Ben and Faye's Eurasian Adventure: Stats, Observations, Recollections, and Closing Thoughts

One year and two days ago, the journey began. As we've reflected upon the trip, and the months of preparation that went into it, we're still not really sure what possessed us to imagine a voyage across the Eurasian continent with each other, of all people. We've been arch rivals longer than friends, and our constant competition with each other has led to a record number of pulled-out-hairs and disturbingly high spikes in blood pressure. We'd established a very tentative friendship only a month before deciding to share our post-graduation travels, and we seriously considered pitching our project as a reality show rather than an outreach venture. Yet somehow, it worked, and worked well (even without Fox). Despite countless revisions of just about every idea we took with us, we managed to hold three things constant: Eurasia, our partnership, and this blog. The project was born out of two desires: We wanted to travel, and we wanted our travels to have meaning beyond personal gratification. The first part was easy. It took a while to figure out how to accomplish the second. In the end, it came back to the discipline that had inspired and nurtured us, and our fears that younger students would be denied the same thrills we'd gained. Geography, then, would be our gospel. We took the project to school, hoping that our travels could help fill the gaps in our young students' Amero-centric educations and inspire them to someday set forth on their own journeys.


As the trip progressed, we realized that we were catering to a far more diverse audience than we'd originally planned on. Thus, the nature of the project changed. Our posts became longer and, at times, more political. Adults, it seemed, were equally hungry for tales of the rest of the world. But for some reason, too many of our cautiously curious countrymen were staying at home. We met less than a dozen fellow Americans during the course of the trek. Our focus thus grew as we tried to share not only the importance of geography but also that of travel, of living beyond borders and political constructs and accepting the shared humanity of every citizen of the globe. Lofty, we know. But such goal divergence served the original intent of the project- good travelers make good geographers. Good travelers and good geographers make great ambassadors, and that is perhaps what this world needs above all else. Our moments of greatest pride for this project have occurred when the students we spoke with told us how much they want to travel now, and the places they want to see. When they look at what we, and other travelers, are experiencing, and want to see for themselves. There is an entire generation of would-be explorers waiting in our schools, being alternately brainwashed by news reports telling them how scary the world is and inspired by the valiant teachers who try to show them otherwise. Any assistance we've provided in this aim is one of our greatest joys.

This blog is the end result of our efforts, of literally our blood, sweat, and tears. It was a difficult endeavor to say the least. Trying to write a textbook that reads like an adventure novel told by journalists catering to 12 year olds and 62 year olds alike, and everyone in between, all while battling dodgy internet connections, finicky censors, and intermittent power outages is even more challenging than one would originally suspect. We know we've made mistakes. We know that we've probably made more than a few factual errors. Please excuse us for these truly unavoidable, though lamentable occurrences.

Now, to the blog itself: We hope that we've made it as user-friendly as possible, but a few pointers might help the uninitiated to better navigate its depths. On the right, you'll find chronological links to all of our photo galleries, which, for better or worse, include virtually all of the pictures we took on the trip. Below these, we've included a list of geography and travel related websites we've found useful throughout our careers as students and wanderers. You'll also find our archived posts, indexed by the month in which they were posted. On this post, you'll also find the links organized by location. We think that this is a far more user-friendly system. We've also included interactive maps on each post, with pointers marking the locations described in that post. You can zoom in and out using the '+' and '-' icons in the upper left hand corner of each map. These maps are from the Google Earth database, and offer pretty high resolution snapshots of the places we visited, and all places on Earth for that matter. The maps on this particular post are not interactive, but are useful in that they better depict the actual route we took across Eurasia. Finally, even though we're officially signing off, we'll still be happy to answer any questions you may have. Simply leave us a comment, and we'll do our best to respond on the same page. We'll always gladly accept suggestions on how to improve the site, too. Good luck, and thanks for paying us a visit!

That said, we're presenting the trip as a cohesive unit below. The first section breaks down the distances we traveled, followed by the country-by-country listing of posts (which are linked- just click on the title). Under these you'll find lists of our best and worst experiences with food, people, and places. Finally, we've compiled a list of our favorite 20 memories from the adventure, which are all linked to their respective posts. Enjoy!

PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES... HOW WE CROSSED EURASIA

The Grand Eurasian Route Map

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and boats, motorbikes, and tuk-tuks...) :
We've used different colors to indicate our different modes of transportation.
Blue- planes
Green- trains
Red- buses, cars, vans, and tuk-tuks
Purple- boats
Orange- motorbikes

While we were putting these new maps together, we thought it would be interesting to look at how many miles we'd traveled, and how those miles broke down.
Including our flights to and from Eurasia, we traveled 38,831 miles. We think it makes more sense, however, to look at the miles we actually spent "on the trip," i.e. on the Eurasian continent. The grand total there is 15,753 miles.

The breakdown:

Planes: 23,268 miles

Trains: 9,189 miles

Buses: 4,330 miles

Cars: 1,360 miles

Boats: 502 miles

Motorbikes: 122 miles

Tuk-tuks: 60 miles.

.......................................................PRE-DEPARTURE.......................................................

Faye's Flight: Boston to Milan to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Ben's Flight: Alaska to Amsterdam to St. Petersburg, Russia.

Stateside Posts:

First Post- Scarborough, ME, January 2007

A Fortnight Until Liftoff- North Pole, AK, February 2007

Young Geographers in Mahoney Middle School- South Portland, ME, February 2007

Taking it All to School- North Pole, AK, February 2007

............................................................RUSSIA............................................................

Russia Posts:

Entrance Into Another World- St. Petersburg, Russia, February 2007

A Tale of Two Cities- St. Petersburg, Russia, February 2007

Ice-Skating in Red Square?!?- Moscow, Russia, February 2007

Hostel Life: Napoleon Hostel- Moscow, Russia, February 2007

A Traveler's Epiphany: Yaroslavsky Station- Moscow, Russia, February 2007

Riding That Train... Trans-Siberian Railroad- Moscow to Irkutsk, Russia, February 2007

Hello North Pole Elementary! -Irkutsk, Russia, February 2007

Finding Bliss, Part One -Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia, March 2007

Finding Bliss, Part Two -Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia, March 2007

Finding Bliss, Part Three -Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia, March 2007

Finding Bliss, Part Four -Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia, March 2007

Cow-Bone Breaking, on Video! -Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia (posted May 2007)

............................................................MONGOLIA............................................................

Mongolia Posts:

Hello Mahoney Middle! -Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, March 2007

Update and Olkhon Addendum -Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, March 2007

Out of the City and into the Void -Gobi Desert, Mongolia, March 2007

Luck of the Irish -Gobi Desert, Mongolia, March 2007

The Gobi in a Few Pictures -Gobi Desert, Mongolia, March 2007

The Blog That Wasn't Meant to Be -Gobi Desert, Mongolia, March 2007

UB or not UB... the "Real" Mongolia? -Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, March 2007

Dressing For Success -Mongolia/China, March 2007

............................................................CHINA............................................................

China Posts:

Austral-Eurasian Adventure? -Beijing, China, March 2007

A Modest Proposal -Beijing, China, April 2007

Portraits of Beijing -Beijing, China, April 2007

Profile of Beijing -Beijing, China, April 2007

The Train to Tibet -Beijing, China, to Lhasa, Tibet, April 2007

A Moment of Silence, a Moment of Silliness -Xi'an, China, April 2007

Answer Time -Xi'an, China, April 2007

The Dinner Bell Rings -Xi'an, China, April 2007

Learning as We Go: Web Albums! -Xi'an, China, April 2007

Beijing 2007 -Beijing, China, April 2007

Ridin' That Train... Part Two -Beijing to Lhasa (Tibet), China, April 2007

A Whole New Day in Blog Land -Wuhan, China, May 2007

Ben and Faye's Eurasian Adventure: Student Edition! -Wuhan, China, May 2007

A Lhasa Letdown -Lhasa, Tibet, May 2007

The Thangka Artist -Lhasa, Tibet, May 2007

On the Road to Everest, Day One -Lhasa to Gyantse, Tibet, May 2007

On the Road to Everest, Days Two and Three -Shigatse to Everest Base Camp, Tibet, May 2007

On the Road to Everest, Days Three to Five -Everest Base Camp to Lhasa, Tibet, May 2007

We Need Your Help! -Kunming, China, May 2007

Cradle and Grave of Empires -Xi'an, China, May 2007

Baby Won't You Take Me on a River Cruise? - Three Gorges, Yangtze River, China, May 2007

Movin' on to 'Nam -Kunming, China, May 2007

..................................................NORTHERN VIETNAM..................................................

