Out of Pevek: A Snapshot of Anadyr

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Anadyr, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russian Federation
A TENSE START....
As a rule, Alan and I never commemorate our birthdays. And for me, turning 65 years of age was certainly no reason for celebration; except perhaps that it was in a special town I am not likely to forget. 
We had been told that gift giving is a really big thing in Russia and of course it was Alex who organised all the festivities associated with my sensitive entry to the old age pensioner zone.... A brisk knock on our hotel door and we were greeted by a smiling and effervescent Lilia and Marguerite. "Happy Birthday!" they exclaimed in unison in English as I tried to bury myself into the floor. To my acute embarrassment they then presented me with number of gifts: a set of Russian Matryoshka Dolls, a box of chocolates, a carved wooden Chukchi mask and some postcards about Pevek and the hotel. Alan who hates anything to do with birthdays, tried to look enthusiastic but barely concealing a sour grimace, he was not at all convincing. He will after all, never forget me completely forgetting his 40th.... However it was organised, it was very sweet of the women and quite frankly, I really did like my rare gifts.
Again, we waited for news of our flight. Lilia and Marguerite reaffirmed the hotel had no accommodation after this day, and we really had very few options about where we could stay; well none actually. We had visions of renting a room in a private house. And it was not totally out of the question.
At 10:40 am Alex burst back into our room. "The ChukotAvia plane has not left Anadyr yet*. It is apparently 'not ready' and we will have to call back to the airport early in the afternoon". It was scheduled for departure at 1:40 pm. Our hearts sank. We just had to leave Pevek as even arriving in Anadyr that afternoon, we would barely scrape in a day in the city before having to return to Khabarovsk for our flight onto South Korea. 
* The flights between Anadyr and Pevek operate on a shuttle like system, to and from each location.
Our patience and good humour evaporated. Much as we had loved Pevek, we had by then been there for eight days (we had planned for three) and we really had to move on. This bit of news was the last straw and once again, there was no reason we could ascertain as to why the flight would be delayed or even cancelled yet again. The weather in both locations was reported to be fine, and most importantly wind free and clear. 
Quite unfairly, I envisaged the first travel agent we approached and who refused to take us to Pevek because of just this sort of situation, smiling to himself with deep satisfaction. I thought angrily that it was even worse being my birthday (amazing lack of logic coming from "she who never recognises birthdays"...). I was in the most poisonous mood which of course didn't do much for anyone else.
Poor Alex was rattled too. "Perhaps we can listen to some music?" he suggested hopefully. Rushing back to our room he played some of Leonard Cohen's collections including the famous "I'm your man". Not surprisingly, it did nothing to alleviate my poor humour. To make matters worse, in an attempt to finish my supplies, I had eaten far too much caviar and felt horribly nauseous. "It serves you right" said Alan.
LAST MEAL AT THE ARABIKA CAFE & FAREWELL EDIK
At midday, we still had no confirmation about our flight. Alex, who was always cheered up by food suggested that we head to the Arabika Cafe where we could have lunch (hopefully our last) and would not be too far from our hotel should we need to leave quickly.  He had also been in contact with our taxi driver Edik who seemed to know more about what was going on than anyone else. To add to our misery however, Edik informed that a uzhak was approaching and was likely to hit Pevek within the next day or so. If that had been the case, we could have been stranded in Pevek for at least another week.  
On our way to lunch, we took our left over salami and ham supplies to give to the local dogs. To our surprise, the dogs looked at us as if we were mad as if to say "You think a Russian dog would eat this crap?" The sausages must have been awful. The meat was not spoiled (how could it be in those temperatures?) but Alex would not even let me rip them up with my hands. It had to be a knife job. They are probably still there outside the Arabika, frozen solid.... It was quite amusing and had the right effect on our toxic disposition....
Just after we finished lunch, Edik called. The ChukotAvia plane had arrived and our flight was leaving in a few hours. We flew back to the hotel where Edik was waiting, stuffed an impossible amount of luggage into his taxi and were soon speeding off to the airport. We were sad to say goodbye to our friend Edik. He had been such a friendly, reliable and helpful man. All he wanted was some Australian coins to add to his international collection. We found a few spare coins but not our nice multi-faceted 50 cent pieces. "Next time Edik, we will bring you some better coins" we promised. And yet another reason to return to Pevek, I thought to myself as we watched Edik's car disappear into the snowy distance.
