Posts labeled with Country ' Russia'
ArcticTropic arrived in Moscow at 12:05 PM yesterday. Customs was extremely quick. After checking into our apartment on Tverskaya, we were ready to explore. It was my first time in Moscow since 1992 and much has changed.
The internet connection is adequate, but not for heavy uploads from the GoPro. Video will have to wait.
The Kremlin – Power Center of Russia.
We were able to see volcanic peaks in Iceland and Norwegian fjords.
Next week ArcticTropic departs from Miami to Moscow – then on to Siberia, Mongolia,China, Japan and British Columbia
2013 was a busy travel year for ArcticTropic. 2014 promises to be even busier with Colombia,Myanmar,Russia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,China,Mongolia and Japan planned for the first half of the year.
On Sunday morning , May 8th. I flew from Miami to Newark to board Continental Flight 99 – a 16 hour, 8450 mile flight to Hong Kong. The flight took off at 3:25 PM . Five minutes later we were over Lower Manhattan.
Less than two hours and and a thousand miles later we were over Northern Quebec – still frozen in May.
After cloudy Baffin Land ( Nunavut ) we cross Greenland.
Northern Greenland – only a few hundred miles from the North Pole.
A Frozen fjord. Note last year’s icebergs trapped below. The local time is close to Midnight.
We cross the Arctic Ocean and fly over the North Pole. Sunday becomes Monday. Above shot is Northern Siberia on Monday afternoon.
Over the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
Final approach to Chek Lap Kok.
Beautiful Tropical Monday evening landing.
After check- in to the hotel, off to explore the busting streets of Kowloon.
Kowloon Dance Hall.
Delicious Spicy Crab Dinner ! ArcticTropic is back on the ground in Asia !
On April 3rd I will return to China , for the first time in a little over a year. This time, the focus will will on South China, entering from Hong Kong and finishing in Shanghai.
After a short flight from Miami to Newark, I will board Continental Flight 99 – the 9th longest flight in the world. Flying time is 15 hours and 50 minutes for the 8055 mile / 12980 km distance. Leaving at 3:45 in the afternoon, the 777-200ER will fly northwest over New York State, Quebec, Hudson’s Bay,Baffin Land , and across the Arctic icecap within about 200 miles of the North Pole. Continuing in the same direction, due south, the plane will travel over Siberia,Manchuria and East China, before landing at 7:45 the NEXT night.Because the northern Arctic is in 24 hour daylight by April, all but the last hour or two of the flight should be sunny – hopefully with few clouds – to enable aerial shots and videos.
ArcticTropic will be meeting with many South China adventure travel providers. If you would like to meet with us between April 4th to 14th please email – travel@arctictropic.com
Newark is also home to the world’s longest flight – to Singapore – 9535 miles/15345 km at 18 hours 50 minutes !
North Pole. The next shot is when we were back in daylight over the Laptev
Sea of the Arctic Ocean as the plane approaches the North Coast of
Siberia.
Newark. The flight plan was a bit different than reported earlier. After
takeoff, we went north through New England, over Maine, then Quebec and
Western Labrador. We then went out over the Davis Strait along the coast
of Baffin Land, then crossing over the Labrador Sea and Northwestern
Greenland – then over the Arctic Ocean and went directly over the North
Pole ! Then our Northward trajectory became South. Over the Laptev Sea
into Russian SIberia, for several hours, Then across Mongolia, past
Ulanbaatar. FInally we landed in Beijing bout 3 PM. Aerial photos will be
posted later.
From September 5 th to 14th , the Paris based Dakar Rally will stage a 4500 km off road race from Kazan to Ashkabat.
The world famous Paris -Dakar Rally – which began every New Year’s Eve from 1978 to 2008 in the Place Concorde, finishing in Dakar ,Senegal about three weeks later, was discontinued this year because of terrorist threats. It relocated to Chile and Argentina during Southern Summer and the Silk Way Rally will be the adventure for Northern Summer. ArcticTropic will have periodic updates and perhaps will particpate in the race in 2010.
Special thanks go to Alexander Kazantsev of Otkrytie Travels in Moscow, for providing many great photographs in these posts. Many of the rafting photos are courtesy of the trip provider – Quatro Elementos.
Trucks cross a floating bridge in the Amur River on the Russian-Chinese border near Khabarovsk. Note the ships pulling the bridge to keep it in place. In the winter the river freezes solid in -40 degree temperatures and the the trucks drive on the ice. ArcticTropic already has several adventure destinations in the Russian Far East and Siberia.