HONG KONG, Sept 7 (AFP) - A French journalist arrived here Saturday on a round-the-world trip retracing Phileas Fogg's legendary 80-day journey, hoping to beat Jules Verne's hero by over 20 days.

Yves-Guy Berges, 65, left Paris July 28 by train, and needs to be back in the French capital in early October if he is to succeed in bettering Fogg's 19th-century feat, described in "Around the World in 80 Days."

"My main aim is to preserve a style of journalism that entertains and allows us to dream, but also keeps our feet on the ground," he said.

He added that modern jet travel had endangered a way of writing that "raises our awareness through discovery and chance meetings."

The journalist-adventurer is busy in the territory organizing passage by container ship across the Pacific to Los Angeles.

Travelling light with a single suitcase, Berges adapts his itinerary as he goes.

So far he has gone by boat from Sicily to Karachi in Pakistan, then by train and bus as far as Calcutta and by bus from there to Kathmandu.

He then hiked and drove across the Himalayas to Tibet, and bounced across China to the southern city of Guangzhou before crossing the border to Hong Kong.

"So far, all is going well," he said.

"I've met wonderful people. When you spend 90 hours with a group of Chinese in a bus, it's something you'll never forget. I sang them songs by Brel and Trenet ... I'm delighted."