Yukon, Alaska
Our team is going to storm about 2, 000 kilometers long stage of the Yukon River from Circle town to the coast of Bering Sea. Through Yukon River in fact belongs to the territory of Alaska which was discovered in 1741 when Russian navigators Bering and Chirikov led their expedition ships here. For next 126 years Alaska belonged to Russia. The preceding period is most often considered prehistoric as if nothing has ever been here before. Which is not really true: the first Alaskan inhabitants were Siberian hunters coming here in search of the mammoths. They crossed the Bering Strait by using a natural ice bridge, and before the beginning of the ice-age, 6, 000 years BC they became the forefathers of Alaskan Indians. Only in 1867 Alaska became the property of the USA.
Tatarstan
While crossing the Russian Federation, our team is going to visit several ancient cities that, despite their belonging to Russia, are still representing different cultures. First of them is Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan. Being the object of pride of the largest country in the world it still is the soul of utterly original and definitely recognizable nation.
Bashkortostan
After leaving Kazan, our expedition is going to enter Russian „Stone Belt” - the Ural Mountains or exactly its last link – Southern Urals – the biggest part of which is covered with the forest and is the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Russia – Chelyabinsk
The last stop right before entering the truly Asian world is Chelyabinsk. With its more than 1.1 million of inhabitants, it is the ninth largest city in the Russian Federation.
Kazakhstan
The fourth country of transit for our expedition and also the ninth biggest country in the world is Kazakhstan: the bowl filled with hot dust and spicy herbal aroma.
Altai Republic
For the entire centuries culture layer has been accumulating in the places where human being used to live. This is the feature we need as much as we need good infrastructure or friends, for instance. The great artist, philosopher, human history researcher and traveler Nicholas Roerich has said “If you are looking for the most beautiful place, you should be looking for the oldest one”. And he has actually found one of these places his soul was longing for in the Altay Mountains.
Mongolia
,,Most common religions in Mongolia are Mahāyāna Buddhism and Shamanism, other four percents of inhabitants are Muslims. This is why we consider this place the land of meditation and true spiritual inspiration. There is barely any other place on Earth that has preserved such a naturalism and beauty of wilderness. Noise of modern civilization has not reached yet large steppes of Mongolia, and herds of wild animals do not have memorized the sound of hunting Jeep engines.” (Andis Pikans)
China
China is a female realm that has no appetite for war, traveling and discovering; it is more comfortable at its cozy sweet home. China lives by its own rules; it does not look back at someone else’s order and does not try to follow someone else’s wealth pattern. China does not reckon with the haste of the rest of the world, it only takes account of its own traditions. China has its own way and it is positioned to immortality and invulnerability.
Laos
Laos, „The Realm of Ten Thousand Elephants and the White Parasol”, as its ancient name Lan Sang is translated, is the least developed and, it means, the least tourism polluted of three French Indochina ex-colonies, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Cambodia
There were difficult conditions in the mountainous Laos, unbearable for a white man and his equipment, and sometimes for any man at all. Now it is being changed to similar paths in neighboring Cambodia, also known as the most bombed land and the country where socialistic commune has taken a really phantasmagoric shape.
Thailand
Further way of our expedition goes through hot, bright and wet Thailand or, to be precise, that fifth of Thailand that lies in the Malay Peninsula and is covered with rainforests, typical for this climate. That is why, especially now, in the rainy period, this place is wet, bright and hot.
Malaysia
The rest of the Malay Peninsula is occupied with Malaysia, and this part of the country is home for 4/5 of the Malaysian inhabitants, the other fifth of the country is located at the Borneo Island and many other tiny islands. Malaysia has soaked in all the best from all the Asian countries. This is why, to a great extent, it resembles some of Thailand, some of China, some of Indonesia, yet, with its own unique features.
Singapore
The cross-point of civilizations forming the entire culture of Southeast Asia is Singapore, „The Lion City”. Following a Malay legend, a prince from Sumatra has met a lion here, which is considered a good sign, and decided to build a city in this place. Today Singapore is an independent state and a business and culture capital for thirty-nine years already.
Indonesia
In our childhood many of us have pictured exotic Southeastern countries with women dressed in bright sheets, easily carrying fruit tower baskets on their heads, followed by yelling monkeys. Well, these sheets are sarongs made from batik, painted silk, or colored cotton, and these are being worn by both men and women. Baskets are not always filled with fruits only but anything useful in a household and yes, women here mostly are carrying their stuff around on their heads. However, if these are still fruits, then they are growing on the threes around, just where these yelling monkeys and thousands of other creatures live. Pirates of the South Chinese and shamans are also dwelling here in this country. And its name is Indonesia, flower baskets of the Pacific, is its name given by Marco Polo.
Australia
‘There is that Australia, a sort of parody, or rather a defiance of universal laws in the face of the rest of the world!” - Grimard, botanist.
Lapas redaktore Linda
+371 26179082
linda.zarovska@inbox.lv
ekspedīcijas plānošana Andis
+371 29210883
andis.pikans@kurbads.lv