BEIJING, September 9. /TASS/. Doctoral student of the Russian Academy of Science’s Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography Maksim Mikhalev has covered 8,000 km solo in a bicycle ride from Moscow to Beijing, he told TASS on Monday.
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"Last year I had a book published on integration processes in Eurasia, particularly about the One Belt One Road initiative," he said. "Later, I had an idea to look at this same issue from the point of view of an ordinary traveler and see for myself what it looks like. As a result, the idea of this project emerged or, in other words, it is a bicycle trip to collect material for the second volume of the book."
The cyclist set off on May 25 in Moscow, as sponsored by the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, an organization that deals with humanitarian aspects of regional integration. The expedition saw the traveler riding through Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. Mikhalev reached his final destination, Beijing, on September 1. The trip saw him visiting Saransk, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Kostanay, Nur-Sultan, Pavlodar, Kemerovo, Abakan, Kyzyl and Ulan Bator. The trip’s expenses amounted roughly to 200,000 rubles ($3,000).
"The objective was to collect material for the second volume of the book, which will have the same title as the first one — Belts and Roads through Eurasia — but it will have a subscript saying ‘view from the ground,’ from the point of view of an ordinary person who is following the One Belt One Road route," he clarified.
The Doctoral student explained that he had been carefully documenting what he studied and analyzed en route. "There are quite a few conclusions, enough material for a whole book," he said. "Many unexpected observations, which are hard to generalize at first glance. The main thing is that bicycle ride, as a scientific research method which has never been applied before, is meaningful and well justified."
Mikhalev underlined that the trip prompted him to reconsider his own theories. "Integration issues are not constricted to the transport component, which rather forms a basis for all future issues that need to be addressed and thought about before transport contracts are signed," he explained.