Northern Vietnam Posts:

Vietnam: The War, The Place, The People (Ben's Abridged History) -Sapa, Vietnam, May 2007

Goooood Morning, Vietnam! -Sapa, Vietnam, May 2007

The End of the Street Without Joy -Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, May 2007

Summer in the City -Hanoi, Vietnam, May 2007

Mortorcycle Diaries and the Chronicles of Clutzes -Cat Ba Island, Halong Bay, Vietnam, June 2007

Heat -Ninh Binh, Vietnam, June 2007

..................................................CENTRAL VIETNAM..................................................

Central Vietnam Posts:

Answer Time and a Discussion on Global Climate Change -Hue, Vietnam, June 2007

Finally on the Hue South -Hue, Vietnam, June 2007

Profiles of Vietnam: Hue's Hue -Hue, Vietnam, June 2007

Profiles of Vietnam: Zeke's War -Hue, Vietnam, June 2007

Stuck on the Circuit -Da Nang and Hoi An, Vietnam, June 2007

.............................................SOUTHERN VIETNAM.........................................

Southern Vietnam Posts:

Who Are We? Why Are We Here? What Is Geography? -Nha Trang, Vietnam, June 2007

Going Under -Nha Trang, Vietnam, June 2007

Bittersweet Emotions -Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, July 2007

So Long, Saigon -Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, July 2007

............................................................CAMBODIA.............................................................

Cambodia Posts:

Ghost City -Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 2007

Tuk-Tuks, Temples, and Tourists -Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor, Cambodia, July 2007

.............................................................THAILAND............................................................

Thailand Post:

Splash and Dash -Bangkok and Kho Tao, Thailand, July 2007

............................................................MALAYSIA............................................................

Malaysia Post:

Vacations -Malaysia, July/August 2007

............................................................SINGAPORE............................................................

Singapore Post:

Closing Time: Singapore and the Long Journey Home -Singapore to Alaska, August 2007

............................................................REFLECTIONS............................................................

Ben and Faye's Top Five Rundown:


Top Five Meals:

5. Nikita's Guesthouse (Olkhon Island, Russia)

4. Silk Road Cafe and Millie's (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)

3. Vegetarian Indian Restaurant (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

2. Beijing Hutong- Several Restaurants (Beijing, China)

1. Huang Y's (Cat Ba Town, Vietnam)



Top Five Worst Meals:

5. Mystery Meat at Vietnamese Family's House (Tam Duong, Vietnam)

4. Chinese Sweets (China)

3. St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg, Russia)

2. Gobi Desert Nomad Cuisine (Gobi Desert, Mongolia)

1. Denzig's Grandparent's House (Outside of Lhasa, Tibet)



Top Five Experiences:

5. Sapa Trekking (Sapa, Vietnam)

4. SCUBA Diving (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia)

3. Tomb Raiding and associated conversations (Angkor, Cambodia)

2. Gobi Desert Expedition (Gobi Desert, Mongolia)

1. Mingling with the Buryat Mafia (Olkhon Island, Russia)



Top Five Times We Were Certain We Were About to Die:

5. Initial bout with giardia (Train from Lhasa to Xi'an)

4. Anytime we were on the back of a motorbike. (Vietnam)

3. Bus ride between Kunming, China and Lao Cai, Vietnam.

2. Anytime Ben was in control of a motorbike. (Cat Ba Island, Vietnam)

1. Stranded in the Gobi (Gobi Desert)



Top Five Places:

5. Tibet, China

4. Cambodia- all of it.

3. Gobi Desert, Mongolia

2. Olkhon Island, Russia

1. Vietnam- all of it.





Top Twenty Memories:

20. A blissful five days of fruity drinks, fresh seafood, giant lizards, breathtaking sunsets, and fantastic diving on Tioman Island. (Tioman Island, Malaysia).

19. Meeting some of the world's greatest young geographers amidst some of the world's greatest monuments at Angkor (Angkor, Cambodia).

18. An evening stroll through our Hutong in Beijing yields a handful of great interviews, dozens of portraits, and lots of smiles and waves (Beijing, China).

17. Fighting off tears and becoming pacifists at Saigon's War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

16. Hand delivering dinner to a group of orphans in the slums of Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

15. Our first personal views of a coral reef teeming with vibrant life, feeling that we'd stumbled into an entirely foreign world (Nha Trang, Vietnam).

14. Riding on the back of Zeke's motorbike as he guided us around Vietnam's old DMZ, a place he knew too well after spending most of the war there. (DMZ, Dong Ha, Vietnam)

13. Setting up our tent with a cluster of others at Rongphu Monastery near Everest Base Camp, hearing the hymns of locals during the night, and waking up to the sight of the mountain (Everest Base Camp, Tibet).

