Tag Archives: mesta obitaniya

Hi folks!

Krasnoyarsk Krai industrial-site tour series of posts: done.

Coming up – my Altai summer vacation series of posts…

But in-between – here’s a long post that’s kept being put on the back-burner for this (perhaps its length) or that (I’m always so busy?!) reason, the title to which is introductorily self-explanatory.

First – a fuller explanation…

While waiting for our luggage at La Paz Airport (Bolivia) at the end of our January (2025) trip around Latin America, one of my fellow travelers suggested I share my experiences of the most unusual hotels and lodgings I’ve stayed overnight in. And yes – “lodgings” (mesta obitaniya in Russian) is often the right word here, for many of the places I’ve stayed overnight can hardly be called hotels: some rather strange and hard-to-reach spots simply defy traditional categorization.

And I thought – what a great idea! Although I’ve long lost track of quite how many such (unusual, etc.) lodgings I’ve stayed at down the years, memory vividly brings back the ones that are impossible to forget – for all kinds of reasons: unusual decor, stunning surroundings, remoteness, etc. But if the old memory does need a helping hand – handily, I’ve been taking notes on my overnight stays on my blog – since… let me see now… yes – since 2010!…

I’ll immediately set aside for now such overnight stays as those in Japanese onsens and African lodges, and at camping-glamping sites and guest houses in mountains, forests, and tundra. Historically interesting hotels and tropical paradises are also out (also for now) – even though some of those can be quite extraordinary too. Why? Well, such categories are indeed unusual for visitors to such places/lodgings, but they’re abundant enough to be interesting only as a “type of tourist accommodation” rather than in terms of uniqueness or memorability.

Anyway, enough chit-chat – time for some pretty intro-pics. This one’s from Singapore – the view from one of the many hotels I’ve stayed at overlooking Marina Bay ->

Read on…

When descending the slope of Kambalny Ridge the volcanism goes into overdrive. Everything hissing, boiling, and bubbling, and with every color of the rainbow present. The overall result is a surrealistic scene – like a mini-Uzon. So, of course – we set up camp right in the middle of it!…

Alas, the weather wasn’t great…

Read on…

My summer tales from the Kamchatkan side have only just begun, but now – quick fast-forward to the present for a China interlude over a few days…

I spent my 59^th birthday in the Chinese resort Sanya on the tropical island province of Hainan, which, actually, seems to be the only large resort of its kind in China. It’s also literally the southernmost city of China, with Vietnam just 250-300km across the water and Beijing a full ~2500km away.

Read on…

Hi folks!

I left you last time with our leaving Nayba on the final stretch toward Tiksi (in case you’re new here – on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition). There were just ~three kilometers of land-based winter road out of Nayba – then it snaked back onto the frozen-over Laptev Sea, with us heading northwest ->

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I left you yesterday with our arriving – on our (March 2024) Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk road-trip – in the village of Ust-Kuyga before lunch. We didn’t stop there, as we wanted to keep up the pace and crack on – all the way to Khayyr. And the pace was indeed kept up, for the road became a winter (ice) road upon the smooth surface of the frozen-over Yana river. And smooth = fast!…

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Ahead of schedule, we were fast approaching the destination of our road trip – the northern-Russian-coastal town of Tiksi.

Already behind us were the towns/villages of Khandyga, Ust-Nera, Sasyr, Khonuu, and Syagannakh. All was hunky-dory with our Chinese vehicles. And since we made it to the town of Deputatsky much quicker than expected, of course – that meant only one thing: a walk around this village that’s some 400 kilometers inside the Arctic Circle (to give you a taster-teaser – just in case any of you, dear readers, may fancy one day visiting the place)…

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“The winter road won’t get us there on its own!”

It was with such words in our minds – or something along those lines – that we’d awake every morning on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition. And this particular morning was no exception: time to get up and be off. So, as per, we were up at the crack, and back on our way northward…

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In the previous installment in the series of blogposts on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition, we’d just arrived in the small village of Khonuu after nightfall.

Now, since Far North villages fascinate me – particularly how life can and is lived in such places – I really wanted to get a closer look at what’s what here to be able to then convey it to you, dear readers. Not that we ventured out far: we literally just walked around our lodgings, but still…

Here are those lodgings:

You see the pipes in the above pic? Those carry hot water to all buildings in the village from a centralized heating plant. I was rather astonished to find out that this – a holdover from Soviet times – is a mandatory attribute across the whole of Yakutia – even its northern reaches.

So what’s it like inside apartment buildings like this one?… ->

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Farewell Hong Kong; hello Beijing!…

On this multi-stage business trip around Southeast Asia, our next port of call was the Chinese capital for another conference of ours. Here, as per, I told our partners and clients all about our latest achievements, new technologies and products and services. I say “as per”, since I know the routine so well now I hardly need glance at my slides for facts and figures. But… one thing was different this time – very. It was the setting the conference took place in: the Yanqi Kempinski.

I couldn’t find much info about the place on the internet, so I’ll give you my first-person account based on my short stay there…

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Our trek up to the Nepalese Base Camp of Everest was all but complete, with just a little way still to go –from Gorakshep to the base camp itself. But before we get to the culmination, a brief time-out from all the extreme-trekking for a brief review of all the places we stayed overnight at on our trek. This is just in case you ever – and you really should – decide to give possibly the world’s most unforgettable trek a go for yourself…

I’ll pass on the potential first and last nights of any trek up to the South Base Camp: in Lukla (of world’s craziest airport fame), and in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. We didn’t stay overnight in the former, since we began our trek right from the airport (note: not a bad idea for you to copy folks!); and as to the latter – there’s any kind and standard of hotel you could wish for there, so there’s no “inside information” to speak of.

All righty, on to our first overnight stay. It was in Phakding – at the Sherpa Shangri-La Resort:

Read on…