Yakutsk: Journey to the coldest city on earth

Think our winter's been a bit grim? Try visiting Yakutsk – the Russian city where 'a bit nippy' means minus 50C, and a quick dash to the corner shop could end in frostbite. Shaun Walker enjoys amini-break in deepest Siberia.

Monday, 21 January 2008

At minus 5C, the cold is quite refreshing and a light hat and scarf are all that's required to keep warm. At minus 20C, the moisture in your nostrils freezes, and the cold air starts making it difficult not to cough. At minus 35C, the air will cold enough to numb exposed skin quickly, making frostbite a constant hazard. And at minus 45C, even wearing glasses gets tricky: the metal sticks to your cheeks and will tear off chunks of flesh when you decide to remove them.

I know this because I've just arrived in Yakutsk, a place where friendly locals warn you against wearing spectacles outdoors. Yakutsk is a remote city in Eastern Siberia (population 200,000) famous for two things: appearing in the classic board game Risk, and the fact that it can, convincingly, claim to be the coldest city on earth. In January, the most freezing month, average "highs" are around minus 40C; today the temperature is hovering around minus 43C, leaving the city engulfed in an oppressive blanket of freezing fog that restricts visibility to 10 metres. Fur-clad locals scurry through a central square adorned with an icy Christmas tree (left over from the New Year holidays) and a statue of a strident Lenin, with one arm aloft and pointing forward, thoroughly unfazed by the cold.

A couple of weeks ago, Yakutsk hit the headlines after a series of burst pipes caused Artyk and Markha, two nearby villages, to lose their heating for several days. The temperatures then were minus 50C. Television footage of the ensuing "big freeze" showed groups of people huddled in swathes of blankets gathering round makeshift wood-fired stoves to keep warm. It looked like fun – of a sort. So I decided to come to Yakutsk for myself to find out how people manage to survive, and go about something resembling daily life, in the world's coldest place.

[Keep reading here]

Veus de la tundra i la taiga

El projecte NWO anomenat "Veus de la tundra i la taiga" va començar el maig de 2002 i es va allargar fins el juny de 2005. Dividit en subprojectes duts a terme per diferents equips en diferents territories de la Federació Russa, aquest projecte ha contribuït a l'enfortiment i la revitalització de diverses minories indígenes del nord de Rússia, incloent-hi els Nenets, Nivkh, Yukagir, Khanty, Mansi i altres. El projecte forma part d'un programa general de recerca amb el mateix nom.

Informe final

Descripció breu de les línies generals:

El tema del programa de recerca "Veus de la tundra i la taiga" és l'estudi de les llengües i cultures amenaçades de la Federació Russa, que cal descriure ràpidament abans que desapareguin. Aquesta recerca es duu a terme des de l'experiència que dóna la feina prècia en la tecnologia per la reconstrucció d'antigues gravacions de so trobades en arxius de Sant Petersburg ha fet possible de comparar les llengües que actualment es parlen en aquelles àrees amb les que es parlaven fa mig segle. Aquestes gravacions consisteixen en parla espontània, cançons tradicionals, llegendes... narrades el llengües siberianes, entre d'altres.

En el projecte NWO vam aplicar les tècniques desenvolupades anteriorment a algunes de les minories lingüístiques i culturals de Rússia que estan en perill d'extinció:els Nivkh i Orok a Sakhalin, i les llengües Yukagir i Tungus a Yakutia. L'objectiu és establir una llibreria fonètica i de vídeo d'històries, folklore, cançons i tradicions orals dels pobles de Sakhalin i Yakutia. Per tal d'aconseguir-ho es comparen els arxius antics amb els nous, i aquests últims s'afegeixen a l'arxiu material de Sant Petersburg, part del qual es pot trobar a Internet i/o en CD-ROM.