12. Being dropped off in the wrong town in northwestern Vietnam and wandering aimlessly admiring the sun drenched foliage and bizarre landscape before being invited in to dinner with a deaf woman, her sister, and their parents and, later, the sister's teenage friends who came by for a slumber party (Tam Duong, Vietnam).

11. Spending hours drinking milk tea and talking with a Tibetan monk-turned-thangka-artist who explained his art, spirituality, and family life, and offered us priceless enlightenment regarding modern Tibet (Lhasa, Tibet).

10. Feeling like the most warmly welcomed people on Earth on a cyclo ride through the less touristy areas of Saigon, where every second or third person waved frantically and grinned at us (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam).

9. Ben's prophetic proclamation foretelling our crash and his rather dubious motorbike skills on Cat-Ba Island (Cat Ba Island, Vietnam).

8. A surprisingly pleasant encounter with the Russian Police at Yaroslavsky Station, followed by karaoke with two attendants (Moscow, Russia).

7. Getting unofficially married, gaining a new set of parents, eating raw garlic and hot peppers, and testing our skills at non-verbal communication, all over several bottles of wicked rice brandy and a case of beer with a pair of middle-aged Chinese bureaucrats on the Yangtze (Yangtze River, China).

6. Having our souls shaken at the S-21 Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, and having them healed by the smile of a young Khmer girl (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

5. Trekking into the misty hills around Sapa with our Black Hmong and Red Dzao escorts (Sapa, Vietnam).

4. The surreal night beginning with our breakdown in a Gobi snowdrift, walking to a nearby T.V. tower, and huddling with several stranded Mongolians and ending with an epic drive through the middle of the night, stopping periodically to assist other stuck travelers, all while borderline hypothermic (Gobi Desert to Dalandzadgad, Mongolia).

3. Being awed by near-tangible spirituality at Shamanka Rock on our first evening on Olkhon Island (Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Russia).

2. Meeting the "plague brigade" and wrestling with their rowdy brothers at a ger camp somewhere between Erdenedalay and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (Gobi Desert, Mongolia).

1. Toasting the sunset and brotherhood on Lake Baikal, followed by a memorable banquet and an even more memorable bout with a rugged cow-bone (Olkhon Island, Russia).


At this point, we'd like to express our sincerest gratitude to all of those without whom we would have never been able to savor these 20 experiences and the hundreds of others that could have easily made their way onto the above list. Most of you know who you are. Some of you may have forgotten by now. If we took the time to mention everyone who's influenced, supported, or helped us along the way, we'd be compiling a list of Tolstoyan proportions. We've made everyone read enough already, so we won't endeavor to be so comprehensive. A few very important people do deserve more thanks than we could ever humanly offer, and those we will name here. Dr. Mike Sfraga, the head of our program and the energetic dynamo who made all of this happen. Katie Kennedy, the real brains behind the whole operation, whose coordinative abilities are superhuman. She made sure we saw whom we needed to see and talked to whom we needed to talk to. She also had a huge hand in getting us up on the geographyua website, along with our maps. Dr. Jason Ohler, for supporting our initial endeavors at creating the blog. Lovro Valcic, for giving us expert advice on digital mapping. Dr. Cary deWit, Dr. James Johnsen, Dr. Patricia Heiser, Dr. Mark Carper, and Dr. Jeremy Tasch, for generously volunteering their support and knowledge as members of our respective graduate committees. Walter Armstrong, Mrs. Mingo, Mike Towle, Mrs. Guzman, for inviting us into their classrooms so that we could reach our most important audience. Shawn Biessel, for being not only a great friend, but the man who arranged both of our post-trip presentations at UAF. All who stopped by to hear us ramble for two hours on two snowy, cold Alaskan nights. Our fellow travelers, for encouraging us, enlivening our adventures, and providing valuable advice. All of our beloved friends back home, who dutifully slogged through our posts and sent their love across the seas. Everyone who took the time to read and comment on our posts, and all of you who've approached us personally with words of encouragement upon our return. And of course, our families. They, above all else, were the sustainers of our trip. Their unbelievable generosity, which kept us from selling internal organs, was truly miraculous, and their constant love and support despite our selfish inclinations to terrify them was courageous in the extreme. You are the people who made us, raised us, and influenced us at every turn. We can't tell you enough how much we love you and thank you. We'll try anyway. THANK YOU!

And with that, we're signing off...this time for good. May the road rise up to meet you, and the horizon always beckon. Happy Travels!
Ben and Faye