TO ANADYR BY CHUKOTAVIA
An Unimpressive Flight....
The airport was not surprisingly packed with passengers. After eight days with no flights there were people queued up everywhere. A group of three women who worked for the Taxation Office and who were staying at our hotel, lamented they were on a waiting list for a flight to Anadyr but didn't hold much hope. The last we saw of them was in the waiting list queue looking despondent. Sadly for them, they didn't manage to obtain seats on our flight.
Another forty or so young female and male army cadets dressed in fatigues and armed with substantial looking guns and over sized backpacks sat opposite us in the waiting room. We began to wonder how on earth we were all going to fit on our plane.  
One passenger who looked disappointed he had made the flight was an unfortunate male prisoner.  Handcuffed to a fearsome looking policeman, he stumbled his way up the stairs into the plane, kept well away from the mainstream passengers. Goodness knows what his crime was but it was a sobering sight, and we couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
Our ChukotAvia flight was unimpressive. There were no seat allocations and people just massed onto the plane, taking the first available seats. Alan and I squashed into broken down seats not far from the front but Alan's very long legs couldn't fit in the leg space. Furthermore, his seat which was tipped way forward, was broken and refused to sit upright, let alone recline. Alex, bless him frantically begged the only flight attendant-come-boarding-official-come-door-closing-man, if Alan could sit in the front seat next to him where there was a bit more room. He agreed and Alex nobly swapped seats, being totally cramped forward next to me for the entire two hour flight. 
But hey! We were on the flight and off to Anadyr. We often wondered what would have happened if we had missed getting seats on this flight, or if the flight had been cancelled again...
"Sorry but the Airport is Closing at 6:00 pm and there are no Baggage Handling Facilities...."
I cannot report on our flight as I slept the entire trip to Anadyr. Stumbling half asleep off the plane and onto an airport shuttle bus, I looked around to see nothing but the remotest white sea of flat snow covered land. I had quite forgotten that Anadyr (Ugolny) International Airport is located on the other side of the Anadyr Estuary and is connected to the city by ice road in winter and by ferry in summer. In the "in between season" when the road is not sufficiently solid to withstand motor traffic, the only means of transport is by helicopter. An extraordinary place to have an airport, you would think?
A sudden rush by the bus passengers back to our plane seemed rather odd. Perhaps they had left something vital on board or were connecting to another destination and thought they would be re-boarding this aircraft? Well no. As it happened, Anadyr Airport was closing at 6:00 pm. It was by then after 5:30 pm, and the baggage handling staff had packed it in for the day. We had to lift all our luggage out of the plane hold ourselves and somehow squeeze it into the already jam packed bus. Our kind Alex, worried about Alan's broken ribs did his best to carry all our luggage by himself but of course that was well beyond the call of duty. Somehow between us we ferried the lot into the bus, where we sank exhausted. And we thought Australian bureaucracy was bad...
I wondered about the prisoner. I guess he didn't have much luggage to collect.
An Evening in with the Kutkh Team
Director of Kutkh Travel Vladimir arrived in a taxi to pick us up from the airport. A well presented and quietly spoken man, Vladimir was friendly and helpful, yet slightly reserved; entirely understandable as he did not speak a lot of English and of course we spoke no Russian at all. We knew however our gregarious Alex would make up for any difficulty with conversation... It was our first meeting with any of the other Kutkh team. We would meet other members over an evening meal at our hotel.
The ice road into Anadyr was quite hairy, boggy with deep snow and deeply rutted from the airport traffic. It had been touch and go Vladimir explained, as to whether they were able to get a taxi over the ice road that day. Goodness knows what a helicopter trip would have cost.
