Protected: The unbelievable filmmaking feats of our American friends on the Kuril expedition.

The great Siberian rivers are the Ob, the Yenisei, and the Lena. Not far behind them are the Yana, the Indigirka, and the Kolyma. These aren’t quite as long and wide, but they’re no less beautiful, contemplative, magnificent, and in places downright astonishing. So it’s in their direction we headed… Time for some fun – […]

And so, early one morning in late February of this year, our convoy of several vehicles once again rolled out of the glorious city of Magadan. The plan: get to Ust-Nera, covering 910km of not-exactly-easy road… The weather wasn’t the sunniest, but our spirits were as high as a kite. Let’s roll!…

Every time I come to St. Petersburg, I’m amazed by what a bright, sunny city it is. The internet lies to you about gloom and low gray skies. Don’t believe it! Better yet – go see for yourself that it’s not true. This time around, though, there was a certain grayness to the sky at […]

(Prequel: Taking the (more) scenic route to Magadan) We’d checked out the Natalka gold mine, dropped in on the settlement Ust-Omchug, and now we were pressing on along the super-scenic Highway 44N-4 toward Magadan…

A few days ao we wrapped up our whirlwind there-and-back business dash to Kyrgyzstan, and to the Kumtor gold-ore mine and ore-processing complex (aka – a gold-extraction factory: the first time I’d ever come across the term). Why the holdup in getting these write-ups published? Simply because, when you visit industrial sites, you usually need […]

We’d checked out the Natalka gold-ore deposit and the mining-and-processing plant of the same name, but what else was worth a contemplative look at out there – further down Route 44N-4 (also known as the Tenkinskaya Highway, or just Palatka–Kulu–Neksikan)? Why – the settlement of Ust-Omchug! -> Here it is on the map. Yes, it […]