La parla espontània i els textos preparats que es recullen són valuosos per la etnolingüística i també per l'antropologia, el folklore, i l'anàlisi etnomusicològica. Per aquest propòsit, les dades són (vídeo)enregistrades, i analitzades des del punt de vista de la construcció i l'ús de la llengua. Els textos, un cop descrits, es publiquen en revistes científiques i llibres amb il·lustracions, en CD-ROM i Internet. Aquestes anàlisis, per tant, resten a disposició d'investigadors en els camps de la fonètica, la lingüística, l'antropologia, la història, l'etnomusicologia i el folklore. Per aquest propòsit els nous centres estan equipats amb ordinadors, programari, gravadores de veu i llibres.

La recerca i documentació es duu a terme amb una cooperació propera amb els estudiosos locals. A Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk i Yakutsk els investigadors d'allà participen en l'arxivament de gravacions de so i en les expedicions per a realitzar el treball de camp. Es formen a la Universitat de Sant Petersburg i els especialistes d'aquesta universitat els visiten per tal d'establir nous centres per l'estudi i l'ensenyança de les llengües locals i els temes que s'hi relacionen.

Veus de Buryatia

El juliol de 2005, Tjeerd de Graaf va presentar l'informe final del projecte dut a terme juntament amb col·laboradors russos en el marc de treball del projecte “Veus de la tundra i la taiga”. El grup de recerca va rebre moltes reaccions positives, tant de científics com de professors, estudiants, parlants nadius i autoritats locals. Això s'aplica en particular a Buryatia, una de les repúbliques federals de Rússia a Sibèria, on Tjeer de Graaf i el seu company de Buryat Ljubov Radnajeva van visitar diversos centres el juny i juliol de 2005. Durant seminaris per a la formació de professorat, van comunicar els resultats dels seus projectes, així com l'ús de les noves tecnologies en l'ensenyament de llengües. Centífics i professors de Buryatia estan preparats i a punt per continuar realitzant projectes similars. Una proposta per aquest projecte ha estat preparada i enviada a l'INTAS, organització de la Unió Europea.

D'acord amb les últimes dades de la UNESCO, la llengua Buryat és considerada una llengua amenaçada, i registrada al Llibre Vermell de la UNESCO de llengües amenaçades. Mentrestant, molts dels seus parlants demostren el seu desig que els seus fills emprin la llengua nadiua. Els recursos educatius moderns (com ara l'aprenentatge assistit per ordinador, o el materia multimèdia) són pràcticament inexistents per ensenyar el la llengua Buryat. Cal dir, però, que existeixen condicionaments favorables perquè aquests materials es desenvolupin. LA recerca conjunta mencionada anteriorment permetria que aquest projecte es dugués a terme.

Si teniu més boles de neu per a mi (també conegudes com informació, enllaços, recursos...) no dubteu d'escriure'm unes ratlles!

Voices from tundra and taiga

The NWO project "Voices from Tundra and Taiga" started in May 2002 and lasted until June 2005. In a number of subprojects, carried out by different teams throughout the Russian Federation, this project contributed to the strengthening and revitalization of various minor indigenous languages of the Russian North, including Nenets, Nivkh, Yukagir, Khanty, Mansi and others. The project was part of a general research program with the same name.

Final report

Short description of the overall approach:

The topic of the research program "Voices from Tundra and Taiga" is the study of endangered languages and cultures of the Russian Federation, which must be described rapidly before they become extinct. This research is in the fortunate position that our earlier work on the reconstruction technology for old sound recordings found in archives in St. Petersburg has made it possible to compare languages still spoken in the proposed research area to the same languages as they were spoken more than half a century ago. These sound recordings consist of spoken language, folksongs, fairy tales etc., among others in Siberian languages.

In the NWO project we applied the developed techniques to some of the disappearing minority languages and cultures of Russia: Nivkh and Orok on Sakhalin and Yukagir and Tungus languages in Yakutia. Our aim is to set up a phono- and video-library of recorded stories, and of the folklore, singing and oral traditions of the peoples of Sakhalin and Yakutia. For this purpose the existing sound recordings in the archives of Sakhalin and Yakutia are used together with the results of new fieldwork expeditions. The data are added to the existing archive material in St. Petersburg and part of is made available on the Internet and/or CD-ROM.

