By Jamaluddin Muhammad

BANGKOK, July 29 (Bernama) -- Two Malaysian cyclists today left this capital for Laos to continue their bid to cycle around the world in 288 days.

Businessman Mohd Aswad Zainal, 24, and soldier Abdul Khalib Zakaria, 40, departed from the Malaysian Embassy here, at 11.15am (Malaysian time: 12.15pm).

Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand Husni Zai Yaacob flagged them off as embassy staff bade them farewell.

The duo made a stopover in Bangkok on Tuesday after peddling 1,515km from their starting point in Kuala Lumpur on July 14.

"We are eager to complete this mission just to accelerate the 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit," said Mohd Aswad.

Each cyclist rides a mountain bike equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS), notebook, roaming mobile phone and carries 40kg food, cooking utensils, camp, tool box, tubes and spare tyres.

After Laos, they will proceed to China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Turkey and then take a ferry to Greece before cycling to Italy and France and take another ferry to the United Kingdom.

Following this, the duo will take a flight from London to Miami and another flight to Tokyo, and continue cycling to South Korea before taking another ferry back to China and continue their journey to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand.

They are expected to reach Kuala Lumpur in mid-April next year.

The two have taken seven years to plan for this RM130,000 project called 'Berbasikal Mengelilingi Dunia 2' (Cycling Around the World) or BMD2 after Kajang municipality president Datuk Hassan Nawawi Abd Rahman became the first Malaysian to cycle around the world in 389 days in 2002.

Hassan is the patron of the BMD2 project.

The duo's practices include cycling the Malaysia-Thailand-Laos-Vietnam-China-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia route in Febuary 2005 and around Borneo, covering Sabah-Sarawak-Brunei in 28 days in March last year.

"We met some good people who gave us water and place to stay during our past journeys. The sad part was that in some places, we were not welcome and chased out," said Abdul Khalib, an avid outdoor sportsman active in triathlon, boxing, rugby, shooting and swimming.

The father of four said they had to cycle between 100km and 150km daily to complete their task.

"We have to maintain a speed of 20km/hour to 30km/hour during our endurance," said Mohd Aswad, a bachelor.

Malaysians can follow the duo's adventures through http://bmd2.multiply.com

-- BERNAMA