Monthly Archives: December 2024

Hi folks!

Earlier this week I took a whirlwind trip up to St. Petersburg; however – I did not go on a walkabout around this particularly beautiful city. What?…

Sure, I normally get out and about in St. Pete, but that’s because I tend to go there during the summer months – or at least in spring or fall; rarely in the depths of winter. But I’m no fan of bad, wintry weather – all gray and damp and the days being real short. So, like I say – no walkies. But we had something else planned – indoors: a visit to the Hermitage! ->

First up: see these pics? All as per (historically significant, beautiful, intricate, grandiose, opulent…) – right? But there’s one thing missing; can you guess what?…

Come on… worked it out yet?

Read on…

There aren’t many places in the world where you can find world-class, mind-blowingly beautiful natural objects… without the typical crowds of tourists. But in Kamchatka – you can!…

Of course, I’ve been seeing – and mentioning in my blogposts – the steady rise in the numbers of tourists that visit Kamchatka in recent years, but, all the same, given Kamchatka’s vast size (bigger than the UK), those are still a mere drop in the ocean.

Perhaps the most striking example of the relative touristlessness of Kamchatka can be found at the southernmost end of the peninsula – where there are the two unique and astonishingly grandiose volcanoes – Kambalny and Koshelev. Here’s Kambalny and its eponymous ridge:

And here’s Koshelev:

Read on…

Salam, folks – from Saudi Arabia!

I was there last week at the Internet Governance Forum in Riyadh, where I was invited to give a speech about some of the lesser-known evils of the internet – and about our ideas regarding what to do to best tackle those evils. Traditionally, this annual forum has been attended by politicians and other government officials, representatives of international organizations, and so on. Only relatively recently have they started inviting folks from commercial companies – seemingly so as to get a better handle on the home truths about what’s really going on across the internet.

Since the event wasn’t dedicated to my core field (JIC: cybersecurity!), I didn’t stay around to listen to the other speeches. Thus, that’s all for today about the actual conference! However, I just have to tell you about the place where the event took place…

The forum took place in the enormous… palace (I can’t describe the building any other way) called the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center. And it seems it’s so luxuriously-exclusively grand and ritzy that there’s hardly anything about the place on the internet (e.g., no Wikipedia page) – yes, that same internet the governance of which the forum is dedicated to! Here’s how it looks from the outside:

Inside – breathtakingly beautiful opulence; here, for example, is the entrance hall:

The main hall:

Like? Then let’s take a closer look…

Read on…

Onward – southward, heading for the inimitable Ksudach volcano – a… Countach among the peninsula’s fastest retro 12-cylinder biggest and most striking volcanoes!…

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been here, but it could be a hundred and I’d never tire of it: its colossal caldera, the new crater growing up inside it, and the two luscious lakes: oh my gigantically grand, green and grandiose!…

The drone comes into its own here:

Read on…

It was farewell to Ksudach, as we choppered down toward the Kambalny and Koshelev volcanoes – which are so far south that you can clearly see three of the northern Kuril Islands. On the way, we passed both Ilynsky volcano and Kurile Lake…

Kurile Lake in so-so weather ->

Read on…

If ever you hear the Russian for “town” (gorod) uttered in Kamchatka, what are normally being referred to are the practically conjoined towns of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yelizovo (where around two-thirds of the population of the whole peninsula live – ~200,000 out of ~290,000) – here. It’s what happens when there’s a single… micropolis in a region ).

Behind the town there are three charming volcanoes, fondly referred to as the domashny volcanoes – domashny meaning “homely”, “domesticated” (as in – not wild), or “of the home” – kind of like… a pet, or the comforts of a home (also a “home” instead of, say, a “pro” version of something like a product).

Aaaaaany way, the domashnies are the Koryaksky, Avachinsky and Kozelsky volcanoes, which form the much cherished and appreciated backdrop to the administrative center of Kamchatka. Cherished and appreciated, that is, when they’re visible, which is rarely – including when we were there this year, when we only caught brief glimpses of them between passing clouds from the helicopter:

Read on…

Hi folks!

You’ve had volcanoes and geysers and out-of-this-world scenery; now for the more practical side to life in Kamchatka – where to bed down of a night!…

First, let me state the obvious: Kamchatka’s no resort. It has long beaches, but the ocean’s always cold; and Kamchatka’s also hard – and expensive – to get to given it’s so remote. Accordingly, there aren’t the corresponding hundreds of large chain hotels dotting its coastline. But, obviously, there have to be places to stay – and there are; they’re just more modest than your Marriott’s and Hiltons, etc. Nevertheless, the places to stay and the level of service at them is decent, and getting better by the year – as we keep finding out ourselves…

Our first overnight is practically always in or near the village of Paratunka, not far from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – here. Why? Because it’s built upon magical hot springs: hot, pure mineral water on tap and in the pools of all the guesthouses in the village – which range from the bare basics to rather the luxurious…

This year we spent the night in the village next door to Paratunka called Termalny (Thermal). And here’s the guesthouse we stayed in:

And here’s its naturally-heated pool. Yes – new. Yes – very nice! And just look at the view!…

Read on…

Onward – southward, from Bakening in the direction of Lake Tolmachova – where we were to stay overnight next…

The scenery – once again – magical:

Read on…

Hi folks!

Kamchatka – the remote peninsula that just keeps on giving (you more and more OMG-astonishing-bewildering-meditationing-mindblowing impressions and sensations). But you know that already if you’re not new to this here blog of mine. If you are new – read on: you’ll get the drift in a single post – this one!…

And so, onward we choppered – along the Sreddiny Range after our brief landing on Khangar. Next up – as you’ve already guessed from the title: the volcano called Bakening. No – not Báke-ening, but Bakéning, so you can banish images of either baking a cake, or frying streaky bacon with your full English right now – before you work up an untimely appetite!…

[Returning from the kitchen…] Now where was I? Ah yes – Bakéning volcano…

Read on…

Hi folks!

The Kamchatkan peninsula is where the North American and Pacific tectonic plates meet and constantly rub against each other – warping, destroying, and rebuilding the territory. This process leads to all sorts of natural wonders – both underground and on the surface…

Now, the volcanoes we’d already checked out on our Kamchatka-2024 trip (the Klyuchevsky group, Kizimen, Tolbachik, the Uzon caldera, the Valley of Geysers) happen to be rather new creations of nature. The Valley of Geysers is only several thousand years old (judging by the geyserite, apparently), and the mentioned volcanoes and others nearby are also mere wee nippers: merely tens of thousands of years old – not millions, and certainly not tens of millions like, for example, the Himalayas.

Thus, the east coast of Kamchatka and all the volcanisms along it I’ve already shown you are all relative new kids on the block peninsula. But down the middle of Kamchatka is the so-called Sredinny Range (sredinny = middle) – where there was volcanic activity hundreds of thousands of years ago – if not millions…

And it’s beautiful – incredibly so. And that’s where we were headed next…

Read on…