THE first challenge facing student Yuri Boyanin on his expedition to the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan was - simply getting there, Journal Live reports.
He and colleague Yana Tsaneva had to cross five mountain ranges to enter the country, which borders China.
They reached heights of 10,000ft and spent two weeks in a yurt at high altitude.
The objective of the expedition was to talk to older people in Kyrgyzstan, which has a nomadic culture, about their experiences from the 1930s, when the country was part of the Soviet Union, and how life has changed with independence.
Yuri, who is from Bulgaria and is studying history at Newcastle University, worked in conditions ranging from 35C on the plains to blizzards on high ground.
More than 30 Kyrgyz people were interviewed about a time when nomadic lifestyles were changed in favour of Soviet collective farms.
Today, says Yuri, some people are returning to the practice of taking their cattle to high summer pastures, and Islam, suppressed under the Soviet system, is making a strong comeback.
Yuri, 21, who lives in Gateshead, has just been made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for his work this summer in Kyrgyzstan.
He said: " Some people are happy with the freedom and opportunities independence has given, while others feel nostalgic towards the Soviet era of security."
Also returning, along with Islam, are traditional skills like carpet-making, yurts, and folk singing, which had been replaced in schools by songs about a socialist future.
Yuri enjoyed what he describes at the "incredible hospitality" of the local people.
Food was a blend of Russian, Arabic and Chinese, with sheep and horse meat being the main stays.
"Chicken is hard to find," says Yuri.
One of the most interesting interviews he did was with Barktabas Baetov, who fought with the Red Army during the Second World War, winning 39 medals, but lost all of his four brothers.
He survived every battle in the Soviet campaign, starting outside Moscow in 1941, through to Stalingrad, Kharkov, Kursk, Leningrad and Berlin.
In Monday's Journal - how Newcastle United lured Yuri to the city