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| Liang Hong [R] and Zhang Xinyu, a pair of passionate globetrotters. (YNET.com) |
34-year-old Liang Hong and her 36-year-old boyfriend Zhang Xinyu are both Beijing-born and –raised daredevils. A pair of passionate globetrotters, they ultimately dream of tying the knot in the Antarctic, YNET.com reported on July 3.
In January 2012, after a 192-hour trip, they successively arrived and camped out in Oymyakon, Russia, a cold pole area with temperatures plunging to -71.2℃. In May, they went deep into Somalia to witness the war in Mogadishu first-hand. In August, they went to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and visited its No. 4 Reactor. In December, they successively went abseiling 300 meters into the Marum Crater, a live volcano where temperatures can soar to 1,190℃.
So far, Liang has been the first woman in the world to camp out in Oymyakon, and Zhang the first Chinese man to camp in a place with a temperature of -52℃.
The lovers' first trip started in May 2008 when they participated in the earthquake relief work as volunteers in Wenchuan City of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Since then, they have started making all kinds of preparations for explorations around the world. They kept on accumulating energy and learning motorboat driving basics, how to pilot a hot air balloon, paragliding, parachuting, how to fly a helicopter and sailing.
Liang and Zhang will set out on their 16-month round-the-world sailing adventure soon. "The reason that we could once again break records is that we were always fully prepared to cope with complicated situations. It's the same this time. Safety must be the number one priority," they said.
"The round-the-world sailing trip will be an important chapter in our explorations," said Liang Hong. Her seven-people team will start from east China's Zhejiang Province and travel more than 30 cities across more than 20 countries in 16 months, covering 34,000 nautical miles.
Liang said the forthcoming trip was considered to be the longest and most complicated sailing route in the world. As planned, the team will pass through the Panama Canal, Cape Horn, the Straits of Magellan, and the Cape of Good Hope. They will also cross some of the most dangerous areas in the world: the Bering Sea and the Westerlies.
Liang said there are some views they simply must not miss out on. "They include the hibernating bears and deer on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, the Mayan civilization in Mexico, the Amazon River in Brazil and penguins on the Antarctic," she said.
Speaking of the Antarctic, Liang and Zhang plan to hold their wedding during that stop. "Instead of a joke, this is really our dream. We hope this dream will come true in the forthcoming trip," Zhang said.
"Before we left the Oymyakon stop in January last year, Zhang proposed," Liang said. "Although the skin of my finger was cut by the engagement ring because of the severe cold, and the tears froze on my face, it was still the happiest moment of my life."
The team is set to arrive in the Antarctic in January of 2014, and several friends of the lovers will be invited to fly out there and join the wedding party. "No matter how cold it gets, I will definitely wear my wedding garment -- with a little penguin in my arms probably," Liang said.
Judging by appearances, Liang is gentle and quiet. "In the eyes of my boyfriend, I am more like his battle companion and brother," said Liang. "I used to be weak, but now I can carry dozens of kilograms of equipment, just as men do. My team members want to take care of me as much as possible, but I just don't want them to."
Currently, their sailboat lies docked at a yacht club in Zhejiang Province. The boat, ordered from France last year, will carry nearly four tons of equipment to travel around the world. "Each voyage will take one week on average, with the longest set to take one month during which we cannot see any land," they said.
Liang and Zhang said they had always dreamed of a wedding like no other. With the sailing trip approaching, their ultimate dream is hopefully about to come true.
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