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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Sep 07, 2016 06:00 PM Drugged through the Far North...
Cabin is very little. If you are spending all day on the ship it is hard to be all the time in your little cabin. So you go to the deck and walk around the ship -100 m distance, maybe less. But they closed now the head of the ship due to the drugging operation so you walk like a tiger in the cage... Very frustrating... But it is You who wanted to try Russian Far North... Cold wind is blowing, but no rain today... All right... I have my mp3 with me to listen to my favorite music.
It was reported, that one lady said: -Oh, Wojciech Dabrowski - that guy who is listening Chopin even in the Himalaya! True! So now they will say that I am listening the Chopin music even in the Far North.
We were scheduled to be back in Salekhard today at 6 pm. Everybody is asking himself: when, when?
Somewhere in the afternoon we changed dragging boat for the stronger one. One of the officers told us e well kept secret: we will be in Salekhard in the morning, with some 13 hours delay. No official excuse... Just be happy! Russia...
We have been awarded by beautiful sunset on the wide river. Fifth nighton the Kalashnikov...
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Sep 06, 2016 06:00 PM On the broken ship...
We are sailing back south - to Salekhard. Are we? After my morning coffee prepared with free kipyatok (bring your own coffee) I recognized that we do not sail. We stay on the anchor in the middle of nowhere! Far Russian North.... Why? Nobody knows except the captain Viacheslav Utyshev. The crew is not allowed to give any information... Like in the NKWD times... Are we stranded on the shallows? - maybe... After some 5 hours we saw another ship approaching us. They throw the steel rope to tight the ships and they started to drag us... One hour, two hours... News arrived to the deck: "Kalashnikov" is broken. They will drag us slowly all the way to Salekhard! No excuses, no compensation. There will be delay for sure. But nobody knows when we will disembark... That's Russia and that's 61-years old ship...
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Sep 05, 2016 06:00 PM Antipayuta - northernmost point
In the night we crossed Obskaya Guba - a big bay sailing to the northernmost settlement accessible by public transport. The access to Antipayuta is very picturesque - by the long, meandring river which crosses tundra. Sun was shining and the autumn colors of tundra were just great. We anchored in the middle of the river to be taken by little boats ashore. I had 9 hours to enjoy the place.
On the outskirts of thd settlements I visited the chums - tent-like houses of the Nenets tribe. Nenets are short, friendly and proud of their culture.Unfortunately the herds of their reindeers were farcaway in the tundra - you can find them only flying there by helicopter. My young friend from Antipayutz shoved me thecway to the unusual Nenets cemetary - some 2 kms from the settlement, by the river. Rainboots are necessary to get there. Very strange place and not easy to see because Nenets do npt like such a places to be disturbed.
In the village there is nice, new school - I visited it with a permit of the master. And there is also stolovaya - eatery with the prices 50%lower from those on the ship. They built also nice orthodox chapel. The sun was shining and the day ended with a great sunset. I have a new company in my crampy cabin: crying child, little sobaka (dog) and 3 local adults...
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Sep 04, 2016 06:00 PM Ka - la - shni - kov
Teplokhod (that's how they call it here. "Mekhanik Kalashnikov" is the sister ship of "Rodina", "Kulibin" - I sailed Lena and "Matrosov" -I sailed Yenissey River years ago. Built in Germany in 1955 it is little different - instead Asian-style toilets it has little bit devastated western-style toilets. All three salons (lounges) are closed so what you can do is to sit in your cabin with 7 other people or to walk on the deck.
Ob is a huge river - sometimes you cannot see the coast on the both sides.
In the late afternoon we arrived to Novyj Port - one of the very few settlements on Yamal peninsula. I had 3 hours to visit this little place. The main attraction is Merzlotnik - underground natural cold store built in permafrost by the prisoners after thd 2nd WW. It is impressive labirynth with lovely cristals. Free, but you have to find the caretaker -Vaska to be guided. I saw also the run-down cemetary of the prisoniers, who die here - nobody takes care of it. On the outskirts of the settlement theee is huge base of Gasprom. Forget about any folklore...
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Sep 03, 2016 06:00 PM Russian Far North...
Salekhard - Yamal. After 4 days on the old river ship I can connect to the internet. The city in the Arctic looks very nice with lovely painted buildings and wide streets. They built nice arport (see picture). The money comes from the deposits of gas :) My new friend - Katya prepared for me great meal, including bortch and big fried fish. I bought some food for my next ship journey and in the evening I reported to river terminal in Salekhard to board my second river ship - "Kalashnikov" - famous name , isn'it? You have to kow tat before boarding the junk ship you have to go to the elegant building of the terminal - some 100 m away and uphill to be weighted. I got there my "carry on" badge for my backpack and returned to the ship 5 m7nutes before departure. Stupid procedure, but what you can do? We are sailing north again!
