Desktop Adventure
RICHARD BANGS is the co-founder of SOBEK Expeditions, which executed the expedition detailed in Part Two. He is a pioneer in digital media, travel, marketing and commerce, and an expert at building tourism sectors around the globe. In the early 90s Richard produced the first internet travel site (www.mtsobek.com), the first travel CD ROM (The Adventure Disc), and the first virtual expeditions (www.terra-quest.com). He was founder and editor-in-chief of Mungo Park, a pioneering Microsoft travel publishing effort. He was part of the founding executive team of Expedia.com.
He is currently consulting on travel, and producing and hosting the PBS series, “Richard Bangs’ Quests.” His previous PBS series, “Adventures with Purpose,” was a two-time Emmy winner, and the companion book Adventures with Purpose, won the 2007 best book award from NATJA. His latest books are Quest for the Sublime (2008), and Quest for the Kasbah (2009). He lives in Venice, Calif., and travels frequently. You can follow his adventures at www.richardbangs.com.
CHRISTIAN KALLEN is also a former river guide, who came to SOBEK in the early 1980s and ended up forming a media partnership with Bangs that extended from brochures to books to video to Internet expeditions. Together they wrote five books, of which Riding the Dragon’s Back is the last, then went on to produce over 30 real-time travel expeditions on the Web for Terraquest, Mungo Park, MSNBC, MSN and Yahoo, among others. Kallen is now a writer, photographer and media producer living in Healdsburg, Calif. His website is www.desktopadventure.com
Great Bend of the Yangtze on TV news
KGW-TV, Portland, does a newscast bit on Sobek's Great Bend of the Yangtze expedition. Air date was Nov. 24, 1987. This is footage to illustrate "Riding the Dragon's Back," now available online as an ebook.