Blogs from Kamchatka, Far East, Russia, Europe - page 2

"Of all the places I've been, of all the places I've seen, by far the most beautiful in Kamchatka is the Blue Lakes. Mother natures energy is so strong and powerful here you can feel it in the air as you walk, in the water you drink and on the ground you walk along." Local Kamchidalin Peter whom we meet prior to making our ascent to the blue lakes. As has become the custom in Kamchatka, we begin the morning with another early morning rise. Vadim, our super host, offers to take us to the Blue Lakes. "I'm driving to our dacha and its really on the way so it's not a hassle at all." He reassures us when we meet him at his house. We stop off at the local springs to fill up our ... read more

We had an awesome day exploring Ecco with Casha and Galia whom we had met the day before . We started the day with a swim in the local hot springs, which were right near the river. I took turns getting extremely hot and bothered in the hot springs then jumping in the cold icy lake. We climbed the hill, reaching 800 meters above sea level to see Ecco from up above. Casha showed us how to eat young not yet so maturebkedar cones with his teeth. We found wild zhimalist (жималист) a tasty blue berry that grows in far east Russia and Siberia. Following the climb we descended to visit the local ethnographic museum. The museum is well worth the visit and shows how the local indigenous groups, the Evians used to live. The next ... read more

The airport in Petropavlsk has got to be one of the most scenic airports in the world to fly in to. When flying in from Moscow as you descend through the clouds, a gorgeous panorama of green hills opens in front of you. Mix in the ocean and a scattering of dacha houses and Kamchatka takes your breath away from the moment you land. The airport itself is located in Yelizovo and is probably the smallest airport I had seen at that point in my life. A small landing strip and a welcome sign greets you as you walk along the runway to exit the airport. The baggage is delivered in a small room, a bit bigger than my grandparents living area back home. As you leave don't forget to look behind you, as a magestic ... read more

My time in Anavgay began naked, outdoors, in -20°C. Readers, please don't get excited: no photos were taken, since in that situation the last thing one thinks about is fiddling around with a camera. But how did I find myself in such circumstances at night in a wooden-shack indigenous village, population 600, in the middle of the Kamchatkan wilderness, one might ask? Good question. We had arrived here, at the end of the road north, with lorry drivers who still had thirty six hours to drive along frozen river surfaces to the isolated town of Palana. Having stepped out of the lorries and quickly realising that sleeping in the tent was a very undesirable option, we stopped the first passer-by we saw, a girl in her late teens, and dropped the one name we could: Nikolai ... read more

Eight time zones and half the world away from Moscow, Russia's Kamchatka peninsula dangles into the Northern Pacific like the straggling tail of a large beast on the run. Despite its wealth in gold and oil, despite the deep-pocketed tourists who shell out $2000 an hour on helicopter rides over its 300 active volcanoes and pay thousands more to hunt the bears, lynxes and wolverines that infest its endless mountain ranges and forests, the corrupt officials who run this easternmost province have ensured that it remains the most woefully godforsaken of all the far flung Russian regions I have visited. "Get out of our capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as soon as you can," a local vulcanologist called Ilya, who I had been in contact with through Couchsurfing, told me before I arrived. "It's one of the most disgusting ... read more