Spontaneous speech and prepared texts are collected that are valuable for (ethno)linguistic as well as for anthropological, folkloric and ethno-musicological analysis. For that purpose, the data are (video)recorded and analysed as to the art of story telling and language use. Described texts are published in scientific journals and books with audiovisual illustrations on CD-ROM and on the Internet. The materials thus become available for further analysis to researchers working in the field of phonetics, linguistics, anthropology, history, ethno-musicology and folklore. This information is also important for the development of teaching methods for representatives of the related ethnic groups and for the conservation of their language and culture. For this purpose the new centres are equiped with computers, software, sound recorders, literature, etc.

The research and documentation is carried out in close co-operation with local scholars. In Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Yakutsk local scholars and their assistants participate in the archiving of the sound recordings and in fieldwork expeditions. They are trained at St. Petersburg State University and specialists from St. Petersburg State University also visit them in order to set up new centres for the study and teaching of local languages and related subjects.

Voices from Buryatia

In July 2005, Tjeerd de Graaf presented the final report of the NWO project carried out together with Russian colleagues in the framework of theVoices from Tundra and Taiga research program.The research group received positive reactions, both from scientists as well as from teachers, students, native speakers and local authorities. This applied in particular to Buryatia, one of Russia's federal republics in Siberia, where Tjeerd de Graaf and his Buryat colleague Ljubov Radnajeva visited several centres in June and July 2005. During special teacher seminars, they reported on the results of their projects and on the use of information technology in language teaching. Scientists and teachers from Buryatia are ready and eager to take an active part in the realization of similar new projects. A proposal for such a project has been prepared and submitted to the INTAS Organisation of the European Union.

According to the latest UNESCO data, the Buryat language is considered an endangered language and is registered in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages. Meanwhile, many Buryat people demonstrate their wish that their children use the native language. Modern educational resources (such as computer-assisted language learning, multimedia teaching material) are almost non-existent in teaching the Buryat language. It should be mentioned that good and promising conditions exist to develop such teaching resources based on information technology. The proposed joint research project will make this possible.

If you have more snowballs for me (aka information, links and resources...) do not hesitate to drop me a line!

This is a Yakut (Sakha) song. Where is Yakut spoken? In northeastern Russia, also known as Siberia. What kind of the people speak Yakut? Turks! They are the Turks whose native land is furthest away from Turkey! What do they look like? Mongolic! They are a mix of the neighbouring peoples.

This is a slow folk song. It is called "Suollar" which means "roads" or "paths", which by that phrase in any language, always has deeper meanings.

For most of you, this is probably the first time you have ever heard Yakut, which is known as "Sakha" in the native language.

However! Sleeping on trains is a completely different kettle of fish, and one that I like to indulge as much as I can. My first overnight train journey was when I was 19, backpacking through Eastern Europe, and staying in a normal compartment on the overnight service from Berlin to Gdansk via Gdynia was so disrupting and exhausting that even on my paltry student budget I decided to splurge on the extra - oh, £5, maybe - on a couchette from Krakow to Prague. From then on I was hooked: Zurich to Graz (in a luxurious sleeper, as there were no couchettes left), Budapest to Sighisoara, Bucharest to Sofia, all in the unimaginable wonder of going to bed in the evening for a night of gentle swaying somnolence, and waking the next morning, well rested, somewhere else. Magic!

Since that seminal backpacking experience in 1997, I'd slept on trains a few more times - the lovely Bulawayo to Victoria Falls service in 1998, complete with fancy restaurant meal, and, more recently, Skopje to Belgrade and Belgrade to Bar - but my eye was fixed on the prize: the Trans-Siberian railway, allowing a person to take the train over a staggering one-third of the globe, and indulge in as much glorious train-sleeping as anyone could hope for.