Alex told us we would like our Chukotka Hotel. And we certainly did. Quite luxurious, our room was beautifully appointed and very comfortable. There were just two curious features of the hotel which quite amazed us: there was no elevator and we had to lug our considerable baggage up four flights of stairs and their was no hotel Internet. But it was all very plush and we were more than delighted with our accommodation.
Looking out of our hotel window, we were surprised at how sophisticated Anadyr looked and how different the architecture was from Pevek and Bilibino. Huge snow piles several meters high, testament to the recent blizzards were heaped up along the sides of the footpaths. Deep snow covered the city. It all had rather a fairy tale like appearance, enhanced by the simply exquisite ice crystals which framed our views from our windows. 
At dinner we met with Mikhail, who had organised our tour in conjunction with Dalgeo Travel, Khabarovsk. Another interesting member of the Kutkh team, Mikhail was very charming and spoke excellent English. Our evening meal that night was sumptuous. The food was fabulous and the company was good fun. To my embarrassment, Vladimir presented me with a huge bunch of flowers for my birthday. As anyone who knows us will know, I am rarely (aka never) presented by Alan with flowers. It was quite a shock. I tried awfully hard to look cool - but I know didn't....
Thankfully, the conversation became diverted from the frigg'n birthday bit, although it continued to plague me throughout our stay in Anadyr. Over our meal, Vladimir and Mikhail went to great pains to explain to us just how concerned they were about our trip along the ice road from Bilibino to Pevek. "It really gave us nightmares" they said. "We had no control over the quality of your transport. It would have been much easier if you had begun your journey in Anadyr where we could have organised your travels through our known providers." It was the first we had heard of this. In hindsight, we could have reversed our travels. But knowing the thoroughness of the Dalgeo Tours management team, we knew we were given the exact tour we had asked for.
We had an early night. Relieved we had at long last finally made our trip to Anadyr, we quickly fell into the deepest of sleeps. 
ANADYRSKY DISTRICT AND  ANADYR 
The Anadyrsky District
Anadyrsky District is one of six administrative zones in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. It is located within the central and southern parts of the Okrug, and borders with Chaunsky Ditrict to the north-west, Iultinsky District to the north and north-east, the Gulf of Anadyr and Bering Sea to the east, Kamchatka Okrug in the south and Bilibinsky District to the west and south-west. Anadyrsky is the largest of the Chukotka Districts, covering a massive area of some 287,000 square kilometers; larger in area than the United Kingdom or the combined North and South Islands of New Zealand. 
Because of its vastness, it covers a number of natural environments from mountainous tundra in the north, to impenetrable woodland in the south, to wind swept rugged coastline to the east. The eastern region is dominated by the 800 kilometer Anadyr River which forms an estuary known as the Anadyrsky Liman which empties into the Gulf of Anadyr. Most significant settlements are found on the Anadyr River or one of its tributaries.  
The vast Anadyrsky District (not including Anadyr) is home to only 12,000 residents; nearly three quarters of whom are of non-indigenous origin; mainly Russian or Ukrainian. Interestingly these people either migrated or are the descendants of those who migrated east encouraged by government subsidies and grants, or those who were exiled here during Stalin's purges, and then stayed in the region following their release. Approximately 27% of the population are indigenous; the majority being Chukchi. Other indigenous groups include the Evens, Koryak, Yukaghir and Chuvantsy.
The economy in Anadyrsky is mainly driven by the substantial gold and coal mining industries.     
Anadyr Town at a Glance
Anadyr (pronounced something like "An-udd-r") is the administrative centre of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and main centre for the Anadyrsky District, although it is curiously not administratively part of it. It is a significant port town located at the mouth of the Anadyr River and is the most eastern town in Russia (note: more easterly settlements such as Provideniya and Uelen do not have town status). 
The urban area of Anadyr is home to almost 16,000 people, mostly living in Anadyr town, Beringovsky, Ugolniy Kopi, Markovo and Meynpilgyno. Anadyr is connected to almost all major Russian Far Eastern seaports. The Ugolniye airport has domestic flight connections to Moscow, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, while Bering Air provides flights to Nome, Alaska in the US. Although there is a network of sealed roads between Anadyr and the indigenous village of Tavayvaam, there are virtually no other all weather roads in Anadyrsky. Ice roads operate in winter to Valunistoe, Kanchalan, Markovo and Beringovsky. 
