Saturday, April 10, 2010

WT: Battling the Yellow Dust, Supported by Friends


Hey Mau-Netherlands & Ger-Malaysia

Perfect timing for a wake-up call. I've been wondering the same thing (one...when does the next course begin, this week??? two...what have you guys been up to???) I passed all three stages of the Tour Du Work and learning (:

It's been so long since I rode my bike but my lungs are caked with the yellow dust and infections persist. This year has been especially hard on me, although making babies was an easy part (:

The idea of being purely alone (while on expedition) is my recurring daydream. But, in my face is the battle of everyday work and learning which is the toughest part of the routine in Korea.

The environmental pollution (or my allergic reaction exposed while training in it?) is especially difficult this year is unreal, I've probably shaved a few years off my healthy life with exposure to something I can't even see, the invisible dust that is killing me...

Feeling lonely? I know this too. I was in that place during the final of three years in the sunshine state...along that road, through a 6-month stage at an Ashram, I changed my focus from being an 'acrobat of the road' when I transitioned to becoming an English teacher in Korea/China. It was the deeper concentration while living with the monks (meditation and yoga everyday) which provided a new vision and purpose of settling down (teaching became a career occupation, my wife became my guide). There are always exceptions in life, one is my ambitions of riding the bike 32,000km in one journey.

My friend/blogger/writer
Juan is the Acrobat of the Road (read that blog!) He's designing an eco-friendly lifestyle selling a book to support his journey, I would recommend the read to anyone considering taking the wanderlust life professionally (:

Juan crafts his daily life with observations of the daily lives of the people he encounters off the beaten paths. Providing insightful presentations about his nomadic experiences; he's living free and his current philanthropic journey rediscovers South America's cultures, economy and everyday lives of different communities living across the hinterland of an enormous continent in the southern hemisphere.

When you finally put out that 'lonely fire' you'll be surrounded by life's priorities. It's at this stage, when you'll start to think about how good it is to be alone (on the range/road in my case).

I've been blog-tweaking and have attempted to learn 'Dreamweaver CS4' to design a professional site for the expedition in 2012, however, alone on the project I am struggling to put it together. I think staying indoors to protect my health is really a mental struggle...the tiny dust I can't see outside is slowly killing me...it's been one hell of a fight this spring!

Regular blog has it's new updates:
Korean-World

My wish is feeling better...but I am still in 'recovery mode' from a dust I cannot see coming from Mongolia, across China (adding heaps of toxins and bio-hazardous pollutants), getting finer and less visible the further it travels on airmass from it's origin until, finally, getting trapped in my lungs, my throat, and this is where the battle is being neither won nor lost, I am just trapped until this toxic plume works its way out, leaving a wake of residual infection to battle until I get back out on the road training again. I miss the feeling of waking up smelling a bicycle journey hot on the stove!!!

Peace to my fellows in this 'journey' called life and be not alone, send me a message ^_^...!!!

Brian Perich

2 comments:

Roy Everitt said...

Sounds like hell for anyone with an interest in healthy exercise. I feel for you.

Are you able to train indoors at all?

You could certainly do with some rain to wash all that filthy dust out of the atmosphere.

Here in England the rain has actually stopped and the last few days have been lovely.

Roy

Unknown said...

Hey Roy, thanks for this message! Yes, it's a fine day in Korea when the rain comes and finishes cleaning up all this muck (air pollution). I've grown accustomed to it, but the sight of it makes me wish I was somewhere really green and clean. After the rains, Korea is delightful, seeing the rice fields and riding the mountain roads, well that's a fine day indeed! Thanks for reading, I'm enjoying the subject from indoors, I'll be back pedaling soon (heaps of allergy medicine seem to be working right now :) & I promise some good cycling-related photos to follow soon. Ironically, cycling sustains my life in Korea, it's also a habit that is killing my healthy lungs in another process. Bring the rain, happy trails to you in England, thanks for visiting too! Peace & Power to your Pedals, Remember to Go Green! Brian P

Please share the free inspiration and adventure cookbook with all your friends and families (:

Ted Simon Foundation

About the Korean-World Author

Brian Perich was an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturer for a decade, father, and adventure cyclist based in South Korea.

Previously, Brian has led Canoe adventures in Quetico Provincial Park, Atikokan, Ontario, Canada (1993/1999); led Grand American camping adventures (2000); lived at Paramahansa Yogananda's SRF Ashram for 5 months (see the film "AWAKE"), formerly worked in titanium welding at Agilent Technologies, formerly worked in Winery industry in Marin County with Kendall Jackson in California; Surfing and Meditation continued for several years in California, British Columbia, South Korea, Yoga training in California 1999-2000.

Between 1994-1998 - Brian completed his own adventures with motorcycles. His motorcycling marathons took him across the United States and central/western Canada, while traveling solo over an astounding 24,000km in 60 days! Brian endured 900 mile/1300km average days in the motorcycle saddle and apparently loved every minute of those adventures.

Today, he has given up motorcycle adventures altogether, but finds an outlet for his enthusiasm in outdoor recreation while bicycle touring and micro-blogging about those experiences on his mountain bikes.

While employed as an English teacher in South Korea, Brian has became an advocate for bicycle touring on his mountain bikes. The Korean-World blog originated from those small adventures in Korea, now expanded to cover his recent trek down the TransMongolian highway to the Gobi Desert, cycling 900km east through the Khentii grasslands and in 2012 crossing Mongolia in 45 days, 2500 kilometers 1553 miles. HimalayasX expedition Brian previously cycled across western China, the Taklamakan Desert, the northern Himalayas of East Turkestan Xinjiang/Uyghur Autonomous Region, the corrugated back roads and mountains of Kham Tibet. Brian successfully completed his 2011 mountain bike expedition with 3200 kilometers / 1988 miles unsupported, on/off road MTB adventure cycling.
Brian has completed his second mountain bike journey, MongoliaX expedition - Crossing Mongolia 2012, an unsupported mountain bike MTB expedition across 2500km of Outer Mongolia from Ulanbaatar to Altai Taven-Bogd National Park bordering China, Russia and Mongolia.


In 2013, as a sequel to a trilogy of cycle tours, Brian enjoyed a more leisure bicycle tour onboard his Koga-Miyata World Traveller seeing the northern tier of the United States and western Canada covering 3400 kilometers / 2000 miles in 30 days. This North American cycle tour was called Totherocktour. Enjoying the adventure of bicycle travel and every great conversation started while traveling on the road - has refueled his inspirations to cycle around the Earth. In 2013, while he cycled solo from the Great Lake State of Michigan, United States to Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He weaved through local communities and reconnected with friends, family and community after spending almost a decade in Asia.


Brian is now supporting several non-profit foundations through expeditions: IDEAS Foundation of Canada IDEAS is the acronym for Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society which supports the IBD community, those suffering from IBD-inflammatory bowel disease, also known as Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis.


The second non-profit foundation is ETE.ORG - Education Through Expeditions, UK which supports educational outreach programs inside schools around the world. ETE connects explorers with students in the classroom, through an interactive online program in development (Beta).


Brian is researching support for a 18000 kilometer bicycle expedition across the Americas: North, Central and South America - ONE -Arctic to Argentina
Please contact him if you are interested in helping out.

Twitter: Cycleagain
Location: Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea or southern Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for visiting my Journal from Asia

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Brian's friends have also been...Cycling in Korea!

Brian's friends have also been...Cycling in Korea!

Cycling in Korea, Warning: always wear a helmet! (I gave mine to my friend)

Cycling in Korea, Warning: always wear a helmet! (I gave mine to my friend)

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