle, and his own solo travel saga began.

Meng, who is bespectacled and slightly balding, is known as Fierce Cat on Biketo BBS and hzbike.com. Now he is famous for his travel posts and has many fans. Some call him Fierce Cat Senior.

Meng says he chose Fierce Cat as a name because he wanted to stand out, cats usually being cute and tame. Adding "fierce" showed some contrast and flare.

He's a no-frills, do-your-research-beforehand solo cyclist. He rides simple bikes and can fix them along the way.

He composes poems, or revises famous poets, before he sets out on a new journey. His journeys have themes - like the footprints of the Buddha or the search for Christopher Columbus.

Meng also speaks good English and a bit of Spanish (he's really working hard on it) and German.

He has been to many countries and regions and is circling the globe, region by region.

He made it to the Tibet Autonomous Region, the countries of Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Himalayas, Italy and the Middle East, including Egypt and Israel. He's been to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Tokyo, and plans to visit mainland United States, Spain and France next year.

Meng owns two simple bikes, a Giant and a DahonSP16 folding bike - not what you'd think professionals rode. They've taken him a long way and when he bought the Dahon it already had check-in labels from many countries.

The Giant cost 790 yuan (US$116) and took him to Southeast Asia and back.

He doesn't have professional riding gear; he carries a simple camera and a rain-proof back pack. A big soda bottle serves as his water container.

His home is full of books, magazines, DVDs from the Discovery Channel and the BBC and they are not only in shelves but also scattered around the house.

Meng has just finished reading a biography of Christopher Columbus and is reading travel notes on Spain and about 10 travel books, in preparation for his trip starting next month.

Before going to Egypt, he immersed himself in history and culture for six months and can talk nonstop about the ancient north African country.

He considers himself rather mad to undertake the lone adventures.

In 2007, he cycled alone to Southeast Asia, crossing the border into Vietnam - it was the first time he crossed an international border with his bike.

He's had a lot of adventures and is never lonely.

At the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel in Thailand, he visited the room where famous singer Teresa Teng, died. In the Temple of Karnak in Egypt, he ran into famed Egyptologist Professor Zahi Hawass, cited in many documentaries about Egypt.

In Laos, he met a German fellow who had fallen in love with a local woman, got married and gave up life in Frankfurt to be a farmer in a poor village.

At Nam-Co Lake in the Tibet region, he met a man who had cycled alone for 96 months, eight years, without going back home. Meng thought he had met someone as crazy as him. They just nodded to each other.

One of his notable adventures was in Egypt in April 2008. He had read in guide books that Egyptian police follow lone foreigners around - the books were right. He had never had an encounter with police until he landed in Egypt. They didn't want this strange Chinese guy to get in trouble.

On his first day he was stopped by a policeman who said it was unsafe for a foreigner to bike alone and offered to drive him to his destination. Meng pretended to return to his hotel and gave the police the slip, but on a side road he was chased by a pack of dogs and nearly injured. That was Day 1.

On Day 2, he was always followed by a police car. On Day 3, he was escorted by one policeman after another until reaching a hotel where even the clerk was watching him.

He got used to it, even took pictures for the policemen. He felt like the Olympic Torch - it had to get to its next destination without problems.

He kept track of how many Egyptian police it took to ensure a lone Chinese bicyclist had a safe journey: 39 policemen and nine cars.

He found that Chinese and English didn't help much in small villages in Laos and Cambodia - many of those who spoke other languages were travelers like him. But he found numerous ways to communicate.

"It is as if you're hanging out with girls. Everything is expressed via eye contact and expressions. It is actually better not to speak."

Meng always leaves his local map behind at a marker every time he leaves a region, so he no longer has to remember difficult place names.

But when he begins a new journey he likes to recite poems, revised a bit to suit the undertaking.

Here's his take on poet Pu Suanzi, and it makes a statement about Fierce Cat:

Wind and rain send the spring away,

Flying snowflakes welcome the spring.

Already a hundred meters of ice at Mt Everest,

Fierce Cat still comes.

Comes not by car,

But cycles around the world.

The day dream has come true,

I will smile in the blossoms.

Diary of Fierce Cat

Southeast Asia under sunshine, February 2007

Guilin-Vietnam-Laos-Thailand-Cambodia, 3,566km, 50 days

Everlasting Lazikou; dead Jiuzhai, July 2007

Sichuan, 800km, 15 days

Fly over Himalayas; search for the Buddha's footprints, October 2007

Lhasa-Nepal-India-Pakistan, 3,050km, 40 days

Exodus: listening to the Ten Commandments, April-May 2008

Egypt-Israel-Palestinian territories, 1,785km, 40 days

Across the osmanthus blossom in the Alps, September 2008

Lake Como, northern Italy, 200km, four days

Teardrops of the Arizona, July 2009

Beautiful tale of Sicily, September 2007

Southern Italy, 1,082km, 20 days

From Qingxi Tomb to three tombs outside Shanhaiguan, 800km, 14 days, April-May 2010

Upcoming

Conquest of paradise; search for Columbus, 2010 July-September 2010

Italy-France-Monaco-Spain-Andorra-Portugal-United States-Dominica, 2,500km, 50 days

In search of Shi Da Kai; Suzhou-Guangxi-Dadu River, 2011