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2 German bikers on charity mission

The Schneller Boarding School in Marka played host to a couple of unlikely guests t his weekend: Two German bikers on a 100,000-kilometre charity drive around the world.

Long time friends Joachim Von Loeben and Theo Schlaghecken began their adventure last month, which will take them two years to complete and cover 70 countries.

They plan to spend one year in East Europe and Asia, two months in Canada and the US, seven months in Central and South America and three months in Africa.

They aim to be back in Germany by April 2009. Travelling under the slogan "travel and do good", the pair are committed to donating 500 euros to a worthy cause in each country they visit. During their sojourn at the Schneller School guesthouse, the bikers donated 400 plates and 60 toothbrushes as part of their modest goal to contribute to the communities in which they pass through.

Father Hanna Mansour, director of the school which caters for 300 boys, including many orphans, described the bikers as "caring people who wanted to contri bute something sustainable."

The duo, whose next stage of the journey will see them pass through Saudi Arabia en route to Qatar, described Jordanians as "friendly and far more hospitable" than they expected.

"We were offered simple things like tea and soft drinks wherever we went, even at the gas station, without the expectation of payment... this would never happen in Germany," 40-year-old Schlaghecken said. He told The Jordan Times that he will make a point of visiting the bedouins in Wadi Rum as he wants to experience real nomadic desert culture. His partner, 36-year-old former banker Von Loeben, said he quit his job to experience more of the world. Three years ago, he made a similar trip across Africa and on his return wrote a book about his adventures called "Atempause."

But the seasoned traveller, who has visited over 60 countries, described his trip to the Dead Sea as a "unique experience" and the landscape as unlike anythi ng he had ever seen.

"It was a strange feeling not to dive in the sea, the only place I have ever swam where you jump in the water and float up," he said. So far the two have raised over 4,000 euros for their charity ride.

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