Abstract:

"Circumnavigate Earth's widest sea with comic adventurer Michael Palin. You'll come to know the infinite beauty of the Pacific Rim landscape and the diverse people who inhabit it. The full-color book makes it easy to follow each step of the arduous journey -- from Russia's Bering Strait to Southeast Asia and Australia, across the mighty Pacific to Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, then north through Central America and Mexico to complete the circle at last in Alaska. Produced by BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc."Full Circle with Michael Palin features different cultures from the many dynamic societies that cluster around the Pacific Rim. British actor and comedian Michael Palin undertakes 50,000 miles of adventure and humor-packed travel. Accompanying him on this super-trek are a team of eight and 500 kilos of film equipment. During the course of this extraordinary tour, Palin and his entourage find themselves on 22 trains, 37 ships and 16 helicopters and small planes.Their excursion begins in Diomede, a tiny island in the middle of the Bering Strait. Palin's plan is to return one year later -- via Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the length of the Americas from Cape Horn to the tip of Alaska. From the start, nothing goes according to plan. Ambushed early on by treacherous weather, Palin and his team miss vital connections, abandon timetables and hastily improvise new routes as the bizarre realities of this mega-journey lead them on a crazy zig-zag through four hemispheres. Along the way, Palin sings with Russia's Pacific Fleet Choir, learns to drum with Japan's famous Kodo Drummers, and sails through the Yangtze Gorges. He enjoys an underwater meal while deep-sea diving in the Philippines, shares a feast with Dyak headhunters in Borneo and climbs a recently active volcano in Java. Will he make it to Diomede? The scene is set for a nail-biting finale."