The infrastructure of Anadyr is very sophisticated by local standards with a wide array of hotels, shops, restaurants and theatres. Services include a hospital, university, schools and sports centres. For complex health issues and major operations however, patients generally must undertake the nine hour flight to Moscow.
The climate of Anadyr is Subarctic Maritime - and extremely harsh. The average temperature in January is minus 22 C and in July around plus 11 C. The lowest temperature ever recorded was minus 47 C, and the absolute maximum was plus 28 C. Due to the proximity of the sea, Anadyr town has warmer winters and cooler summers in comparison with the inner parts of Chukotka. Severe fogs are common in Anadyr in summer.
A Glimpse Into the History of Anadyr
Although settlements in the Anadyr District have been dated back some 5,000 years and many sea voyages were undertaken in the region by Arctic explorers during the 17th and 18th centuries, Russian settlement of Anadyr town is much more recent; being in existence for just over one century. Founded in 1889 by Russian military doctor and explorer Leonid Grinevetsky, a small team of government officials and some twelve Cossacks, the town was originally known by the romantic name of Novo-Mariinsk (New Mary Town). It was at the time the most north-easterly outpost of the Russian Empire.
During the Russian Revolution in 1917, Novo Mariinsk was home to about 300 people. In 1919, the first Revolutionary Committe was formed. In 1920, following a coup, most members of the committee were executed. Elections were then held and in 1921 the People's Revolutionary Committee was formed. The same year marked the union of office and factory workers, and the first trade union in Chukotka was formed. 
In 1923, Novo Mariinsk was re-named Anadyr, named after the former Cossack fortress set up in the Anadyr River in the 17th century (the word Anadyr is derived from the Yukaghir word "any-an" or river).
In 1932, Anadyr became the centre of the Chukotka National Okrug and by 1941, the town had a population of 3,100 people. During the Great Patriotic War (WW II), many of the Anadyr residents signed up as soldiers or took part in the construction of a local military airport used as part of the Alaska-Siberia air route for the transportation of US Lend Lease aircraft to the Eastern front.
In 1961, the Anadyr Sea Port was opened and a short time later the first power plant in Chukotka was constructed. In 1965 Anadyr was granted town status.  In 1984, the first regular direct flight between Moscow and Anadyr was launched using Ilyushin II-62 planes. In 1989, the "Bridge of Friendship" was established between Chukotka and Alaska. As a statement of the new alliance, a cross ski expedition was held across the Bering Strait, beginning in Anadyr and involving both US and Russian participants. 
In 2004, Anadyr was granted Urban District status and the ethnic village of Tavayvaam was controversially absorbed into its jurisdiction.
The Magadan to Anadyr Federal Highway
In 2012, construction of the Federal Highway Magadan (Kolyma)-Omsukchan-Omolon-Anadyr began; a road which can ensure year round access from Anadyr to Magadan. Interestingly, we didn't hear much about the progress of this highway during our travels through Magadan or Chukotka. The following is an article of 8th August 2018 from Tass Russian Newsagency:
"A project to build a road from Kolyma to Anadyr has been drawn up. The 4.5 meter wide road will be built according to all standards to make it resistant to low temperatures and ensure its long operation...
The new road will provide round-the-year transport link to the Magadan region. If all authorisations and approvals are obtained promptly, construction can begin before the end of this year.
Until now one could reach Chukotka at any time of year only by plane. The federal road Kolyma-Omsukchan-Omolon-Anadyr will pass through Chukotka and the Magadan region. The Chukotka stretch the road from Omolon to Anadyr, with extensions to Bilibino and Yegvekinota (Egvekinot), is more than 1,800 kilometers long.
...The total cost of the project is estimated at 150 billion rubles (approximately USD 2.27 billion). It is expected to take some 30 years to build the road (in) a harsh climate...
