An Irish veteran of several foreign adventures said that he will travel 10,000 kilometers by bicycle from Ireland to Myanmar for charity, part of which will go to the Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity (KRCEE) based in Mae Sot at the Thai-Myanmar border.
Hugh Bergin is scheduled to leave from Kilkenny in Ireland on April 27 and says he expects the trip to take six to eight months. He plans to cycle all the way, a journey that will take him across Europe to the Black Sea, through Georgia and across the Caspian Sea. The journey will become increasingly exotic and remote as he heads eastward over the old Silk Road of Central Asia. He aims to traverse Pakistan and northern India, then tackle the Himalayan foothills of Nepal and Assam before reaching Myanmar.
Bergin says he will fund the trip himself, but all donations will be split between the Susie Long Hospice Fund, a foundation established in Ireland in honor of a friend of his, and the KRCEE which operates education facilities at refugee camps along the border.
The 10,000-km journey promises to be physically exhausting, but Bergin is no stranger to a challenge— in 2006 he undertook a 20,000-km solo motorbike trip across Africa, also in the name of charity.
At the time of writing, there is no land entry into Myanmar via the restive region of northeastern India, but Bergin says he is hopeful that those circumstances will quickly change due to the program of reform that the country has embarked on.
Readers can follow regular updates on Hugh Bergin’s journey blog at: www.bicycletoburma.com.