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Sep 02, 2016 06:00 PM Fourth day on the river boat
Last night we were stopping several times in the small settlements and the captain was announcing that through the loudspeakers so I slept very bad. But the weather is improving! No rain, even little sunshine. On the shore there is already tundra - limited trees are little but it is already autumn here so they are in tho lovely, bright colours... I am spending hours walking along the short deck. We are sailing north and north. For the locals it is normal, but I am courious that I am getting closer and closer to the Polar Circle. The distance that "Rodina" is sailing on its way from Omsk to Salekhard is 2783 kms!
Everybody was already tided and waiting for the moment when the houses of Salekhard will appear on the horizon. At 2 pm we reached the Salekhard landing just in front of the new, elegant terminal. Katya was waiting for me ashore. I did not see her before but she regnized me by the picture from my website. So nice, so friendly! First of all we bought the ticket for my next ship - going further north. Then he took me out of the town to be photograpthed at the Polar Circle Monument. Welcome to the Arctic!
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Sep 01, 2016 06:00 PM Down the huge Ob River
My knowledge of Russian gives me a chance to make many friendships. I met aboard few Russian travellers: Tonya from Chelabinsk, Dima, Gosha and Natasha from Moscow. We have a lot of time to share our traveller's knowledge - they are explaining some parts of Russian history... Nice people! Also my cabin mates are nice and quiet. Everybody uses free "kipyatok" - boiling water to prepare coffee, tea and instant soups. There is also "stolovaya" -a kind of the restaurant on the ship, but the waiting lines are long and the typical meal costs 400-500 roubles. The budget traveller can try mashed potatoes just for 50 rou. Ob River has many branches and shallows so the navigation is not easy. I met the captain Nicolai Agaki, he told me that within 2 years they are expecting a new ship with a toilet attached to every cabin and a/c (the lack of a/c is the nightmare of this boat). They allowed me to visit the bridge and see all the navigational equipment.
In the late afternoon we reached Berezovo. Here we had again 30 minutes stay, but the ship arrived 15 min after the scheduled time and I was able to see only from the distance the hill where the settlement is located with the golden spires of the church - it is about 700 m from the landing.
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Aug 31, 2016 06:00 PM Sailing down the Irtysh river
Our junk ship has capacity of 197 passengers and 35 crew, but it is taking aboard much more. People seat and sleep in the corridors and public areas. Why? This is Siberia. They still did't built the roads to many settlements alond the big rivers and the ship calling every 2 weeks is the only mean of transport for the people living so far from thebig cities. No wonder that on the decks of our "old lady" there are piles of boxes, bars of steel, barrels, furnitures and baskets of potatoes.We are sailing days and nights the wide river. The coast ir rather flat and forrested. Weather is very changeable. In the afternoon we reached the little town of Khanty- Mansijsk - the capital city of okrug- like a province. We had half an hour to go ashore and to explore the town which is located just steps from the nice river terminal. There is piramide-like monument of the Siberians explorers on the hill and nice orthodox church at the main square. UnfUnfortunately it was raining. But I took few pictures anyway. 1,5 h sailing down the river we reached the conjunction of Irtysh and much wider Ob River...
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Aug 30, 2016 06:00 PM On the 60 years old "Rodina" ship
Early in the morning my friend Alla took me to the unimpressing river jetty in Tobolsk. In fact it is the walking distance from the Kremlin. "Rodina" was already there. The ship does not look very impressive - it is 60 years old! Young lady at the gangway showed me the way to my 6-bed cabin. There were already 3 local ladies and 2 boys coming back from the vacations to their homes in Salekhard. Lucky me! They will not push me to drink vodka! The cabin is very cramp with 3 lower and 3 upper beds. But is has a big window. The only addition is little table below the window - like in the train. Shared toilets Asian-style are 20 m out. You have to pay extra 100 roubles for sheets and little towel. They were playing the Slovyanki waltz when we were departing at 7 am local time. I have 4 days/ 3 nights journey ahead!
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Aug 29, 2016 06:00 PM Tobolsk, lovely Tobolsk!
It is my second time in this historic Siberian town and I am enchanted again. Maybe because the sun is shining in the morning. But it is only 9 degrees Celsius! I took the walk to the pictiresque Kremlin, enjoying the golden domes of the orthodox churches. Tobolsk is empty - school vacations are over, no tourists at all... I went down to the bottom of the Kremlin walls to check if the Polish church built by the Poles deported here by tsars is open. Sorry, not open... Great architecture and sleepy atmosphere of the old Russia. I visited also the museum on the Kremlin to see old maps of Siberia and the cabinet of the last Tsar (Nicolas II and his family spent here their last months).
Tomorrow at 4.30 am Moscow time I should board the ship, heading only twice a month to Salekhard. I bought some food to take it aboard: three little breads 20 roubles each, 10 eggs for 41 rou, bar of butter 200g for 55 rou. (1USD =64 rou).
There will be lack of internet on the junk ship so please do not panic if there will not be a message from me during next 3 days. I expect next wifi connection only in Salekhard!
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