Au revoir Algeria; bonjour France!…

Next up on my brief Africo-Euro November business-trip: Paris.

The Paris segment was busy on the work front: new acquaintances, meetings, negotiations – all as per. However – also as per – I just had to get some tourisms in: after all, this was Paris, no less. But, as luck would have it – the weather spoiled those plans somewhat: there was snow (in November!), it was windy, and it was freezing (in November?!). And this was Paris – not Kamchatka!!…

Looking out the window of my hotel room, there was no way I fancied venturing out given such murky, windy, cold and wet weather. Yes, we were in Paris – a European center of mindless mass tourism, but on a snowy November day there was absolutely nothing to be done!…

Snow in Paris in the fall. What?! :0)

Read on…

Algeria’s history – from ancient to modern times – is a rich and interesting one. If the internet is to be believed, the first inhabitants here appeared some 300-400 thousand years ago! That means that before it was conquered by the Romans, several ancient states had already existed on the territory. After the Roman colonial period came barbarians, followed by Byzantines; next there was the Arab expansion, and that was followed by a succession of the Spanish, Turks, and finally the French. Then, in 1962, after an eight-year war against the latter, Algeria gained its independence.

Given such a rich history, there’s plenty of it to check out as a tourist! And of course there’s the Sahara desert with all its sand-and-rock beauty, and sensational sunsets and sunrises. Alas, my business schedule was full and hectic – lots of meetings, getting acquaintends, discussions, and a regional partner conference, so we couldn’t check all that much out. We had to settle for micro-tourism: a brief stroll around the capital, Algiers. All righty – off we pop…

First up – Maqam Echahid: the monument commemorating the Algerian War ->

Read on…

Onward – along Route 264. Ahead lie difficulties and hardships, raptures and amazements, volcanisms and bubbling-springisms. In short, what we were here for – what we love!…

And it all started here:

This is the estuary of the Semyachik river – a few kilometers from the tiny settlement of Zhupanovo (so tiny it’s not even on the Google map: somewhere here; oh – it is on Yandex Maps though) on the Pacific coast:

Read on…

It’s been ages since the last time I wrote about outer space – too long; for space is cool far out!…

Exploration of extraterrestrial space in any form, manned or not – plus cosmonautics, astrophysics and telescopes at the top of volcanoes, it’s all extremely important for the whole of mankind – and fantastically interesting for the individual (for example, me). So when I was invited to the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, I immediately accepted…

Read on…

Forty kilometers to the south of Kronotsky there are two “cult” Kamchatkan volcanisms: (i) the Uzon volcanic caldera… ->

…and the famous Valley of Geysers ->

This year, instead of choppering in, looking about for a bit, then choppering off again, we decided to do a multi-day trek along the old Soviet Route No. 264…

Read on…

Next up, one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world, and probably the most refined of the peninsula – Kronotsky ->

Read on…

It was farewell to what is possibly the world’s remotest hotel complex, and off we choppered south to our next Kamchatkan volcanic wonder – Kizimen (pronounced KizEEmen). And here she is – the view from the south:

And from the north ->

What differentiates this particular volcano of Kamchatka from others are the two lakes at its foot set among wonderfully “designer” landscapes. There’s also the amazing view of nearby Kronotsky volcano – here on the horizon to the right, upon which you can meditate for an eternity.

Read on…

Just like in Kamchatka, in Indonesia (where last week we had our super-successful Security Analyst Summit), there are a great many really cool hot volcanoes! I should know, since I’ve checked some of them out a few times – in 2018 around New Year, and last year after a press event (when we scaled Mount Rinjani). Fast-forward to this year and it was time to leave Bali and head on over to Java – Indonesia’s main island – to check out the mighty Ijen (here)…

Read on…

At the foot of Kizimen volcano in Kamchatka – literally in the middle of nowhere, with no roads or settlements for 70 kilometers – today there happens to be… a five-star tourism base (here)! ->

What? The lap of luxury – out here?! Pretty much. For there’s hot springs, a marvelous view of Kizimen, digital detox (at least – partially; more on this below), delicious food, hunting & fishing, mosquitos, bears and assorted other pamperings to please office plankton. They’ve even done something to prevent insects from coming near the complex!

Read on: Kamchatka-2024 – Part 4: Could this be the world’s remotest hotel?

Hai folks!

The official part of our SAS-2024 conference: done.

Now – the fun part: our esteemed delegates, respected speakers, honorable guests (and I!) continue to enjoy this picture-perfect corner of the island of Bali while they come to their senses – still digesting the mega-doses of first-class cybersecurity content they’ve just received…

As to my (direct) participation in the proceedings (besides watching the speeches), the highlight for sure was my being on stage – not as interviewee, but as interviewer. I can’t recall if I’d ever done such a thing before (if I had it was decades ago). Anyway, it felt like the first time – and early on I was really nervous! Yes – me! But I soon got into the swing of it – no doubt partly due to just how interesting my interviewees were: the Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Leroy Chiao! We discussed all sorts of cybersecurity issues in space: how they duplicate the comms channels on the International Space Station, who’s responsible for installing updates, what happens if an incident occurs, and lots more besides…

Read on…