About half of Chukotka lies beyond the Arctic Circle. This region occupies an area of 721,500 square kilometers, accounting for 4.2% of Russia's territory. Winter lasts there for ten months, and the permafrost is everywhere. In winter, temperatures fall below (minus) 60 degrees Celsius. Summers are short, rainy and cold (barely above plus 14 degrees C); sometimes it snows, and in some parts of the region, snow does not even melt in summer. As a result, the only all-year-round type of transport to and from Chukotka is by plane, even thought the region's population is 50,500....
... The construction of the road will accelerate the development of major mineral deposits in the west of Chukotka..." 
This should be a truly exciting venture. A possible future journey for us? Well, maybe not if it is to take another 30 years!
* I have not been able to find a map of the planned route for the highway. I have instead drawn a probable route, including the towns which are proposed to be linked. 
A DAY IN ANADYR
28th March 2018 
A Morning's Ice Fishing in the Estuary
We woke late (well 7:00 am is late for us....) to a glorious sunny day. Almost as if Anadyr was apologising for delaying our visit, the day promised to be brilliantly clear and wind free. But it was very frosty and bitterly cold.... 
Gazing out of our crystal spangled window, we were intrigued to see the main thoroughfare of Otke Street busy with people hurrying to work, and several dozers and graders clearing the snow bound roads. Even so early in the morning, Anadyr city was well and truly alive. To our delight, we also noticed a large supermarket complex, the Novomarinsky Mall just opposite our hotel.
Alex had been dying to get us out fishing in his home town of Anadyr. He had spent many evenings talking about his father who was a professional fisherman before he retired, and how much he now enjoyed recreational fishing from his boat along the Kazachka River and its many beautiful tributaries. We knew we would be fishing one way or the other during our stay.
To Alan's dismay, we were organised to go ice fishing for the morning on the frozen river estuary. Alex was even more serious about our clothing, insisting we wore the very warmest gear we had, including our military standard thermals under those dreaded bib and brace ski overalls. And damn it, my much despised chewed rat hat. Looking ridiculous, we were so loaded up with heavy clothes that we could barely walk let alone climb up into the Trekol that picked us up. Much to our embarrassment, our driver and his friend thought our pathetic clambering attempts and lack of agility very amusing.
To our surprise, the vast expanse of frozen estuary was dotted with hundreds of keen ice fishers, each equipped with long augurs, tiny foot long fishing rods and low wooden seats. Some drove ARV's whilst others walked, dragging with them specialised fishing carts on wheels, much like those we see at our home village of Crowdy Head. Most of the fishers were not young but they were certainly very tough. 
On an icy cold day, it was not exactly my idea of a fun day's fishing - and I knew full well what Alan was thinking.... Alan was charged with making holes in the ice with our auger, while I sorted out the bait. We found everything difficult - and especially so with our hands covered by under gloves and mittens. Trying to get bait on a hook with gloves on was impossible.... Our driver and his friend wisely sat in the shelter of the Trekol, grinning at our attempts to set up our gear while Alex curled himself up like a hedgehog on the ice.
Alan grabbed one of the low seats but could hardly bend in two with all his heavy duty clothing. A loud cracking noise was followed by a soft thud. Alan's seat had gone right through the ice and there he was lying on his back in the snow. Yes, his fourth fall in just over a week... Luckily it was so low as not to cause any damage - just to the seat.
Alex's father was also fishing. Wandering over to greet us, he shook his head grumpily saying there was no point fishing where we were and with that, stomped off to what we guessed was a better location. He was right. We didn't even lose a bait. Even the experienced Alex had no luck.
A Local Television Interview
Arriving back at our hotel, we met with Vladimir who asked us if we would mind doing an interview with a local television crew. It was fine with us. We just needed to get out of our "Michelin Men" apparel - and warm up!
Igor was the anchorman for the television team. An engaging, vivacious young man with an amazingly wild hair do, we liked Igor as soon as we saw him. The other members of the team were lovely too; super friendly and like Igor, very kind to us foreign "interviewees".
