Splitting a String into n-character parts, without using a regex

[leons]

Dear Monks,

How can I easily split a certain string ... Let's say:

my $string='aabbccddee';

Into n-character parts, without using a regex. The only thing
I came up with was (assuming I'd want 2-character parts):

push @row,$& while('aabbccddee'=~/\w{2}/g);

Which would result in @row being:

@row=('aa','bb','cc','dd','ee');

Is there a better way ... i.e. by using split or map or whatever ?
Because I really don't want to use a regex or a while-loop

Thanks a Lot,

Bye, Leon