Traveller’s delight

Ishara Mudugamuwa

Upon finishing his university education, Sergey Chikachev never wanted to spend the rest of his life doing just an ordinary job but wanted to indulge in something adventurous. “I yearned to travel on a world expedition like Marco Polo and Christopher Colombus,” Chikachev said.

Russian-born Chikachev started his journey on August 13, 2004; he started hitchhiking from Moscow where he travelled across Mongolia, China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and then reached Sri Lanka in December 2008.

“As I was travelling and embarking on one travelling vessel and plane, I worked on a book where I recorded my travails.” While travelling he also wrote to various publications and newspapers - even popular ones in his home country - about his travel episodes.

Expedition

“The objectives of my expedition is to learn about the modern life, culture, customs and the history of different countries and also to experience about how they manage with the climatic conditions respective for every country,” said Chikachev.

He mentioned an example where he travelled across the arid Gobi desert and found out about various tribes and people living there.

Chikachev also passed the oldest and deepest jungles of the world called the ‘Taman Negara’ that is located in the North East part of West Malaysia. “I also ventured in the depths of yet another thick jungle in Sarawak, Borneo where the direction took me from the west to the east for 18 days of non-stop trekking.”

He said that his greatest experience in life was meeting the local cannibal people who were living there. Chikachev has been to major continents like the Americas, Asia and Australia as well.

He hopes to travel again after two years where he wanted to see Antartica where the temperature is a shocking -82 degrees Celsius. “For the past 12 years I have visited more than 40 countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakastan and nearly most of Europe,” he said.

Chikachev will embark on many countries of the world and said that he does this with his own money and nobody from outside helps him achieve this worldly task.

“Along the way when I travel in different countries I find suitable employment, earn money for my upkeep and stay in a country for as long as I can for my expedition,” said Chickachev.

Difference

“The difference between a tourist and a traveller is that tourists are people who visit countries to spend their holidays by getting satisfaction and to relax but the travellers discover the world and share their experiences with others, especially the people in their own country.” He said that people in Russia regularly read his articles and understand for themselves what it means to go around the world.

“I never stay in hotels and guest houses. To understand their culture and the true hospitality of their people, I stay with the local people in their homes with their families.” Said Chickachev. “At the moment, I stay in a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka where I can understand the religion and learn about the people who partake in religious duties,” he said.

Hence he likes to learn culture and tradition firsthand because people are willing to enlighten them about their lives and country. Sergey likes the Sri Lankan people, their customs and traditions because they are very friendly and are hospitable.

He said that he has travelled all around Sri Lanka except for the North and hopes to venture there soon as well. Chickachev concluded: “I hope people will read my writing and be inspired to travel the world for it isn’t a formidable task because the wealth of experiences and studying about different countries is beneficial in one’s lifetime.”