Igor asked good questions and gave us a very fair, if quite lengthy interview. "What brought us to Chukotka? How did we find the difficult Ice Road to Pevek? How is Chukotka so different from Australia? What was our favourite destination, and why? What about the people? Have we found them friendly?" Igor was especially delighted when Alan mentioned the lost time of the long Cold War "We (Russian and Australian people) are so alike. Why did we lose 70 years in the midst of a stupid Cold War?" he asked. He was also interested that we wanted to find out how people live in Arctic winters - and very pleased that we found the answer in Chukotka! I just wished he had left the bit out about "Mrs Morrison celebrated her 65th birthday in Chukotka"....
Our interview proceeded for a good hour or so, with all three of us being interviewed separately, then together, and then me on my own again. We were quite exhausted by the end!
You can see our interview at https://youtu.be/hAMfY0QIlA0. Thank you Igor for sending it to me, and especially for making the English sub-titles!
A Walk Through Anadyr
When Alex suggested that we take a walk after lunch around Anadyr, neither of us was very keen. On a clear but bitterly cold afternoon, it sounded like a huge effort to get all our cold gear on again. But apart from the next morning before our flight, it was the only opportunity we had to explore the city and get a feel for a totally different environment.
Anadyr was quite a contrast to Pevek and Bilibino. From our brief glimpse that afternoon, the architecture was much more modern and without the seemingly endless monotonous rows of old Soviet styled apartments that dominated the other settlements. The brightly painted buildings were much more European, the motor vehicles more expensive and people looked affluent and were well dressed. From our perspective, the town exuded a real feeling of prosperity.
Anadyr was still recovering from a week of blizzards and heavy snow. Although the streets were cleared of most snow, the footpaths were treacherous and the surface of the roads like polished glass. Terrified of more falls, we tottered along at a snail's pace, making our two kilometer walk through the town and up to the Verbluzh'ya Gora lookout feel like eternity. I must give it to Alex. He never complained about our slowness and lack of agility on ice. Instead, he skated on his shoes ahead of us, whipping around every few feet to see if we were alright; a nimbleness obviously acquired through a lifetime of living in the Arctic.
Breathless from the long climb and the freezing cold, we finally made it to the top of the lookout. It was really worthwhile; the views over Anadyr, the port and the estuary were splendid. Being totally frozen over however, the estuary blended seamlessly with the surrounding landscape making it was difficult for us to identify what was land and what, in summer at least, was the sea. 
This was where being in the Arctic was so mind blowingly different from anything we had ever experienced. After all, our sea is never frozen; it is always liquid and coloured in tones of blue, green or grey. Our surrounding mountains are always covered with evergreen trees and as it never snows, no landforms are ever masked. Our home environment, we were becoming to realise was a reliable continuum of sand, trees and mountains that we had always taken for granted. It was quite a strange phenomenon for us to acknowledge, and was yet another occasion during our off the beaten track travels, when we appreciated the value of being thrown totally out of our environment.
I had also acquired a completely different perspective on power stations. Ugly yes; but they signaled survival. I hate to admit that I began to ignore even the putrid belching smoke emitted from their towers....
In the long slate shadows of a late afternoon, Gora Verblyuzh'ya was desolate, lonely and bitterly cold. Yet, the vastness of the surrounding environment was incredibly beautiful; quite breathtaking really. 
"Let's go" announced Alex, shaking us into reality. "You will freeze to death unless we make a move". Our walk or rather shuffle, back down the incredibly steep glassy road was even more difficult than our ascent. It was a very long two kilometers back to Anadyr township.
As we walked back to the town, Alex told us we were not far from the Anadyr-1 Secret Facility, the now abolished former site for launching anti-nuclear rockets toward the US during the Cold War. Shivers went up my spine. It was a chilling thought to actually be so close to a site which once commanded such vital strategic importance.
Our walk took us toward the port and frozen coastline of the Anadyr Estuary. On the way, we called into Alex's home, meeting with his charming parents Larissa and Valery. As mentioned, both are now retired with Larissa working on a voluntary basis as a news anchor with a local Chukchi radio station and Valery - well, just enjoying fishing at his leisure. Both were heavily involved with the local Chukchi community, and although they were about to head off for a meeting, they were friendly and very welcoming.
