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Two UK teachers, Richard Sears and Nick Gough, haveovertakenthe record for the longest journey made in a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled vehicle).
They have travelled 37,500 kilometres and passed through 37 countries. They passed the record for a tuk-tuk journey of 37,410 km, set by Germans Susi Bemsel and Daniel Snaider in 2005, while crossing Northern Peru.
The pair, who left London in August, have travelled across deserts and forests. They have also survived close encounters (相遇) with elephants in Uganda and Botswana and an accident in Malaysia.
"Although there have been many testing times, we are happy to have experienced such wonderful places and to have met some truly great people," Nick said.
Talking about their motivation (动机), Richard said, "The world's leaders have made a promise to achieve primary education worldwide by 2015, but over 57 million primary-aged children are now still out of school. Many more are in school, though they still cannot get better learning opportunities."
To raise awareness (意识) of education projects in parts of the world where many kids have no chance to go to school, the pair planned this journey. They have been visiting schools along the route to get to know their needs and invite sponsors through their charity Tuk Tuk Travels.
Their choice of transport was designed to take advantage of its slow-paced, open and friendly nature to unlock different cultures and learn about and from their values and struggles (挣扎). The vehicle itself is eye-catching.
When their tuk-tuk broke down, not for the first time and just 70 kilometres short of the world record mark, the pair had to push the 800-kilogram vehicle for three days to make up the distance.
Having had their tuk-tuk fixed in Chepén, Peru, Richard and Nick are now back on the road. On reaching Chile, they will become the first people to drive a tuk-tuk around the world.