The four-member adventure seeking team at the sealed zone of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in August.

They spent four months preparing for the Chernobyl trip, studying about medical treatment, radioactivity protection, and how to deal with nuclear exposure. They prepared a whole year before heading to Marum, researching all the possible difficulties and how to react.

Photographer Zeng, 35, quit his office job and devoted himself to their adventures. He met Zhang while volunteering during the earthquake rescue in 2008, and has been working with Liang in Beijing to support Zhang's team.

"I should live a stable life at my age, but I left my parents and went on the journeys, which contain many dangers," Zeng says. "I hide nothing from my parents: I explained our purpose, the dangers and the meaning of the journey, and they are very sensible and supportive.

"For me, life experiences are the most precious fortune," he says. "To walk this road with like-minded friends, it gives me lots of happiness inside, never mind if I have no income in this process."

The explorers' expeditions were presented recently in nine 30-minute episodes on the Travel Channel.

"We have many travelers going to different places of the world, but their destinations are very special, and hard to access for normal people, some even impossible for our production unit," says Zhang Min, chief editor of the program. "Their materials are exclusive, and it's very eye-opening for our audiences."

The "Seeker Chinese" will launch their next tour, to the South Pole, this year. They will pilot a non-powered sailboat across the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean to the South Pole, stopping for in-depth visits to different regions while passing through more than 30 cities in more than 20 countries during the voyage.

The trip will cover more than 20,000 nautical miles and will take one-and-a-half years.

The team plans to complete a 52-episode documentary film in the journey. Zhang and Liang will also hold their wedding at the South Pole.

There will be difficulties, challenges, even suffering in any expedition, Liang says. "But that is one of its joys.

"We have never thought of giving up, because this is our dream, and it's a wonderful thing to persist in your dream."

Contact the writer at tangzhe@chinadaily.com.cn.

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