A Special Dinner and Concert
The Kutkh Team had organised a special dinner for us with a local group performing a number of indigenous songs and dances. The very young daughter of one of the woman was a particularly talented dancer and her performance was outstanding. The concert was short but very entertaining.
We were accompanied by Vladimir, Mikhail and his friend Oksana - and of course Alex. Speaking perfect English, Oksana had moved from Moscow to Chukotka several years before, firstly to Provideniya and then to Anadyr as Director of the Chukotka Heritage Museum, and where we were to visit the next morning. Again, we enjoyed a very pleasant evening. The food was fabulous and the company relaxed and good fun.
LAST MORNING IN ANADYR
Some Beautiful Paintings by Amir Timergaleev....
Alex joined us at our hotel for breakfast. "It is very cold this morning and we have to be back at the hotel to catch a taxi to the airport just after lunch. I think we should just go for a short walk; maybe just to the museum?" It sounded good to us. The evening before Oksana told us we may be able to purchase from the museum The Chukotka Modern Guide, a Chukotka version of the publication we had bought on Magadan Oblast during our visit there.
In the foyer just before we left for our walk, Alan stopped to admire some of the paintings. Bold, brightly coloured and rich in texture, some of the paintings reflected styles of very famous painters of the last century. The paintings were original works of well known Russian artist Amir Timergaleev. And indeed his works are strongly influenced by those of the great artists including Matisse, Modiglinani, Signac, Gaughan, Van Gogh and Chagall. 
Amir Timergaleev was born in Kazan in 1955, and today lives in Moscow where he is still producing beautiful works. Oh dear, I thought. Alan is well known for his love of fine paintings and fine hand woven rugs. He is also a compulsive purchaser. Another reason to return to Russia....  
"Hey! I Saw You on Television News Last Night! Haha, We are the Same Age!!"
We were treated to yet another gloriously bright, clear sunny day. But again, it was icy cold with the temperature around minus 22 C. Our ice crunching walk took us slightly north-east from our hotel along Ulitsa Rul'tytegina and across a frozen park-like setting for about a kilometer toward the museum and the Trinity Cathedral Church. It was very pretty however, with lots of leafless deciduous trees and curiously some with ornamental foliage attached, perhaps to cheer up the park a little during the long winter.
Chatting idly with Alex, I was suddenly confronted by an elderly woman, incongruously wheeling a pram with a small baby encapsulated in a mass of thick blankets. Her face pressed closely to mine and gesticulating wildly, she appeared to berate me for some time. "Perhaps she thinks I'm Canadian or American?" After all I was wearing a borrowed red and white maple leaf Canadian beanie. Alex laughed "She says she saw you on television news last night. And she says that you are both the same age!" Holy hell, she looked ancient. Surely I can't look as old as her, I thought... And surely she could recall more to my famous interview, other than how frigg'n old I was....". Unfortunately it all happened so fast that I didn't get a photo of her. And perhaps it was better I hadn't. Alan thought it was all very funny....
A short walk took us to the Trinity Cathedral Church, the largest wooden Orthodox Church built in a permafrost zone. Interestingly, the church was built mostly in Omsk then disassembled and transported in 2005 to Anadyr for its final assembly on this site. The lovely church, which can accommodate up to 1,000 people, was made largely from pine and larch and is dominated by a huge monument to Saint Nicholas, apparently the largest in the world.
Our walk then took us past a monument of the famous Chukchi writer and poet Yuri Rytkheu. The grandson of a Chukchi shaman, all of Rytkheu's works were devoted to the lives of the Chukchi people. In 1998, a literary competition in honour of the author was established, growing to becoming a world-wide competition held every two years. Yuri Rytkheu died in St Petersburg in May 2008. His well loved works however, live on. We are not overly fussed by monuments but this beautiful life-like sculpture cleverly captures the expression of a relaxed yet very reflective Yuri Rytkheu lying back against the rock behind two of his favourite huskies. Alex, an avid reader of Rytkheu's literature, insisted that we must read some of his works.
Chukotka Heritage Museum
Our last visit for the day, and for our very brief stay in Anadyr, was to the Chukokta Heritage Museum. On our arrival, we were greeted by the very friendly and welcoming Oksana who provided us with a personal tour of the museum.
