Enjoy Ajar Varlamov‘s photographs of spring. Yes, spring finally arrived in Yakutsk, Russia, and snow started melting fast.

The temperature in a daytime might be already zero! In the city, snow is already seen hardly.

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So awesome! I’ve heard about this animated cartoon a long time ago and today I was lucky to get the video from Yakutia Music & Folklore Museum (Yakutsk, Russia).

Olonkho is the Sakha (Yakut) heroic epos. In 2005, it was declared by UNESCO International Competition Jury as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of the humanity.

What is it about? Watch the animated cartoon and get an idea. The story is based on the “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift” olonkho story. Though it is in Japanese, but images says more than thousands of words.

All about Olonkho on my other site.

Created by Alexei & Afanassiy Ushnitskies’s studio “Sulus Games” (www.sulusgames.ru).

In the late March, I had a chance to watch fishing on the Yana River near Batagai settlement in the Verkhoyansky area of North Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.

In the above photo you can see the Yana River. Pretty complicated flow. This way all tundra rivers look. Yana is not exception.

Further, find 12 photos of how ice fishing is done and what type of fishes are caught over there. Read the rest of this entry…

To visit Kihilyakh, sacred stones in Verkhoyansk district in North-East Yakutia, was my long dream. I’ve never been to that area. And, finally, I made it.

Two weeks ago, I received a call. There was Yakutia’s Vice President Dmintry Glushko on the phone. Amazing. He asked, whether I wanted to go to Kihilyakh. “My god! Definitely,” I said. He continued, “There will be the ceremony of lighting of the Fire of the 5th Children of Asia International Sports Games.”

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This winter scene is good for a Merry Christmas card, though reindeer here is in his natural environment… in Oymyakon, one of the coldest inhabited places in the world. Located in Republic of Sakha-Yakutia, East Siberia & the Far East, Russia.

This magic is brought from my recent reindeer sledding with Even nomads through valleys, rivers, hills and mountains.

See more videos. Read the rest of this entry…

When spring is coming to Yakutsk, right to the city called once as the coldest in the world, we, residents, have many options for outdoor activity.

We say “Spring has started,” when the temperature is already above minus 25 degrees Celsius. Like right now. While I am writing it, the current degree is minus 11.

Nice weather for snow-related funs. Let’s list them. Skiing, ice skating, snowboarding, snowmobiling, dog sledding, ice fishing, ice racing, and etc, etc, etc. Yes, definitely there is always space for shashliki (Russian BBQ). But… you know… it’s a standard set of must-do-outside things.

Last two years a new fun appeared, surpisingly, among real men, who turned out to be big boys in their souls. This is igloo construction.

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Mira Maximova is a talented Sakha composer, who currently lives in China. Many might know her as a YouTuber ExUmira2. On her channel there are a lot of songs written and performed by her. A few years ago China closed the access to YouTube and now she can’t upload her new songs.

Recently she sent me the song Osuokhay, Sakha Round Dance Beyond Time & Space and asked, if I can post it on the website. Sure, Mira. That’s what I am doing now. Moreover, I made a slideshow with my photographs.

Further find information on the song dedicated to the Sakha traditional round dance known as Osoukhay.

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Huraay, Yegor Makarov (http://www.muuskhaia.ru/), prominent businessman in Yakutia, shared this video with me. He said, The world needs to know the Yakut horse.

The Yakut horse is a breed originated on the territory of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia in North-East Siberia, Russia.

See how awesome they are in the extreme cold winter in Yakutia, Russia’s biggest Siberian region.

It is just a few episodes of Yegor Makarov’s new documentary. A teasing video was done with the help of talanted cameraman, Yuri Berezhnev. The film is not completed yet. They are working on it.

Meanwhile, you might wish to check what I have already on my blog under the tag Yakut Horse.

Feel free to share this video. Let’s spread a word about the Yakut horse.

Olga Monastyreva is a contemperary Yakutia-born artist, who lives currently with her beloved in Belguim. In the town of De Haan, they’ve got the fine art gallery “Artepol” (www.artepol.be). Btw, the gallery is depicted in her penultimate painting.

See how fascinating her paintings are. Inspired by Russia’s Siberian republic of Yakutia, her far-away cold wintery homeland. Olga spent her childhood in the town of Khandyga located on the Aldan River in the eastern part of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia.

Once Olga described her canvases as Dreams. They look that way, indeed!

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Russia elects its President today, March 04, 2011.

Today I managed to have visited three voting sites during the first half of the 2012 Russian President election. By the way, Yakutsk is electing its mayor as well.

See photographs of how people is choosing its leader in Yakutsk, Siberia / Russia.

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