An extract of an article from the UB POST

Mongolia’s independent English News
19.05.09
Included in the parcel by Urgaa Dagvadorj

Following the Great Silk Road

The Great Silk Road expedition led by Russian traveller Fyodor Konyukhov, that will travel more than 7,000 kilometres from Mongolia to Elista, Kalmykia, started last week in Ulaanbaatar. Russia Today (RT) caught up with Fyodor Konyukhov ahead of the seven-month journey

Could you tell us a couple of words about the upcoming expdition? What are your tasks and goals for the Great Silk Road?

The Silk Road expedition will take place along its most northern route for the first time in 300 years. It will traditionally start in Mongolia, in Harim, the ancient place found by Genghis Khan where the trade routes between the West and East used to run. We will travel on animals only. We have 12 Mongol, tw0-humped camels and 15 Mongol horses. We have nine Mongol participants and six Russian participants from Kalmykia mostly.
We will be travelling for seven months and we’ll cover 6,500 or even 7,000 kilometres. Camels and horses used to cover 25 kilometres per day along the Silk Road in the ancient times. They used to make the caravansary as well. But we will be covering 35 or 40 kilometres per day, as they will not carry heavy cargos. Our participants will ride horses; and camels will carry out cargos up to 70 or 100 kilograms, which is not heavy for them, and if we ride camels we’ll put cargos on horses. Each participant will use two animals

I really enjoy travelling to Mongolia. They have a tradition of serving Kumis to their guests, just like tea in Russia. This is a very welcoming and civilized country. I’ve visited more than 120 countries and I’ve lived in many countries. Civilization doesn’t mean living in luxurious house or wearing nice clothes or driving a large car. Civilization is in the people’s mentality. In this sense the Mongols are even more advanced than us, the Europeans. Perhaps their houses and roads are not so good but their mentality is civilized. Today when I travel to Mongolia I can stay in a yurt or on the steppe. We don’t have security guards and we are not afraid of anyone; we don’t have weapons and we welcome visitors. When I travelled for hundreds of kilometres, I felt safe, and people were friendly and smiling everywhere. This is what I call civilization and this is what I like about Mongolia.