They have a dream to pursue. To build a bridge between Western and Eastern cultures -- following the footsteps of the great explorer Marco Polo in a Chinese junk. \nTwo East German adventurers, Axel Brummer and Peter Glockner, are retracing the historical route of the 13th-century Italian traveler from China all the way to Venice. \nThey are now in Hong Kong preparing for the first step of the journey. \n"We want to trace Marco Polo's trip as closely as possible. Marco Polo went to China and he got culture shock. Its very important to understand the two cultures, talk to the people, learn about their lifestyles, their way of thinking and their philosophies," Brummer, 37, said. \n"We hope to be able to bring our knowledge back to our country," he said. \nThe two met by chance as teenagers in the spring of 1990, shortly after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and found they shared the same dream of escaping their current lives and undertaking an extraordinary trip: to travel around the world on a bicycle. \n"At that time, we just wanted the freedom," Brummer said, speaking also on behalf of Glockner, 36, who returned home temporarily to visit his sick mother. He is expected to rejoin the expedition in Singapore later this year. \n"We didn't have anything; we had no money and just wanted to see the world," he said. \nSo off they went. In the past 14 years, they have traveled to 130 countries, over 135,000km by bicycle and 6,000km by kayak. \nIn between their trips, they make an earning writing books and articles about their experiences. So far, they have written seven books and hundreds of articles published in Germany. \nThe Marco Polo adventure is their largest expedition so far. \nThe route will hug the coast of Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean until they reach Venice, sometime in the next two to three years. The only difference between the modern trip and the one skippered by Marco Polo 700 years ago will be the leg around Africa,which will be bypassed through the Suez Canal. \nThey will first drop anchor in Saigon, then Borneo, Singapore and Sumatra, spending a few weeks in each to explore the surrounding areas. \nThen they will moor in Phuket for six months until the monsoon season passes before setting off for the long voyage to Italy. \nThere is no set timetable for each trip. \nAt each stop they will look for more volunteers and Brummer stresses prospective crew must not only be "dreamers" but also hardworking and willing to cook, clean and do repairs. \nThe sailing follows the completion of a nine-month cycling trip to China from Venice in 2001, but before it even started they met with a major hindrance. \nThe junk which they originally bought for the trip -- the Precious Dragon -- sank during a cyclone in the middle of the Indian Ocean in May last year. The 18m boat was best known for having previously sailed from Hong Kong to Britain in 1997 to mark the handover of sovereignty to China. \nFor most, that minor disaster would have been a frustrating and discouraging experience. But Brummer shrugged and said: "It was an adventure. We had to start it all over again but a lot of people helped." \nThey eventually found a 31m Chinese junk in Indonesia that only had a usable hull and the rest had to be rebuilt with the help of 60 people -- 20 German friends and 40 Indonesian volunteers -- over five months. \nIt has since been named Kublai's Khan, after the Mongol emperor for whom Marco Polo worked for 17 years. \nOnce work was completed the two set sail with a skeleton crew of five on their "most complicated" journey yet -- the first by boat. \nBrummer, Glockner and the crew -- including Brummer's wife Abegael -- sailed for three months from Indonesia to the Philippines en route to Hong Kong, where they will remain until today, building up stocks, hiring more crew and, hopefully, collecting some funds. \nThey currently have five members and need at least two more in order to go on. They also rely on donations to fund the trip. \nThe two adventurers had the idea for the voyage 10 years ago but had only started planning about four years ago. \nOnly dreams and determination could bring them this far, they said.
‘CONFESSED’: A court in Beijing said that former CCP member Ren Zhiqiang abused his power at a state firm and embezzled almost US$7.14 million of public funds A Chinese tycoon who called Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a clown and criticized his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was yesterday jailed for 18 years for corruption, bribery and embezzlement of public funds. Ren Zhiqiang (任志強) — once among the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) inner circle — disappeared from the public eye in March, shortly after penning an essay that lambasted Xi’s pandemic response. His outspokenness had earned the former chairman of state-owned property developer Huayuan Group the nickname “Big Cannon.” Yesterday’s verdict said that Ren embezzled almost 50 million yuan (US$7.4 million) of public funds and accepted bribes worth 1.25 million
OFF BORDER ISLAND: The fisheries official disappeared from a patrol vessel wearing a life jacket and leaving behind his shoes, indicating an intentional move, Seoul said North Korean soldiers shot dead a suspected South Korean defector at sea and burned his body as a COVID-19 precaution after he was interrogated in the water over several hours, Seoul military officials said yesterday. It is the first killing of a South Korean citizen by North Korean forces for a decade, and comes with Pyongyang at high alert over the COVID-19 pandemic and inter-Korean relations at a standstill. The fisheries official disappeared from a patrol vessel near the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday, the official said. More than 24 hours later, North Korean forces located him in their waters and
The scarcity of commercial flights landing at Sydney Airport has been a disaster for airlines and workers, but for hobby pilots the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity of a lifetime. The quieter-than-usual runways mean that private pilots have been given the chance to land at the international airport for the first time. When Sydney Flight College club captain Tim Lindley put out a call, he received an overwhelming response. He eventually organized for 14 light aircraft to fly into Sydney airport on Sunday. “For a lot of the pilots involved, including myself, it was a childhood dream to land in a big
China on Thursday lashed out at the US at a high-level UN meeting over its criticism on the COVID-19 pandemic, with its envoy declaring, “Enough is enough.” Two days after US President Donald Trump used his annual address to the General Assembly to attack China’s record, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, also took an outraged tone — after which her Chinese counterpart showed palpable anger. “I must say, enough is enough. You have created enough troubles for the world already,” Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (張軍) told a Security Council meeting on global governance attended through videoconference
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