Red Corner: Mongolia to the Pacific Ocean by Canoe

by Neil Woodburn on

Chalk up another one for great canoe journeys.

With the opening up of Siberia and Central Asia, water hobbyists are discovering great swaths of waterways that few Westerners know anything about, much less considered navigating in canoes or kayaks.

British adventurer Paul Grogan, however, did his homework and plotted out a course along the Amur River (the world’s 6th longest) that started in Mongolia and then headed northeast, crossing into Siberia and straddling the border between Russia and China until eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean-a journey of over 1200 miles.

Like any good adventurer, Grogan chronicles this journey in his well-received book, Barbed Wire and Babushkas. An excerpt reprinted in The Sunday Times, paints a wonderful picture of what to expect from the rest of the book-gun-toting border guards, surly tanker drivers, $1 a night accommodations, friendly natives, and beautiful scenery. It is a great, alluring read that leaves me wanting more. I’m not sure about actually following in his canoe strokes, but I at least want to read about it.

GADLING'S TAKE FIVE: Week of February 21

by Erik Olsen on

It’s that time again, time to highlight some of the more
interesting Gadling posts from this last week. And it was a rather rich week, I’d say, especially when you consider
that we put up another podcast for your ear budding pleasure. But let me start at the beginning with this week’s
list:

5. Blimp Travel: This was a post I
found over at Popular Science and it really fired me up. I’ve long been puzzled why we haven’t been able to ply the
skies slowly in a dirigible. I mean, the technology has been around for a while, and yet, no blimp rides. Did the
tragedy of the Hindenburg ruin blimp travel? Well, perhaps not. Looks like someone may be building blimps for us after
all.

4. Tiki Mania: To be honest, I had only
heard of this whole Tiki business through Neil, whose post on Tiki Mania made it clear that the current Tiki revival
(revival? When was the last great Tiki boom, again? Oh, the 60s) is something to pay attention to, at the very least
for the promise of delicious fruity drinks.  But seriously, little did I know that the Tiki craze has its own magazine, blog, and, a band called Ape.

3. Calypso:
Adrienne, you might have read, is spending some fine time in Trinidad, and are we jealous! Well, she’s somehow found a
nice connection down there and is sending some excellent dispatches on life in a place most of us have never been. They
are really superb, and we are grateful. I’d like, in fact, to direct you to this wonderful post on Calypso and Soca
music. I read it last night, and then the daylight come and me wanna go home.

2. Tunisian Star Wars Locations: Sorry, I’m,
about a big a Star Wars geek as they get. I’ll not get into the details, but trust me, I’m out there in a galaxy far far
away. And so that is why I enjoyed Neil’s post on Tunisian Star Wars locations. What can I say? I’d go there just to
stand in the sand and say: These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

1. Gadling Podcast: Joshua Davis: I really
enjoyed chatting with author Josh Davis about his new book Underdog: How I survived the World’s Most Outlandish
Competitions (not to mention the forthcoming film on his sumo exploits). The podcast here is our first since we spoke
with Fabien Cousteau about his shark submarine, and I think you’ll really enjoy it. Josh is a great guy, and his story
will make you shake you head in wonder. 

Bowermaster's Slow Boat

by Erik Olsen on

I
posted about this DVD a while back, but wanted to call your attention to it again because I just recently re-watched
it. Jon Bowermaster is one of our great living adventurers, at least one of the greatest paddling adventurers. He has
really elevated the touring kayak trip to a new level with his series of travel called Oceans 8.

His DVD called Slow Boat to Somewhere is one of Bowermaster’s early films. The films puts Bowermaster and his small
crew  aboard a cargo vessel in the vast blue waters of Polynesia. The team, which includes adventure photographer
Peter McBride, ply the yawning ocean, delivering goods to some of the globe’s most isolated coral atolls. Sure, that
may not seem like the recipe for a solid film, but it works. The film drags a bit at moments, but some of the scenes
are fascinating, like the one where Bowermaster watches a man struggles to keep his girlfriend from leaving a desolate
atoll. The boyfriend is obviously intoxicated, and he bodily seizes the woman to prevent her from escaping. It’s an
intense moment that reveals how some of the places we consider tropical paradises, might not quite live up to their
reputation.

Paddling Greece

by Erik Olsen on

Woo
hoo! Another paddling story, this one from one of my
favorite kayak/canoe magazines. The trip, written by Larry Rice, takes us to the cerulean waters of the Greek
Mediterranean.

Oh, baby does that sound like a place I want to be right now. The article is enough to whet
your kayaking appetite, as Rice ventures into Pollack-splattered sea caves and waddles ashore Sarakiniko Beach, a
"sublime cove" with "sinkholes of pure white pumice rock".

Rice squats down for lunch,
prepared by his beneficent Kiwi guide, and takes in the loveliness of his surroundings, the blissful white noise of the
Aegean Sea, and then tops it all off with a round of Mythos beer in a beachside café.

Normally, I’m
not one to seethe with jealousy…usually it just turns me an off shade of teal, but reading Rice’s account has got me
supremely fired up. This must, MUST be a long, wonderful Spring/Summer of paddling. Of that I am certain.

Paddler's 15 Greatest Stories

by Erik Olsen on

From
a story about The World’s Greatest Sea Kayak,
River and Canoe Expeditions to the 20
All-time Greatest Paddling Books, Paddler
Magazine’s most recent issues provides fifteen of their best paddling stories of all time.

I’m a fan of
Paddler Magazine, to be sure. They published a profile I did of Manhattan
Kayak Company’s Eric Stiller a while back, and I often pick it up just to see what’s up in the paddling world. I will
definitely get my hands on this issue. The only thing about Paddler that drives me nuts, though, is how bad the Web
site is. I wish they’d hire a solid designer and put more of their stories online.