NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
February 11, 2025
Another day of our China trip – another couple of awesome places!…
The first one turned out to be absolutely stunning – Feicui (Emerald) Lake. Another salty one – but this time the most colorful lake ever! Well, more like a whole constellation of small salty pools. Just look at these:
February 10, 2025
The next day (after visiting Chaka Salt Lake) of our China-2024 trip was packed with tourisms. We were set to explore and admire a full three… and a half attractions. They may not be 5K-rated, but all together they were to make this section of our route a real treat…
As we ventured deeper into rocky desert, the scenery became increasingly striking:
February 10, 2025
After what we could call our lake-tourism warm-up (Qinghai Lake) the day before, it was time for the first significant stop on our big-loop route around inner China – Chaka Salt Lake.
It’s not the largest salt lake in the world, with an area of “only” about 100km² – which is around a hundred times smaller than, for example, Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni (~10,000km²). However, it has its own unique charm: the Chinese have turned this “simple salt lake” into a major tourist attraction (fancy that?!), where you can easily spend an entire day (in the right season). The secret is simple: various installations have been set up across a significant portion of the lake that are practically begging to be photographed and shared on Instagram TikTok. These installations are a huge hit especially with girls – who bring bright (most often red) outfits specially for the occasion:
The photo installations here are plentiful and incredibly diverse:
February 6, 2025
At the weekend, I visited the highly recommended ATOM Museum at the VDNKh exhibition complex in northern Moscow. And I can report that it’s an absolute delight! Simply must-visit for the whole family – if you find yourself in the Russian capital, that is…
In the entrance hall – straight down to business: a scale model of… can you guess which element?*
From the beginning of the nuclear arms race through to the modern-day achievements of Russia’s (peaceful) nuclear-energy industry – there’s a lot covered here (and in great detail). The main downside: no history of the early research (Marie Curie, Pierre Curie, and all that). But everything else is well-organized and informative.
In we go – and downward: to the minus-third floor…
February 6, 2025
The first leg of our journey through China had come to an end. So far – so good amazing. As per, we were in “tourism till you drop” mode (up early, see and do and/or travel as much as possible, never taking it easy…) – just the way we like it. Yet no one was too concerned about the 3000+ kilometers of traveling by coach that lie ahead; after all – together with those thousands of kilometers would come shed-loads of walking-sightseeing-marveling-extraordinaire. And anyway – dwelling on the great distances ahead would only have been a distraction; much better to dive headfirst into a new adventure without overthinking it or wasting brainpower on unnecessary emotions. Just “get it done”, as they say. And that’s just what we did…
The long route ahead of us was somewhat unclear: most of the online information was only in Chinese, our driver didn’t speak any other languages, and my Chinese wife – visiting the region for the first time – also couldn’t understand much. And to top things off – it turned out that even many Chinese sources were way slightly off.
But before heading west, let me tell you a bit about the city of Xining – the start and end point of our big loop through deserts, mountain landscapes, and salt lakes.
Xining is the administrative center of Qinghai – not the most industrially developed or densely populated province: essentially a “provincial” province ). However, in China, you should always multiply everything by ten: the capital of China’s third-sparsest province still has a population of 2.5 million! Here are some views out of my hotel window:
February 5, 2025
Still heading north, our route was taking us through central-northern China, and since we were traveling through regions predominantly inhabited by Tibetans, our checking out some of the inevitable Buddhist temples and monasteries was… inevitable!…
