The man who has hiked a world record of 81,000 kilometers over 10 years strode into the city of Zhangjiagang, in Jiangsu province, on April 27, to share the experience of his journeys with the local residents.

The city of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province invites Lei Diansheng, famous Chinese hiker and Guinness world record holder to its Xinyuan vocational resort on April 27, to share his experiences with local officials, enterprises, teachers and residents. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Lei Diansheng, has walked the equivalent of twice around the equator in just a decade. On his travels he broke his toenails for 19 times, wore out 52 pairs of shoes and underwent 19 robberies. Windstorms, avalanches, pythons, wolves and even running out of food and water could not stop Lei as he trudged on his endless path of discovery.

"Many times I wanted to quit and go back to a life of leisure," said Lei. "But after a night spent in the tent crying, I always woke up determined because I still had dream to chase, without which my life would be boring."

Lei is the first person to successfully walk across Lop Nur, a former salt lake in China which is now largely dried-up. The treacherous area has taken away many explorers' lives throughout years, including Chinese scientist Peng Jiamu and explorer Yu Chunshun. Lei learnt a lot from the failure of others and made sure he was fully prepared before the great challenge. Despite numerous risky moments in 31 days that nearly took his life away, Lei managed to write his name on the historic milestone at last.

The hiker Lei Diansheng took 31 days to walk across Lop Nur, the first person to ever accomplish the extraordinary milestone. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

As an old saying goes "reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles", the hiker said he had not learnt so much, but would never give up his dream of long distance travel. Lei shared many of his astonishing moments during his trip and encouraged people to stick to their dreams.

Lei plans to walk across the Silk Road within two years and write an autobiography to get more people involved in hiking.