Cutting to the chase: so I finally did the Trans-Mongolian in early October, and it was largely awesome. I had initially intended to buy my tickets on spec, but that turned out to be a little risky given that I was working to a rather tight schedule, and so I ended up enlisting the help of Intourist, who conveniently have a Glasgow office and were able to assist me in terms of visa support and accommodation en route as well. This is the first time I've ever used a travel agent for stuff like that, which made me feel a little dirty and ashamed, but I didn't have time for all the visa-related faff, especially since I'm no longer in London. Another reason that I used them was because I was travelling from east to west, and while there seem to be plenty of agents offering cheapo tickets from west to east (Trans-Sputnik, a Dutch agency, being the cheapest I've found), I couldn't find anything going the other way.

I broke the journey up into sections: a thity-hour trip from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, the highlights being: the mountainous scenery west of Beijing, including glimpses of the Great Wall; the Gobi Desert, particularly at sunrise; watching the bogies on the train being changed at the border between China and Mongolia (and watching our cabin-attendants stuff contraband into empty pillowcases to smuggle it across the border); and the stunning Mongolian scenery, mostly big, bald mountains, the occasional ger, a lot of horses and some of the most isolated towns and villages I've ever seen.

I stopped for a night in Ulaan Baatar, and was rather charmed by the city, especially Sukhbaatar Square, and the Gandan Monastery, despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing, and there was snow on the mountains surrounding the city, although it was only mid-October. I had booked accommodation at the Gandan Guesthouse, but mysteriously was collected from the train station by Idre, of Idre's Guest House, and stayed there instead - presumably the Gandan was booked out and the two places have some sort of agreement (details of both places are here). In general, the brevity of my time in UB just made me want to come back for more - I'm particularly keen to go trekking in the Gobi (though possibly not on a camel, because bloody hell, those things are PAINFUL to sit on for more than five minutes), and/or hiking in the Altay Mountains (though it may be more interesting to do that on the Siberian side).

Next leg was from UB to Irkutsk, around 24 hours, and I had the good luck to be sharing my cabin with the patriarch of a Mongolian smuggling dynasty, who spent much of the journey up to the Russian border secreting things, and much of the journey thereafter unsecreting them and selling them on platforms. The highlight of this leg was of course the views of Lake Baikal, which was also the main reason why I stopped off in Irkutsk and travelled out to Listvyanka, on the shores of the lake, overnight (I got an exorbiant taxi from Irkutsk to Lisvyanka, as the train was late, but I got the bus back to the city the next day which was significantly cheaper and didn't take any longer), which was fairly spectacular, especially with the rivers starting to ice over and the forests full of autumn colours. I spent much of the next day back in Irkutsk, mainly because I wanted to see the Decembrists' houses (the 19th century Russian rebels, not the indie band), near the bus station, and then back on the train again for the three and a half day journey on to Moscow.

I will admit that the train-related novelty wore off after about a day, as did the endless vista of taiga, taiga and more taiga, punctuated by the occasional concrete Siberian town, and I spent much of the journey planning where I'd stop off if I were to do the trip again (which I will). Namely: Tyumen, for a side-trip to Tobolsk; Vladimir for a side-trip to Suzdal; andmost excitingly, Krasnoyarsk to travel up the Yenisey river to Dudinka on the Arctic Ocean (though I am too much of a travel snob to go on the swanky ship in that link: ordinary cargo boat for me, thanks). I've also got a real hankering to have a wander round Turkic Siberia, Khakassia and Tuva and Yakutia (Yakutsk will apparently at some point be joined by rail to the main Trans-Siberian line, though I can't find any information about that online), and to ride the Baikal-Amur Railway, hopping off at Severobaikalsk to see some of the more out-of-the-way bits of Lake Baikal, not to mention continuing the trip to Vladivostok and Lake Khanka, and on to Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula...and see this, here, is the curse of the travel-obsessive: every trip you make just makes you more and more conscious of all the other great trips out there, and you will NEVER HAVE TIME TO DO THEM ALL. That thought, right there, terrifies me a little.

Anyhow! The Man in Seat 61 gives more information about the Trans-Siberian than I ever could, so I'm just going to leave it there. Oh, and Russian train timetables online, because you never know when you might need them...