The museum complex was established in 2002 as the result of the merging of two smaller historical institutions. Collections however began as early as 1931, and today the museum is well regarded for its extensive representation of the historical, cultural and natural features of the Chukotka region. The collection of the museum currently includes over 40,000 items. The ground floor of the complex is occupied by clever "virtual experience" exhibits, the second floor by major permanent displays while the upper level is devoted to a gallery of contemporary art. The museum displays were impressive and Oksana provided us with an interesting and concise tour; our available time being very tight because of our early afternoon flight.  
A display which really intrigued us however was that of the sea voyages of some of the early explorers of the region, particularly those of British explorer Captain James Cook, the first recorded European to have charted the east coast of Australia. We knew that Cook on his three major voyages, had explored and charted much of the Pacific but we were not aware he had travelled quite as far north as the Bering Strait where he charted much of the Alaskan coast line as far north as 70 degrees in latitude.   
Note Photograph 1 below, depicts the journeys of famous explorers Stadukhin (blue), Dezhnev black), Bering (red), Chirikor (orange), Billing (green) and Wrangel (fine green).  
Oksana could not find us an English version of The Chukotka Modern Guide but promised to look out for one. And she did eventually find a copy and sent it by mail after our travels. Thank you very much Oksana! It is a very interesting and helpful publication.
FAREWELL ANADYR
Vladimir, Mikhail and Alex joined us at our hotel for our last lunch in Anadyr. They had provided us with a fabulous tour of Chukotka. We appreciated that it had been a particularly difficult task for them but we were very grateful that they could provide us with exactly the tour we asked for.
Before we left for the airport, Alan asked if it was in any way possible to request a seat allocation at the front of the plane which could accommodate his very long legs. Mikhail smiled broadly "Ahh, when you arrive at the airport, you will be met by a very beautiful woman. She will look after your needs and make sure you have a comfortable flight. You do not need to worry". Intrigued, Alan thanked him profusely. "You must come back in summer" he replied.
Alex accompanied us to the airport. Once again we took the precarious journey over the ice road to the town of Ugolniye Kopi, site of the Anadyr International Airport. Interestingly, the surprisingly large settlement is inhabited by nearly 3,000 people, most of whom are involved in the airport maintenance or its brown coal mining industry. In the Cold War years of the 1950's, the largest military contingent in the region was also based here.
Mikhail was right. On our entry to the airport, Alex took us through to the VIP lounge where we were greeted by a charming young woman who booked in our baggage and provided Alan with the best seating allocation for him. We were very impressed. It seemed our mysterious Mikhail could indeed fix most things, even to the extent of organising a miraculous seat allocation!  
One thing our VIP lounge could not provide however was a glass of champagne to farewell Chukotka. Alex came with us to explore some of the lounges and shops but to our disappointment, none sold alcohol. Caviar, yes but sadly no champagne.... At one shop Alex became visibly upset. Not understanding what had been said, Alex explained the woman shop attendant had been racially abusive toward him, telling him in no uncertain terms that they did not serve (Chukchi people) alcohol and to "Not even try to bother finding any in the airport"; the inference being all Chukchi are low life alcoholics. We were quite shocked. Race relations between indigenous people and Russians, were obviously not quite as harmonious as we had thought....
Sitting waiting for our flight, Alex chatted to a Russian friend Yuri. A delightful man, Yuri was great company and to our relief provided us with some relief that not all Chukotka Russians are as racist as the nasty shop attendant. 
It was with great sadness that we farewelled our friend Alex. Not only has he been an excellent guide, but a great friend. There are not many people who could live in such close quarters with their clients and not have some sort of tension. After all, at our stage of life we know exactly what we want and we are definitely not easy company! 
Waving goodbye, we promised to keep in close contact. And, we have. Thank you Alex for a wonderful journey.
Personally escorted by our charming airport official through a special entrance, we were the first passengers to board our flight to Khabarovsk. It was a great finale to a wonderful journey though Chukotka.  
Other Entries

Comments

2025-02-07

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank