Raymond Lee had been traveling the world by bicycle for two years when COVID-19 erupted and he suddenly found himself stranded in the West African nation of Guinea.
After cycling through Europe and then across the Sahara, the 33-year-old South Korean was in Guinea, heading south, when the government shut the borders in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
“When I was in Guinea, this thing became really serious,” said Lee, a former flight attendant.
He was repeatedly turned away from hotels in the capital, Conakry, in what Lee described as a prejudiced reaction to the pandemic.
“They didn’t let me in because I am Asian,” he said by telephone, explaining that he was turned away from seven or eight hotels.
“It was pretty messed up,” he added. “I personally never experienced any racism in my entire life — this is the first time.”
Lee began asking around on the street for a place to stay — only to be swindled by a man who agreed to host him for US$55 per month, but who vanished with the money.
With nowhere to stay and living off savings, he found a room in an upmarket hotel that he could not afford for long.
After a plea on Facebook, somebody eventually put Lee in touch with a guesthouse that agreed to take him, and where he estimates he might have to stay for months.
Lee said that Conakry is full of good people and that far worse could have befallen him during his round-the-world odyssey.
“I wasn’t shocked,” Lee said.
“We expect so many unexpected things,” he added, referring to nomads such as himself who pedal around the world.
His predicament is preferable to a traffic accident or serious illness, he said, both of which are real possibilities when on the road.
Lee started his journey in New Zealand in March 2018 — where he started a YouTube video diary — before flying to Australia to work and save money, and then on to Europe.
“Bike traveling is the best way to travel the whole world,” he said, explaining that he could stop whenever and wherever he liked.
After struggling over mountains in Italy and Spain, Lee cycled into Morocco and then into the vast desert, where, despite harsh conditions, the cycling was smooth.
“In the middle of the desert it was nothing but endless horizon for days, weeks, months,” he said.
Lee is whiling away his days at his Conakry guesthouse, but when the restrictions are lifted, he plans to continue to Ivory Coast.
“I just want to go to as many countries as I can,” Lee said. “I’ve been traveling for two years and I don’t think that is enough.”
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