Magadan – Yakutsk – Lake Baikal: All cold on the eastern front.

Magadan to Lake Baikal via Yakutsk by road. Oh yes…

But we’ve got to get to Magadan first!

So it was a final gaze out the window at the office – luckily during a sunset ->

https://instagram.com/p/CZzUVI9oJA6

And then it was the short drive to SVO, and from there the long flight to Magadan – eight time-zones to the east!…

Curiously, there’s now a Magadan restaurant in Sheremetyevo:

And several hours later we were dining at another Magadan restaurant – in Magadan! ->

But, what were we doing in Magadan in Magadan in the first place?…

Actually – second place; for this, quite simply, will be a repeat of last year‘s phenomenal February road-trip along the Kolyma Highway from Magadan to Yakutsk via Oymyakon. That trip saw us then drive all the way to Moscow!

You see, that trip last year wasn’t just non-stop ecstatic raptures, and fountains of emotions, photos and on-the-road tales, but also extraordinarily astonishing. We still haven’t quite realized what actually happened. And for that reason we’re back in Magadan for a re-run (taking practically the same route as last year – at least as far as Lake Baikal; from there, we’ll just have to see). So, will we ‘get’ it this year? Let’s hope so!…

Meanwhile, we begin our descent into Magadan (the city:). Of course – it’s snowy, but it’s a nice clear day too, while the temperature is a clement -15˚C…

Folks in the know have told me there are plans to lay a railroad as far as Magadan. What I don’t get is just how they’ll manage it given the thousands of kilometers they’d need to cover, across mountainous – permafrost – terrain. Imagine the cost?! Now, I’m no (full-time:) economist, but… the only way I can see such a project ever breaking even in, say, less than a century, is by waiting until there’s sufficient Siberian and far-eastern climatic warming and thus a full, permanent thawing (permathaw:) of the permafrost!

See the light blue color of the streams down there? That’s their fresh ice coverings:

We land! Everything looks much the same as it did a year ago. The only difference – a couple degrees Centigrade ).

“Welcome to Kolyma – the golden heart of Russia!”

And here’s the crew; well, most of the 16, anyway:

That’s all for today folks – and also for a few more days to come, since there’s zero internet round these remote parts, and there’ll also be little time on the road for preparing photo-texto blogpost-updates for you. But don’t worry – they’re coming. Just remember: all good things come to those who wait!

Wish us bon-voyage folks! Stay tuned!…