FIRST his mobile phone was stolen. Then his bike. Now one young man isn’t sure if he will be able to continue the cross-China bicycle tour he had planned.

    “In a million years, I never thought something like this would happen,” said the young man, surnamed Li, who is a cycling enthusiast.

    The Guangxi native, who had originally planned to bike around China, had his smartphone and bike stolen in two separate incidents shortly after arriving in Shenzhen, the third leg of his cross-country bicycle tour.

    Li, 24, started his journey from his home in Guigang City on May 20. He brought only 3,000 yuan (US$484) cash with him and a guitar, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

    He planned to bike through Southeast China before heading north along the coast to Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu.

    He then would continued his tour westward to Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou provinces, and then further west to Tibet before heading back north to Xinjiang and then turning east to Qinghai, Gansu before he made his way to Northeast China.

    Li arrived in Shenzhen after spending some time in Haikou and Sanya in Hainan Province.

    After his arrival, Li set up his tent at Shenzhen Bay Park for the night of June 20. During the night, someone ripped open his tent and took his phone.

    The Shenzhen Bay police didn’t help him much, only telling him to check the surveillance cameras with the park management office. So he dipped into his savings and bought a new phone.

    Li decided to find a job in Shenzhen to make up for the money he spent on the phone. While researching job opportunities in a Huanggang Internet bar, a thief made off with Li’s locked bike just outside the bar.

    Li found his sleeping bag and other belongings scattered on the ground.

    Li, who has worked at a pharmaceutical company in Guangxi for nearly three years, quit his job recently to go on his cycling trip, he said.

    Police have started an investigation to help Li.

    “I’ll decide what to do tomorrow, even if I need to go home first — it’s just for now,” said Li. “I’ll finish my bike tour later.”

    (Zhang Xiaoyi)