The Russian Far East, as they say, begins with the Amur River. This Asian river ranks along with the Columbia and Nile as one of the great rivers of the world.

It drains a huge watershed that includes parts of China, Siberia and the Russian Far East coastal areas. It has no dams and lots of fish. The river winds across the taiga in complex channels of various depths and passes through a variety of landscapes.

At Khabarovsk, the Amur measures two kilometres wide; at Nikolaevsk it is about 16 kilometres! Average depth is about 10 to 15 meters, but can be over 80 meters deep.