IN A trip spanning over 12,000 miles and virtually the whole of Eurasia, a Manchester student has been planning to drive by car from London to Singapore for charity next month.
Adventurous Navin Amarasuriya, a first-year Business Management student, is hoping his feat will raise corporate cash for the charity Practical Action.
Navin, aged 23, has financed the trip entirely on his own, which included the purchasing of a twenty-year-old, four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Pajero.
His route will take him through southern Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.
Slight bureaucratic problems have dogged his preparations however, especially as permits to enter and drive through China have been proving difficult to obtain.
Navin was hopeful, though, saying that in the worst-case scenario he would: "drive there, knock on the door and see if they'll let me in."
The Practical Action charity is trying to reduce world poverty by working with poor people to help them develop skills and technology to create jobs, and improve their health and livelihoods. It also promotes the use of sustainable energy.
Practical Action's projects have included working with poor communities in developing countries to help with food production, shelter, sanitation and disaster mitigation.
How about looking after the environment and not going at all?
Ironically, according to the Practical Action website,
'The unsustainable use of fossil fuels in developed countries makes the planet more vulnerable to climate change, and the developing world is the hardest hit'.