Journey north
Wu Yu’s route took him from the South China Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
journey came on Jan 24 as Wu arrived in Beijing, after covering more than 2,500 kilometers in his first five days on the road.
While in the nation’s capital, Wu met with Russia’s ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, who certified him as an envoy of cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Denisov said that it has been 68 years since China and Russia first established diplomatic relations and hoped for a great many more to come.
Forever flat plains
Hitting the road again, Wu headed northwest to the Chinese-Mongolian border, leaving the city behind in exchange for a more rugged landscape to whiz past the windows.
Soon the bumps of China’s northeast flattened out to become Mongolia’s vast, unending green plains.
Then trouble struck. What was thought to have been a paperwork formality, turned into a headache at Mongolia’s Zamen Ude bordercrossing.
“Officials at the border provided us with the wrong entry documents,” Wu says. “So a few hours later we were stopped by the police and detained until the correct docu- ments could be issued.”
Putting the hiccup behind him, Wu arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar on Jan 30.
Crossing from Mongolia’s foreverflat plains can be tiresome recalls Wu, the dead-straight roads stretching onward to the horizon.
“To keep our spirits up and often time to keep us awake, we listen to local radio stations, and sometimes if the music isn’t to our taste, we brought along plenty of Chinese music as well.”
Land of ice and snow
The days and miles ticked by, as the temperature began to fall the further north they traveled, finally reaching the Russian border. This time, all documents checked out, and Wu sailed into a land of ice and snow.
This is where the journey became difficult. Lake Baikal — the world largest, oldest and deepest freshwater lake dominates the landscape in southern Siberia.
Formed from a rift in an ancient valley, the immense body contains 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen fresh water and sinks as deep as 1,642 meters.
Choosing to avoid the lake, Wu stuck to the roads to cross the mountain ranges in Ulan Ude.
This proved impossible. Three meters of heavy snow had made the roads impassable, even for Wu’s heavily modified vehicle equipped with four-wheel-drive and snow tires. On Feb 4, Wu was forced to turn back.
“There was no way to get through,” Wu says. “So we had to return to the city and enquire about another way.”
After speaking to local officials and guides in the town of Ust-Kut, there turned out to be one other way north that wouldn’t lose them so much time as waiting for the snow to clear — the lake.
For almost five months a year much of Lake Baikal’s surface is frozen with many parts navigable by car. With the help of a local guide, Wu was escorted across the frozen blue lake.
The majestic scenery in a world of white whirled by and as the mercury got lower and lower, so did the kilometers until Wu crossed into the Arctic Circle and made it to the Arctic Ocean.
‘A friendly swap’
Finally on Feb 20, struggling for traction in the thick snow, Wu made it to Yuryung-Khaya, the northernmost village on the edge of the Arctic Ocean — the tempera- ture outside: -55 C.
Mission accomplished. After 33 days, 8,000 kilometers and endless hours driving Wu Yu had become the first person to drive from the South China Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
The villagers expressed their great surprise at seeing Wu’s white and red Toyota Landcruiser roll into town, where the main mode of transport is dog sleds.
With the help of a local English teacher, Wu sat down with Mayor Kanat Uskenbaevich over a plate of dried raw fish, a staple food of the village, who asked about customs and life in China and what was next for the explorer.
“In the next few years, I think I will be making quite a few more trips like this one,” Wu says. “And of course, I will be looking at further and even more challenging journeys.”
After the meeting, Wu headed to coast where he poured a small bottle of water he had carried 8,000 kilometers from the South China Sea, into the Arctic Ocean. He then refilled the bottle with Arctic seawater.
“To me it felt like a friendly swap,” Wu says. “A symbol of healthy exchanges, communication, integration, and harmony between China and Russia.”