Riding her Peugeot bicycle on Durant Avenue in Berkeley, Poupeh Mahdavinader looks like any other cyclist.

Upon removing her helmet, revealing her white hijab, or Muslim scarf, she appears more unique, but you still wouldn't guess the 30-year-old Iranian woman has traveled halfway across the world since April.

Mahdavinader, a social worker in her native Tehran, is the first Iranian woman to attempt to travel alone on her bike around the world as an "ambassador of peace."

Dressed in running shoes, white sweats and a multi-colored windbreaker, Mahdavinader said there are two reasons for her world trek. One is to travel the world "in the name of love, friendship and global peace." The other is to raise money for Rahmat, an orphans' charity in Iran.

When she began her career in social work four years ago, Mahdavinader thought of traveling the world to raise awareness and funds for orphans in Iran. She said there's no political message in her journey.

"It had been my dream since I was a little girl," Mahdavinader said through a translator. "But I realized that what I was doing for the kids in Iran was more important (than travel), and maybe I should leave my global travels for the hereafter."

Early this year, she resolved to make her dream a reality.

With the support of her family, she planned to start around the world on March 21, heading first to Turkey and Greece and then riding across Europe. But the U.S. bombing in Iraq changed her plans. Instead, on April 3 she took a plane to Rome, and began cycling there.

With only $350 in her pocket and no religious or political sponsors, Mahdavinader first visited the Vatican in Rome and then made her way to England. Along the way, she met many people who wrote messages on her "peace flag."

On July 30, she arrived in Boston from London by plane. From there, she biked to New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. She said she couldn't get anyone to ride through the isolated parts of Texas and Arizona with her so she took a plane from Atlanta to Oakland the first week of October.

Mahdavinader plans to leave the Bay Area for Los Angeles this week. From Southern California, she plans to fly to Japan, New Zealand, China, India and the Middle East country of Oman. She will finish her journey in Saudi Arabia, where she will attend a pilgrimage in the holy Muslim city of Mecca.

She said the people she has met in Europe and the United States have been very generous. In the Bay Area, several Iranian organizations have donated funds to her cause and asked her to speak at events held in her honor.

Talieh Shahrokhi, a volunteer at the Persian Center in Berkeley, learned about Mahdavinader through her Web site and invited her to speak about her travels.

"The first time I spoke with her, I was almost in tears," said Shahrokhi, 27, who was born in Iran. "I think what she is doing is admirable. Her message has nothing to do with politics or religion. I think most people don't look at her gender, they look at her cause."

Shahrokhi, of San Jose, said seeing Mahdavinader riding her bicycle reminded her of a bad experience she had riding her bicycle in northern Iran in 1996. She said she was riding along a beach on the Caspian Sea when she was almost arrested.

"I believe at that time there was a law that no woman could ride a bike," she said. "I think I pretended I didn't know the law, and they told me next time I would be arrested."

Since then the laws and the political climate for women have relaxed in some parts of Iran, such as the capital, Tehran, where Mahdavinader lives, she said.

"Many people in the U.S. don't know that Iran is now more progressive than other countries (in the Middle East)," Mahdavinader said.

Hamid Mavani, an imam, or religious leader, at the Islamic Cultural Center in Oakland, said both men and women who belong to his mosque admire Mahdavinader's mission.

Mahdavinader spoke at the center Oct. 11 about her trip.

"I'm very inspired by her courage and dedication to universal values of peace and justice," Mavani said. "Being an Iranian (in) itself has some preconceptions in the mindset of many people. But in spite of the negative images and portrayals of Iranians, she was determined to come here."

Mavani said when Mahdavinader spoke at the center she told the audience she had imagined Americans being less welcoming because of the history of relations between Iran and the U.S. The two countries suspended diplomatic relations during Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979.

The only bad experience she has had was when a thief tried to steal her back pack in Marseilles, France. Mahdavinader said her martial arts training came in handy; she punched the would-be thief, and he fled.

She speaks with her family in Tehran every day. They worry about her but know she has always been adventurous, Mahdavinader said.

"My belief is that on this trip, I have a special mission. Every human being has a mission on this earth, and this is mine," she said.