NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
January 31, 2025
Onward on our journey through inner China, we left Sichuan and briefly entered Gansu Province to marvel at the mountain village of Zhagana (扎尕那 – pronounced Chagana). It’s a village surrounded by breathtaking landscapes: nestled deep in the mountains at an altitude of over 3000 meters, its name translates from the Tibetan for “Stone Box”, which fits perfectly:
January 30, 2025
Next on our China-2024 travel itinerary was the must-visit First Bend of the Yellow River. Different sources refer to this location by different names, and other spots along the river are also called something similar. While not the most picturesque, it’s still one of the great Chinese rivers, and also a sacred place for the Chinese people; therefore – we just had to take a look. And in the end it turned out to be far from boring:
January 29, 2025
Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong were just the beginning of our journey through China. We’d big plans for the following two weeks, the batteries in our cameras and drones were fully charged, and all of us were at the top end of the motivation scale. Thus, onward!…
They say the journey’s just as good as the destination. Well I agree with “them” (whoever that may be). Accordingly, en route – as we always do – we planned to stop off at places that look interesting; for example – Songzhou Ancient City, here ->
Read on: Songzhou: everyday street-life during a stop impromptu.
January 28, 2025
Not far from Jiuzhaigou National Park (100 km by road) there’s another unique beautiful natural object – the Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area. It features a cascade of travertine (limestone) baths, pools, lakes and waterfalls of various forms and colors. The cascade is around 3km in length in a straight line, or ~5km if you take the tourist paths beside it. The spectacle is fantastic:
January 27, 2025
Teaser, aperitif, hour d’oeuvres, and just yesterday your side of garlic bread – done. Now for your first main course of China-2024 (and there’ll be several!)…
Quick recap: we visited quite a few places and saw over 20 natural and historical sites of varying levels of significance and beauty – some of which were simply masterpieces. And that’s what I want to talk about in detail. Where should I start? From the beginning! In what order? As it happened: that’s how I’ll recount it. No need (and no desire) to invent new storytelling formats. “I sing what I see,” as the tundra reindeer herder says…
And so…
We landed in China (the exact location doesn’t matter), cleared passport and customs control, transferred to another flight (some even managed a swim in the warm sea in Sanya and celebrate a birthday along the way), landed (after plenty of turbulence en route), and arrived at Huanglong Airport – at an altitude of nearly 3500 meters above sea-level.
An interesting airport! Right by the baggage-claim area there are small shops selling warm clothing. Many Chinese, who’ve spent their entire lives in warm, even tropical climates, are completely unprepared for the fact it can get cold in the mountains during the fall. In the same area, a pharmacy sells small oxygen cans to similarly unprepared tourists. Although the altitude isn’t extreme, some people find it difficult to breathe.
But enough about the details – we’re here to explore, see, and marvel. So off we popped – straight to Jiuzhaigou (the “Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area”, or just “Jiuzhaigou National Park”), which means “Valley of Nine Villages”. Jiuzhaigou is a mountainous valley where streams and rivers of strikingly beautiful colors flow: a chain of brightly-colored lakes and stunning waterfalls – like this:
January 21, 2025
Do svidanya, Kamchatka; Nǐ hǎo China!…
You’ve had my photographic teaser, aperitif, and hour d’oeuvres already. Now for a photographic preview-overview of the whole trip. So, as the title says – off we go!…
The most beautiful place on earth, in my humble opinion, is Krenitsyn – the “king of all volcanoes” – on the Kuril island of Onekotan. The most beautiful region in the world is Kamchatka, where you can easily count more than a dozen natural objects of the highest category of unusualness and contemplativeness – that is, my “five-K”, or “KKKKK” category. Of course there are other places that are rich in various natural (and sometimes historical) delights and quirks, like New Zealand, Indonesia, Namibia, etc. But the richest country in terms of the sheer quantity, quality and… out-of-this-world-astonishingness of touristic delights is, of course, China. I wouldn’t be surprised if you can count already more than 50 absolutely magical places here that I’d strongly recommend visiting at the first opportunity. I compiled a list of Chinese must-sees back in 2018 as part of my Top-100 series, but today that list looks wholly incomplete…
Cue photo of one such must-see natural masterpiece ->
January 17, 2025
A moment comes when memories of even the most powerful and almost-perfect trip to Kamchatka in the summer of 2024 begin to fade. That went for me recently. So I needed to refresh my memory…
But why was this trip only almost perfect, and not entirely? Simply because one week out of the three was spoiled by dreadful weather! Still, any experienced Kamchatka traveler will tell you that you should allocate at least 50% of your time for cyclones, rain, or just view-spoiling low cloud cover. Or a bigger percentage; or a much bigger percentage. Just ask Vitus Bering. So, as it turned out – we were lucky with just 33%.
In good weather, you see things here that you won’t see in everyday life. Well, except perhaps in Indonesia or New Zealand – though, even there, you won’t find such vivid phenomena as those in Kamchatka. For example, there’s the hot Khodutka lake, the hot beaches of Ksudach, the bright colors of the Koshelev volcano, and bears everywhere – Kamchatka exclusives.
In short, it’s simple: Kamchatka is the most magical place in the world for contemplation-meditation. It only just beat its nearest competitor (New Zealand), but it’s so much more interesting – than everything else on this planet!
As our trip was coming to a close, we took a final helicopter ride around the some of the peninsula’s hotspots (pun not intended!).
Farewell glimpses of southern Kamchatka – of bright colors and snow cover…
…And of the “greenery” of the volcanic ridges:
January 17, 2025
Toward the end of our nearly three-week summer trip to Kamchatka, after already countless splendid days and endless incredible, breathtaking views that we were so fortunate to experience, we finally encountered the single most magnificent day of all. This day became unforgettable thanks to a walk around the peaks of Koshelev. This remote volcano, far from the main tourist routes, isn’t all that well-known, and it doesn’t always greet its rare visitors with good weather. We, however, were lucky: it treated us to an endless riot of shapes and a kaleidoscope of color:
The volcano itself is a complex structure formed by the merging of five (!) different volcanoes.
January 15, 2025
Having had to sit out the bad weather the previous day, we woke the next morning to clear blue, sunny skies – a rare but actually possible climatic phenomenon in Kamchatka. So after a quick breakfast (the weather could turn later in the day, so we had to look sharp), we all hopped into the chopper and flew up to the peak of Kambalny volcano!…
January 14, 2025
When descending the slope of Kambalny Ridge the volcanism goes into overdrive. Everything hissing, boiling, and bubbling, and with every color of the rainbow present. The overall result is a surrealistic scene – like a mini-Uzon. So, of course – we set up camp right in the middle of it!…
Alas, the weather wasn’t great…
