Chez Azaliya

Normally when an air plane lands, people can't be stopped rushing to the exit. Not so when you land at Yakutsk airport at 04:15am with -36°F/-38°C outside temperature. Everyone tries to be the last one, who's leaving the plane and heading to the bus waiting with open doors for the last passenger. Yakutsk is one of the coldest cities on earth and the biggest city built on continuous permafrost.

However as usual, it took ages until our luggage arrived and we could head to the Hotel Lena, named after the River Lena* that passes Yakutsk. Unlike the outside world, our room was heavily over-heated, so that it was difficult to find some rest.

In the afternoon, we bought Valenki, traditional Russian winter footwear made of felt, in an open-air market made of shipping containers. I also needed a cheap Ushanka, the fur hat with ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or tied at the chin to protect the ears from the cold. My Mink Ushanka is to precious to be used outside of an an urban environment.



In the evening we made the walk to Azaliya's apartment for a Siberian dinner. The table was bending under the heavy load of zakuski (appetizers), such as fruits, tongue and a wide range of salads, among which Salad Indigirka containing cubes of frozen raw nelma fish, pepper and onion. The pièce de résistance was a filled fish. Azaliya had also prepared a fish in head cheese, but we just not eat any more. And did I mention Mors, the delicious Russian juice made of berries, which Azaliya also served?



* Lenin was the best known of Vladimir Ulyanov’s revolutionary pseudonyms. He is believed to have created it to show his opposition to Georgi Plekhanov, who used the pseudonym Volgin, after the Volga River. Ulyanov picked Sakha's Lena River, which flows in the opposite direction, and is longer.