Imagine a place like this: it has unparalleled natural beauty, many splendid snow-capped peaks above 7,000m, breathtaking view of alpine lakes, valleys and desserts, as well as people of great hospitality. But meanwhile, you’re overwhelmingly surveilled by an authoritarian government. You see police around every street corner, and security check (with walk-through metal detector) is necessary when entering a store, a hotel or any public space...

The most adventurous part of my grand trip in 2018: from Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan to Kashgar, a major city in China’s Xinjiang (so-called) Autonomous Region. While it should take only an hour to fly, I chose a much more strenuous way: moving over the Pamir Mountains, where the average elevation is well above 10,000ft, by some unusual ways: cargo van, martshrutka, hitchhiking, and shared taxi.

Last June (2018), I took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Zabaykalsk in the Far East all the way to St Petersburg via Lake Baikal, Ekaterinburg, Kazan and Moscow. Since it’s a week-long train ride, most travelers would divide it into several segments, so did I. Nevertheless, there was still an extremely long train ride from Irkutsk (gateway to Lake Baikal) and Ekaterinburg, which took 52 hours (3 nights and 2 days). This is the longest continuous train ride in my life...

The red-brick columns and facades were originally parts of the splendid Tartu Cathedral, completed in 1470. It was as magnificent as other Medieval Gothic cathedrals you may have seen in Europe. However it didn’t stand long. In 1525, when the reformers reached Tartu, the cathedral was heavily devastated as a result of their “iconoclast” efforts.